Kevin J Cooney - Broker Associate, Realtor

Commercial real estate vacancy rates are flat, and projections for improvement have been moderated because economic growth and job creation have been weaker than expected, but modest improvements are expected over the coming year, according to the National Association of Realtors®.   Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the weakening ...

Florida’s existing home and existing condo sales experienced an upswing in the second quarter of 2011 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the latest housing statistics from Florida Realtors®. Existing home sales rose 1 percent in 2Q 2011 with a total of 52,421 homes sold statewide; during the same period the year ...

Free counseling can help struggling homeowners try to find ways to keep their homes: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides a list of government-approved counselors on its website, hud.gov. The counselors often know of special programs that lenders don’t, said Kevin Maher, director of community education for the ...

 Within the next decade, 16 million new housing units will be needed to meet population growth and shifting demands, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies in its latest annual “State of the Nation’s Housing” report. That means household growth, which has dropped drastically in recent ...

 Did you know? Nearly half of all homebuyers visit open houses during their home search. This weekend, those numbers may swell as buyers across the country take advantage of the Realtor Nationwide Open House. “Realtors bring value to homebuyers and sellers, and this weekend, Realtors are bringing them together through the Nationwide ...

Pending home sales fell in April following increases in February and March, with unusual weather and economic softness adding to ongoing problems that are hobbling a recovery, according to the National Association of Realtors®. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, dropped 11.6 percent to ...

 U.S. banks and money lenders now own 872,000 homes, a number that could more than double in the coming years, real estate research firm RealtyTrac said. The current number of properties owned by banks and lenders is nearly double what they owned in 2007, before the housing market began to collapse, The New York Times reported ...

• More than half (54 percent) of U.S. adults believe recovery in the housing market will not happen until 2014 or later. In a previous survey conducted six months ago, 42 percent said they thought the market would turn around by 2012 or had already turned around. Now, only 23 percent continue to think this will happen. • 45 percent of ...