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The Latest News from WFG National Title Company
ryantate
118
WFG News
January 26, 2015

Is real estate missing a $100 billion opportunity?

In the last three years, a new class of homeowner entered our business. They are the largest in history, and they represent the beginning of something much more important to come. Institutional investment in single-family rentals, the SFR industry, began as a purely opportunistic pursuit. The housing crisis captured Wall…
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ryantate
118
WFG News
January 26, 2015

MLSs around the country offer agents showing tool

Showings are an essential part of an agent’s job — people rarely buy homes sight unseen. In order to help agents tackle the logistics of getting prospective buyers inside properties, more and more multiple listing services are helping their members schedule showings online. Eight MLSs have signed licensing agreements to…
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ryantate
134
WFG News
January 26, 2015

Zillow opening doors to developers for ‘hackathon’ competition

Zillow is opening up its doors to developers for a weekend “hackathon” competition that will run from Feb. 6 to 8 at its Seattle headquarters. The top three winners will be awarded cash prizes with a grand prize of $10,000. With access to real estate data from Zillow and the federal…
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ryantate
134
WFG News
January 24, 2015

New York Times baking editorial content into real estate search

The New York Times will integrate editorial content including neighborhood videos and written pieces into its real estate search platform to help homebuyers get a better sense of what it might be like to live in different areas of the city. To build up its video library for the new initiative,…
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ryantate
102
WFG News
January 24, 2015

Mortgage lenders settle RESPA kickback charges for $35.7M

Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $34.8 million to settle allegations that more than 100 loan officers in at least 18 branches steered thousands of mortgage borrowers to a Maryland-based title company in exchange for kickbacks in the form of valuable marketing services and cash. JPMorgan Chase will also pay…
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ryantate
136
matterportrand realtySelectsurefieldTechnology
January 23, 2015

Another broker hops on 3-D virtual tour train

Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty’s more than 800 agents will showcase sellers’ homes using  3-D virtual tours that give buyers browsing listings online the feeling that they’re walking through the home. Rand Realty says it’s the first brokerage in New York’s Hudson Valley to provide Matterport’s 3-D Showcase tours,…
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ryantate
164
WFG News
January 23, 2015

Zillow, Trulia changes could foreshadow post-merger strategy

Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff snapped a photo of Zillow’s headquarters glowing with a “12” on Friday evening ahead of the Seattle Seahawks’ astonishing comeback victory against the Green Bay Packers that secured the team a trip to the Super Bowl. Go #ZillowTower lit up with #12 #Seahawks. And glad to be home. pic.twitter.com/VHSV1XzPEy —…
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ryantate
152
WFG News
January 23, 2015

US mortgages are the Gazinta!

A wild story still unfolding, most of it overseas. The result here at home: mortgage rates near 3.75 percent and the lows of the year — and the tilt in chart-pattern witch-doctoring to lower yet. Rates will rise only on substantial good news, somewhere. The only domestic economic data of…
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ryantate
133
WFG News
January 23, 2015

Why responsive website design could be sabotaging your lead generation efforts

Here’s a hard truth: For many in the real estate industry, mobile strategy isn’t paying off. Too few leads are being generated, and most mobile apps have, unfortunately, failed to achieve any real market adoption. We all know the homebuyer is increasingly mobile-focused, and we see it everywhere we look:…
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ryantate
153
listing agentMarketingreal estateSelectshiftTim Harris
January 23, 2015

Feeling buyer burnout? Become a listing agent

We get lots of inquiries from agents looking for a change — they’re tired of buyer leads, tired of doing the same things hoping for a different result. One of our clients, Bart, just arrived after a decade in a referral-type coaching program, and his results are starting to drop. He…
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