Article via KCM Blog

The report also shows one in every 905 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month. Other high-level findings from the report:

• Scheduled judicial foreclosure auctions (NFS) increased 22 percent from March to April and were up 31 percent from a year ago to the highest level since October 2010 — a 30-month high.
• Scheduled non-judicial foreclosure auctions (NTS) in April were down 7 percent from March and down 43 percent from April 2012 to the lowest level since December 2005 — an 88-month low.
• A total of 70,133 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in April, down 4 percent from the previous month and down 28 percent from a year ago.
• Lenders repossessed 34,997 U.S. properties in April, down 20 percent from March and down 32 percent from April 2012 to the lowest level since July 2007 — a 69-month low.
• As of the beginning of May, A total of 11.3 million mortgages nationwide were seriously underwater, meaning combined amount of mortgages secured by the home was at least 25 percent more than the estimated value of the home. That represented 26 percent of all outstanding mortgages, but was down nearly 1.5 million from the 12.8 million seriously underwater mortgages in May 2012.
• Illinois foreclosure activity decreased 12 percent monthly and was down 17 percent annually, but the state still posted the nation’s fourth highest foreclosure rate: one in every 501 housing units with a foreclosure filing.
• Chicago was number 10 on the list of metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates (one in every 389 housing units).

Article via Chicago Real Estate Forum

New Listings in Chicagoland were up 11.0 percent for detached homes and 8.6 percent for attached properties. Listings Under Contract increased 47.5 percent for detached homes and 57.1 percent for attached properties.

The Median Sales Price was up 7.8 percent to $180,000 for detached homes and 6.3 percent to $138,200 for attached properties. Months Supply of Inventory decreased 48.1 percent for detached units and 61.8 percent for attached units.

The prickliest thorns in our collective side are still lack of inventory and subdued listing activity. In some neighborhoods, consumers have 50 or 60 percent fewer options from which to choose than they did a few years ago. That’s causing bidding wars in popular areas. Despite the competitive landscape for buyers, housing remains one of the brightest lights in an otherwise subdued economic recovery.

Want to see the numbers?  Click HERE to go the Statistics home page on MREDLLC.com and start digging in.

Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), Chicagoland’s multiple listing service (MLS), has announced that Point2 is sponsoring and attending MREDpalooza as a ZAP! level Sponsor.

Point2 provides real estate marketing and lead management software to brokers and agents in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa, as well as listing data aggregation and syndication solutions to real estate multiple listing services in the United States, and Boards and Associations across Canada. Point2’s solutions also include the consumer real estate listings portal, Point2 Homes, in addition to property management software for small to medium size organizations managing up to 1000 units.

Real Estate Digital (RED), another Zap! level sponsor, will be unveiling its line of MRED SelectSites, state-of-the-art agent and broker websites, at MREDpalooza. RED is a leading provider of integrated technology, media and data solutions to real estate franchisors, brokerages, agents, MLSs and Realtor® associations.

In addition to having booths at MREDpalooza, both Point2 and RED will be demonstrating and explaining their full lines of products throughout the day in their own private training rooms.

”Point2 is excited to be participating in MREDpalooza,” said Saul Klein, Industry Principal of Point2.  “MRED is recognized as an industry leader and the quality of their programs always exceed expectations.  You’ll kick yourself if you miss this one.”

“We are thrilled to be part of MREDpalooza this year, which promises to be Chicago’s tech event of the year,” said John Hensley, Chief Product & Technology Officer of Real Estate Digital (RED).  “There’s no better place to launch the MRED SelectSites web platform than at this premier event!”

Market Leader has also joined the MREDpalooza sponsorship lineup. Market Leader is a real estate software company providing a full suite of solutions from lead generation to customer relationship management.

“Not to sound too over the top, but we have been astounded by the reaction of the real estate industry to MREDpalooza,” said MRED CEO Russ Bergeron.  “Clearly vendors and MRED customers alike see MREDpalooza for the wonderful opportunity it is, and we’re looking forward to seeing everybody at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont on June 18^th.”

MRED has a few sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities left, and encourages anybody interested to get in touch as soon as possible.  All MREDpalooza participants will enjoy significant interaction with thousands of MRED’s customers.

About MREDpalooza

MREDpalooza is the largest free real estate tech expo in the country.  Taking place Tuesday, June 18, 2013, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, MREDpalooza will be a great opportunity for MRED’s customers to learn, at no cost,  about a myriad of real estate products and services to enhance their businesses.

MRED is planning for several thousand attendees and scores of vendors, many of whom, like Point 2, have already committed to attending.  Training sessions and demos will be offered throughout the day, providing more in-depth understanding of many of the products and services.  Those wishing to attend or exhibit at MREDpalooza are asked to visit MREDpalooza.com for free registration and sponsorship information.

About MRED

Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is the real estate data aggregator and distributor providing the Chicagoland multiple listing service (MLS) to nearly 40,000 brokers and appraisers and 8,000 offices.  MRED serves Chicago and the surrounding “collar” counties and provides property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.  MRED delivers over twenty products and services to its customers, complementing connectMLS™, the top-rated MLS system in the country per the latest WAV Group MLS Technology Survey.  For more information please visit MREDLLC.com.

• An expert doesn’t mean you’re going to give perfect advice.
• An expert means you’re going to give excellent advice.

Read the full article via the KCM Blog to learn more.

DocuSign, the Global Standard for eSignature, announced that it has acquired Cartavi, a leading provider of collaboration services for real estate transactions. This combination, along with a deeper integration with existing partner, zipLogix, will allow users to easily and securely manage end-to-end real estate transactions anytime, anywhere, on any device – complete with forms, collaboration and eSignature in one.

“Our real estate customers want a comprehensive and easy-to-use solution for managing transactions from listing to handing off the keys,” Keith Krach, chairman and CEO of DocuSign, said. “Combining Cartavi’s technology and zipLogix’s dominant forms management with DocuSign’s eSignature solution advances our leadership in real estate by futher streamlining transactions to make it easier, faster and more convenient than ever to complete deals.”

DocuSign’s acquisition of Cartavi comes after an 18-month strategic partnership where the companies developed joint solutions to help real estate professionals accelerate speed to results, reduce costs and please clients. DocuSign’s longer partnership with zipLogix builds upon an existing eight-year integration where zipLogix customers have been able to DocuSign directly from zipForm. Now, customers will be able to use all three industry-leading products in combination over the web, on tablets, and mobile phones. Further integration is planned to make it even easier for all parties involved in real estate transactions to close deals faster.

“Our mission when we established Cartavi was to fundamentally improve outdated and hard-to-use real estate transaction management technology,” Glenn Shimkus, Cartavi CEO and co-founder, said. “We simplified the experience by taking a cloud-based mobile-first approach that supports the busy, on-the-go lifestyle of real estate professionals and the tremendous complexity of their transactions.”

DocuSign and Cartavi will continue to operate within their existing office spaces while collaborating with zipLogix on further integration of their solutions. Cartavi will officially change its name to Cartavi, A DocuSign Company. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Article via Chicago Agent Magazine

LISLE, ILLINOIS (May 6, 2013) – Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), Chicagoland’s multiple listing service (MLS), has announced that national home search websites Zillow, realtor.com, and Homes.com are sponsoring and attending MREDpalooza, the largest free real estate tech expo in the country.  Zillow and realtor.com are ZAP! level sponsors, and Homes.com is a ZOINK! level sponsor.  They join Trulia.com, which MRED earlier announced as a POW! sponsor, MREDpalooza’s highest level of sponsorship.

Also sponsoring at the ZOINK! Level and attending are mega real estate brokerages Coldwell Banker Residential and Baird & Warner.  Each has a significant presence in the Chicagoland real estate market with their own web-based home search tools.  Combining the number of visitors to each of these major player’s websites delivers over 100 million consumers every month.

“We are pleased to participate as a sponsor of MREDpalooza and looking forward to seeing many MRED members at this event,” said Susan Young, Senior Manager of realtor.com, Industry Relations.  “We will demonstrate the many free realtor.com benefits that they will want to use, especially the new Find application.  MRED members will want to take full advantage of this free research tool when it becomes available to them next week.

“Zillow is the leading home and real estate-related marketplace on mobile and the Web, dedicated to helping home shoppers, sellers and renters find vital information about homes, and connect with the best local professionals,” said Chris Crocker, Vice-President of Partner Relations for Zillow.  “We are excited to be a sponsor of MREDpalooza and showcase our newest suite of tools to help real estate agents attract and retain new and current clients.”

“Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage is proud to partner with MRED and sponsor MREDpalooza,” said Fran Broude, President and Chief Operating Officer of Coldwell Banker Residential.  “In one of the most rapidly changing eras of real estate technology, tools and training, an event such as this championed by one of the most forward thinking MLS organizations in the country is exactly what all Chicagoland real estate agents need.”

“We’re pleased to support MRED in its efforts to provide a continued focus on technology,” said Jennifer Alter Warden, President of Residential Sales for Baird & Warner. “We’re especially excited for this opportunity to introduce our suite of innovative tools that enable broker associates to work whenever, wherever and however they want.”

“We are thrilled that all of the major players in real estate share our conviction that MREDpalooza is the place to be this June” said MRED CEO Russ Bergeron.  “MRED customers are going to have the opportunity to meet, be trained by, and learn about the greatest real estate organizations and tools in the business.  MREDpalooza is officially a ‘can’t miss’ event.”

MRED still has a few sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities available.  All MREDpalooza participants will enjoy significant interaction with thousands of MRED’s customers.

About MREDpalooza

MREDpalooza is the largest free real estate tech expo in the country.  Taking place Tuesday, June 18, 2013, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, MREDpalooza will be a great opportunity for MRED’s customers to learn, at no cost, about a myriad of real estate products and services to enhance their businesses.

MRED is planning for several thousand attendees and scores of vendors, many of whom have already committed to attending.  Training sessions and demos will be offered throughout the day, providing more in-depth understanding of many of the products and services.  Those wishing to attend or exhibit at MREDpalooza are asked to visit MREDpalooza.com for free registration and sponsorship information.

About MRED

Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is the real estate data aggregator and distributor providing the Chicagoland multiple listing service (MLS) to nearly 40,000 brokers and appraisers and 8,000 offices.  MRED serves Chicago and the surrounding “collar” counties and provides property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.  MRED delivers over twenty products and services to its customers, complementing connectMLS™, the top-rated MLS system in the country per the latest WAV Group MLS Technology Survey.  For more information please visit MREDLLC.com.

We may have had ridiculously cold weather in March, but the heat in the real estate market more than made up for that. Prices popped: In Chicago, the median sale price was 8.9 percent above where it had been a year before, and for the nine-county region, it was up 2.2 percent, according to Illinois Association of Realtors data released Monday. And the time it took to get a house sold was a little more than 20 percent faster than it had been in March 2013.

In fact, March was so good in Chicago real estate that for once, our recent tendency to be the opposite of the national norm was to our advantage: On the national scene, the number of homes sold in March was down 0.6 percent from February. Here, March was up 33 percent from February.

“Poor Chicago”? I think not.

After lagging behind much of the nation’s real estate recovery, Chicago’s recovery may finally be taking root. “A lot of places have already gone where we’re going now,” says Russ Bergeron, the CEO of Midwest Real Estate Data.

Data that MRED’s Gayle Ludemann compiled for me late last week gets into detail about what happened in March. A few things stand out:

• The proportion of distressed sales dropped. In March, 43 percent of the homes sold in the Chicago area were foreclosures or short sales. That’s down from 47.2 percent the month before, and down from 45.9 percent in March 2012. (There were more homes of those types sold, but the increase in the sales of non-distressed homes was even bigger, so their share of the market shrank.)

That’s a sign that we’re moving back toward a market where distress isn’t such a dragging-down factor for sellers whose homes aren’t in distress. “Moving,” not “moved.” We’re still at more than two out of five homes selling in distress.

• Asking prices are going up much faster than selling prices. In the chart above, the green line shows asking prices and the red is selling prices. The way the spread between them has grown in the past few months worries me: I’m concerned that sellers may be too happy about the turn in the market, and in their enthusiasm could ask too much, leading to a whole new dip when buyers refuse to reach for it.

While sellers may be better able to sell now because rising home values have lifted more of them up from underwater, many sellers are still holding out for a time when prices are even higher, according to this analysis and others.

But Bergeron sees the leap in asking prices as potentially a good sign: “I think sellers are feeling more confident,” he says. “Hopefully they’ll start getting some of those prices, [because] what we’ve been lacking is seller confidence.” Buyers have been very confident, because of the combination of low prices and low interest rates making this the perfect time to buy. But “a lot of sellers have been sitting back waiting to get their best deal,” he notes.

• Are sellers getting better deals now than they were a year ago? It depends on what they’re looking for. They’re certainly getting their homes sold faster: homes that weren’t in distress sold in an average of 140 days in March. That’s 38 percent faster this March than last year.

But on price, ‘better’ is not such a clear term. MRED’s data show that non-distressed sellers are getting a better percentage of their asking price: In March 2012, they were selling at 88.57% of their original list price; a year later, that had gone up a little less than three percentage points, with sellers getting 91.2% of their original asking price. But the average sale price on traditional, non-distressed homes rose a less than one percent in the same period. This suggests that sellers are doing better in part because they’ve cut their expectations.

And that loops us back to the past few months’ growing gap between asking and selling prices. Let’s all keep our eyes on how that gap changes in the next couple of months, okay?

Article via Chicago Magazine