Category Archives: Industry Trends

Important Change to I-94 Process

By: Kelly Dorsch | Published: April 29, 2013 | Categories: Industry Trends, Market Report

U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently announced that effective April 30, 2013, transferees arriving into the U.S. will no longer receive a hard-copy version of their I-94, as all information will now be stored electronically. However, the Social Security Administration and state driver’s license agencies will continue to require a hard copy of the I-94 …
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Future of the Housing Market Is “A Great Unknown”

By: Cindy Coin | Published: March 19, 2013 | Categories: Industry Trends, Market Report

Per Robert Shiller, of Case-Shiller fame, housing “is becoming more of a speculative asset”.  Sales in the housing market are well above the levels of a year ago and inventories are at their lowest levels in 13 years, but there are some growing fears that another bubble is forming in the housing industry.  Feeding those …
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Q&A With Dwellworks CFO Gene Novak: Executive Reflections on the Mobility Industry

By: John Fischer | Published: October 4, 2012 | Categories: Industry Trends

What technology-based changes have you seen in the last five years in the mobility industry, and how have you shaped your business, products and services to meet those needs? I consider myself fortunate to have worked with a technology company in the 1980s. Technology has always played an important role in my professional life. In …
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Are home prices on the upswing?

By: Rob Carlson | Published: August 1, 2012 | Categories: Industry Trends

A recent NBCNEWS.com article has presented data to demonstrate that nationally home prices bottomed out in January 2012 and we are beginning the slow climb upward.  It would appear that most signs are pointing towards a rebound:  Miami, Phoenix and Las Vegas posted home-price gains in May, home prices helped lift 700,000 homeowners above water in the …
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Housing Rebound Signaled as Banks Resume Foreclosures: Mortgages

By: Cindy Coin | Published: July 16, 2012 | Categories: Industry Trends, Market Report

The housing market’s rebound has been restrained by the so-called shadow inventory of homes with mortgages at least 90 days delinquent, in foreclosure or already owned by banks, while foreclosures had been stalled since late 2010, when state attorneys general and federal regulators began investigating abuse by banks, including lost or doctored paperwork. They started …
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Distressed Homeowners to Renters

By: Rob Carlson | Published: June 5, 2012 | Categories: Industry Trends, Rental market update

We have all heard the phase “rent to own”,  but in the real estate market we are hearing about increases in number of homeowners converting back into renters.  In their recent Los Angeles Times article, E. Scott Reckard and Alejandro Lazo detail a recent mortgage-to-lease program that Bank of America is testing on a limited …
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US Housing Starts are Rising

By: Cindy Coin | Published: May 18, 2012 | Categories: Industry Trends, Market Report

The Commerce Department stated the seasonally adjusted number of new housing starts (717,000) in April was up 2.6% over March’s number.  New housing starts are still lagging but the increase along with rising builder confidence is a hopeful sign that the home market may be starting to recover nearly 5 years after the housing bubble …
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Apartment Hunting

By: Andrew Horvath | Published: May 2, 2012 | Categories: Industry Trends, Market Report, Rental market update

The article “Apartment hunting in a tight market“, published in the Chicago Tribune, is a realistic snapshot of the severely competitive rental market in Chicago and is also representative of the rental market across the country.  Multiple daily showings, units snapped up within 24-48 hours of listing, and the disappearance of rental concessions are conditions …
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Rising Rents, Lack of Rentals throughout US

By: Andrew Horvath | Published: April 3, 2012 | Categories: Industry Trends, Market Report

A recent article in The New York Times addresses the rising prices of rentals in the United States and the lack of rentals available. Up 2.4 percent in January from a year earlier, rents have continued to rise. With more people renting and lack of new rental buildings being erected, the vacancy rate is down …
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Some US Cities Wage War on Rental Properties…Possible Future Trend?

By: Katie Auffenorde | Published: March 23, 2012 | Categories: Industry Trends, Rental market update

In a recent post by The Fiscal Times, Steve Yoder sheds light on what could be an alarming movement for those of us in the business of locating rental homes—US cities and municipalities are beginning to limit or perhaps institute bans on rental properties within their limits.  While there is no data to suggest a …
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