Today's Top Real Estate News Provided by Inman News 5/18/2013  8:00:52 AM

NAR board may hold closed meeting to discuss realtor.com WASHINGTON — The committee that sets the agenda for the National Association of Realtors’ board of directors approved a motion to recommend the board have a special meeting to discuss the trade group’s official website, realtor.com, and third-party aggregators, NAR ...

NAR may delay action on public-facing MLS sites WASHINGTON – A committee in charge of recommending policies to the National Association of Realtors’ board of directors has removed language from a controversial policy amendment that would have allowed multiple listing services to charge all members for the costs ...

Texas homebuilder settles RESPA kickback allegations for $118,194 A Texas homebuilder has agreed to pay more than $100,000 to resolve allegations that he received kickbacks from two mortgage lenders through joint ventures that federal regulators characterized as sham businesses. Paul Taylor will pay $118,194 — the full amount ...

Fed’s work is not done Interest rates on long-term bonds and mortgages have stopped their May rise, a little above the halfway mark of the low and high for the year. The tilt seems to be upward, but the trading pattern has been chaotic and ...

Improve commercial property now to capture 2013 tax benefits If you own and rent out commercial real estate and have been thinking about making improvements to the property, you should do so by Dec. 31, 2013. Qualified leasehold property improvements made during 2013 can qualify for the following tax ...

Hitler meme, coloring sheets and more #madREskillz Here’s one way to teach people about the perils of overpricing a home: use Hitler. That’s what Jared Reimer did by using the “Downfall” meme. Other submissions for yesterday’s #madREskillz that caught our eye: distributing coloring sheets and magnets, adding Captain ...

Buyers want vacation homes even if they have to pay cash Underwriting and down payment requirements for second homes are still tight, but the improving economy has fueled demand for vacation homes even if buyers have to pay cash, Investor’s Business Daily reports. Brokers in vacation destinations from the mid-Atlantic to ...

Miami Association of Realtors marketing to Chinese buyers The Miami Association of Realtors is partnering with China United Global Real Estate Group, the National Association of Realtors’ representative in China, to generate exposure for the Miami market. Initiatives include television commercials, property expos in Southern China, and property ...

Real estate agent says she’ll keep her phone number after hackers run up $586,371 bill A real estate agent says she’s keeping her phone number even after hackers “ported” it and racked up a $586,371 bill, making more than 2,000 calls to international destinations like Somalia, Guinea and Azerbaijan. St. Peters, Mo.-based agent Melissa Bream ...

New Google Maps paints richer portraits of neighborhoods A revamped version of Google Maps that Google recently introduced at its annual developer-focused tech conference equips the app with several new features that paint more colorful portraits of neighborhoods as well as larger geographic areas. The revamp, unveiled at ...

Tame Google Analytics with a real estate dashboard Inman Next contributor Seth Price recently published an informative infographic on Google Analytics. The infographic contained numerous facts and statistics. Did you know that 55 percent of the top 10,000 websites utilize Google Analytics? Seth did an excellent job communicating ...

NAR could be in the red for the next 3 years WASHINGTON — A budget proposal for the National Association of Realtors projects the trade group will run at a loss for the next three years. The proposal projects the operating budget’s net revenue will total $1.71 million in 2013 but ...

A crib sheet for real estate tech startups Cruising through a dozen or so apps and services demoing at the RealTech SF event in San Francisco a couple weeks ago made me realize how much the real estate startup scene is once again in full swing. Many of ...

Realtors made — and spent — more in 2012 Realtors saw their incomes jump and also ratcheted up their spending on technology as their optimism increased  in 2012, according to the 2013 member survey from the National Association of Realtors. With a median income of $43,500 on a median ...

California teachers need manager for $22.3B real estate portfolio Think you’ve got what it takes to handle a $22.3 billion real estate portfolio? The California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) is looking for a real estate portfolio manager with at least 10 years of real estate investment management experience ...

Realty One Group expanding into San Diego Fast-growing brokerage and new franchisor Realty One Group Inc. is expanding into San Diego with plans to open three offices in the large Southern California metro. The 8-year-old firm, based just outside Las Vegas, was the seventh-largest brokerage in the ...

Study finds pocket listings represent growing share of sales in Northern California A study by MLSlistings Inc. found that “pocket” listings as a percentage of total home sales in some Northern California markets increased from 15 percent in 2012 to 26 percent during the first quarter of 2013. Markets studied included Monterey, ...

$90 million NYC penthouse has a buyer A Central Park-facing penthouse on the 89th and 90th floors of one of the hottest residential buildings in Manhattan is under contract for more than $90 million and is set to be a record sale — by more than $2 ...