General

(TNS)—Given the recent record highs in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Dow Jones industrial average, you might think Americans would feel excited about the future of the stock market. But you’d be wrong, a Bankrate national survey has found.

When we gave people a few choices and asked them to pick the best way to invest money they wouldn’t need for more than 10 years, the most popular answer was real estate. Next were cash investments, such as ...

Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), the Chicagoland multiple listing service (MLS) representing over 40,000 real estate professionals in the Chicago area, has become the first MLS to launch the Broker Public Portal (BPP). BPP will be going to market with the Homesnap brand and with the full suite of consumer and agent-facing features offered by Homesnap. MRED customers will receive access to mobile real estate app Homesnap Pro and other benefits as a result of MRED s participation in and support ...

Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate recently announced the addition of real estate company GSA Realty to its franchise network. The newly named Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate GSA Realty, led by broker/owners Chuck Gambone and Tommy Songer, will serve Central Pennsylvania, most notably Blair, Centre, Mifflin and Juniata Counties. The company will maintain its two current offices in State College and Tyrone.

“Our brand is known for its strategic vision into the future of real estate and its consumers, ...

U.S. house prices rose in May, up 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous month, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) monthly House Price Index (HPI).  The previously reported 0.2 percent increase in April was revised upward to reflect a 0.3 percent increase.

The FHFA monthly HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  From May 2015 to May 2016, house prices were up 5.6 percent.

For the nine census ...

Who got hired or promoted this week? Here’s our weekly rundown, in chronological order.

This week’s new hires

July 18

Charlie Young

Susan Yannaccone

Charlie Young is the new CEO at Coldwell Banker Real Estate, and Susan Yannaccone is replacing him as CEO of ERA Franchise Systems. “Charlie Young has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills, solid ...

In the news business, the end of July through August is known as the “silly season.” So slow that page one carries “Man Bites Dog.” So it is in finance, also. My parents and grandparents were political junkies, scattered from Bull Moosers to Dixiecrats. They did manage polite discussion. Constantly. Thus I am a junkie, too, although an anti-partisan (anti any party), and I have memories of every national convention from 1960 forward. Just as unprecedented lunacy in Cleveland began ...