The NY1 Real Estate report recently offered tips on what sellers need to know when hiring a broker. But buyers looking for a broker need a whole other set of things to keep in mind.

First, many people do not realize that when they hire a buyer’s broker, that person works for the buyer but the buyer does not pay the commission.

Full story is available on NY1 Real Estate

Orange County housing hot spots are near the beach.

For the 22 business days ending Jan. 19 – freshest numbers from DataQuick — our region-by-region analysis of local real estate trends finds Orange County homebuying slicing up by geography this way …

Full story is available on OCRegister

Do you fit any of these descriptions?

• You came through the housing bust and recession far more debt-averse than you were before.
• You’ve been reluctant to consider selling your house because you don’t believe you’ll get what it’s really worth.
• Buying a new home is out of the question, even with today’s low interest rates, because it’s so difficult to qualify for a mortgage.

Full story is available on Los Angeles Times

Q: My uncle recently bought a foreclosed home and now we read about the illegal robo-signing. Is there a chance that my uncle might have his house taken back?

– Pam M., Las Vegas

A: This is a good and increasingly common question. With all the discussion and news coverage surrounding these so-called robo-signing scandals, there’s no doubt that this is a serious issue for us here in Nevada.

Full story is available on Las Vegas  Review Journal

Let me count the ways — I mean, the things — you can and should be doing now if you want to buy this year. The recession has done lots of favors for buyers-to-be, including dropping prices and interest rates to bargain levels. But it has also created a lending and housing market climate in which loans are tough to get, tensions about buying into a down market run high, and transactions are harder and longer to close than they have ever been.

If I were talking to a friend who wanted to throw a New Year’s 2013 party in her new home, here are the things I’d tell her to do, stat:

1. Fix credit problems. More deals than ever are dying on the vine, and credit problems are a top reason home-sale transactions fall out of escrow.

Full story is available on inman.com

The flip side of the depressed state of the housing market is that new buyers or those upgrading may find great bargains.

Given that buying a home is one of the largest financial decision most families will make in their lifetime, it is important that you give plenty of thought before making a change.

Full story is available on kare11.com

There are two things you can count on when you become a homeowner: You get more tax breaks, and your taxes get more complicated. Whether you’ve purchased a single-family home, townhouse or condominium, tax breaks are available to you.

It’s time to get familiar with Form 1040 and Schedule A, because that’s where you will have to provide all the details about your new tax-deductible expenses.

Full story is available on MSN Money

How Facebook Facebook Latest from The Business Journals San Francisco’s hottest ‘hood? Try TriSoMaWant Facebook shares? You may already own someFamily of Facebook founder, other execs to do well in IPO Follow this company ’s blockbuster IPO will impact Silicon Valley’s housing market is something Realtors, potential home buyers and sellers alike have been paying attention to for months.

This week, I talked to a few Realtors in the area and heard some interesting things about what this mega IPO could mean for folks looking to buy or sell a home. To sum it up, they predict: higher prices, multiple offers, unsolicited offers and crazy demand in already tight markets. Oh, and potential East Bay migration.

Full story is available on bizjournals.com

Fewer people are buying and more people are renting — some by necessity and some by choice.

Information from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that 66.3 percent of Americans owned their own home in 2011, down from a high of about 69 percent in 2004.

Full story is available on OurMidland.com

For George Allen, buying houses and giving his children the mortgage over the years has been a way of “keeping it in the family.”

It’s a win-win. Allen acts as the bank. He gets a decent return on his investment as his children pay down the loan with interest, consistent with prevailing mortgage rates. The kids avoid mortgage fees and closing costs, and get to space out tax and home insurance payments.

Full story is available on NorthJersey