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Important homeowner information

May 23, 2012
The Best Places to Live: What makes a location the best place to live, work or retire? We've gathered the top lists into one spot to help you determine just that! Find out which cities are ranked as the safest to live in, which cities have the best job opportunities, which cities are more family friendly and much more in this field guide.

May 21, 2012
Single-Property Websites: Property marketing is always a challenge. How do you make sure your client's property gets the attention it needs? How do you make it easy for buyers to learn about your property? Some REALTORS® are turning to single-property websites to feature an individual property on a dedicated site. Is the time and effort of creating a single-property website worth it? See what others are saying.

May 21, 2012
Investing in Real Estate: Is now the right time to be investing in real estate? Some say yes, some say no, and some say it depends. In a declining market, there are bargains, but don't look for a quick flip. If you're thinking long term, you can find some great deals. So if you're ready to take the plunge or want to be ready for brighter days ahead, find out how to get started, invest with IRAs, use real estate as a retirement tool, get information on rental homes, buying tax liens, real estate partnerships and much more in these books and articles.

May 16, 2012
Technology Tools for AEs: This guide will help you learn tips for doing information technology yourself, keep up with legal issues and learn new training ideas.

May 15, 2012
Preparing and Staging a House for Sale: Banish the clutter! Trim the bushes! Hide your Star Wars collection! Take down the family pictures! What can you do to prepare a house for sale? Here are tips, hints, thoughts and ideas for sprucing up, cleaning out, decorating, staging, creating a great first impression and making a house appealing to buyers.

May 1, 2012
New Books in the Library (May 2012): What's new in the Information Central library collection? This month you'll find books on Transformational Leadership, Property Law, Appraising Residential Properties and many more. Interested in borrowing any of these titles from the library? Simply click on the title to make your request right over the web!

May 18, 2012
New eBooks in the Library (May 2012): What's new in the Information Central eBook collection? This month our featured eBook section is Secrets of Selling. You'll also find some of the following new titles in our "just added" section on the eBook home page: Best Practices of High-Performing Salespeople, The Contrarian Effect, Marketing and Sales Strategy, Sell or Be Sold and many more. Interested in borrowing any of these titles from the eBook collection? Simply click on the title to make your request right over the web!

November 13, 2011
This month in real estate history: Remembering three REALTORS who Met Their Fate on the Titanic: Sunday, April 15, marks 100 years since the sinking of the RMS Titanic. Three REALTORS® were among the 1,500 people who were lost when the "unsinkable" ship struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic. Find out more in "This Month in Real Estate History" from the NAR Archives.

March 1, 2012
Development Impact Fees: Impact fees, or development fees, are expenditures that developers are required to make as a precondition to approval of their projects. Impact fees are generally used to finance roads, schools, affordable housing, transit systems, and other projects and services in municipalities throughout the United States. The fees are frequently passed on by developers to purchasers in the price of a new property and, therefore, increase the cost of housing and decrease the profitability of a particular project. This Updated Field Guide page includes articles, studies, Supreme Court decisions, and other material on the debate over impact fees.

March 1, 2012
Sale Leasebacks and Synthetic Leases: Often used as a financing alternative, sale-leasebacks offer financially struggling companies access to cash to pay down debt and improve the bottom line. And in a post-Enron environment, sale-leasebacks provide an alternative to the less favorable option of synthetic leases. Find out how sale-leaseback transactions have helped the balance sheets of hotel, restaurant, retail, and other businesses, in this Updated Field Guide.

March 1, 2012
Appraisal of Real Estate Offices and Selling Your Book of Business: Whether you own a real estate firm or are thinking of buying or selling one, it's important to know what the business is worth. The following articles and studies in this Updated Field Guide can provide some insight into determining the value of a real estate firm and its assets.

September 6, 2011
Twitter Videos: Have you as a REALTOR® jumped into the Twitter game? According to the 2010 CRT Technology Survey, about 30% of REALTORS® are on Twitter. If you’ve thought about it, but aren’t sure how Twitter might fit in to your life, Kate from NAR’s Information Central has just completed a series of videos on Twitter basics, how to get started, where to find followers, and more. Take a look and let us know what you think!

August 5, 2011
New Library Catalog!: Make the library your first stop for personal and professional reading through the new Library Catalog at www.Realtor.org/library, or go directly to http://realtors.kohalibrary.com/.

In addition to the 12,000+ books, reports, CDs and DVDs in the traditional collection, the library also offers a digital collection of 2300+ books, audiobooks and videos and nearly 1700 journals through Proquest.

Go to catalog >

May 16, 2011
Contact Information Central via Instant Message, Skype, or Twitter: Have a quick research question or just want to keep up with all the doings at Information Central?

Instant Message/SMS:You can now text us from your mobile phone with questions. Using the service is easy. Simply text "AskNAR" to 66746 for instructions. Text us anytime, and we'll respond during regular business hours. Although NAR does not charge for this service, your carrier's regular message and data rates may apply.

Skype:Contact us via Skype Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Central time. NAR Information Central's Skype screen name is narinfocentral.

Twitter:Contact us on Twitter anytime (infocentralnar,) at @askNAR. Send us a public or private tweet, and we'll reply as soon as possible.

Or, contact us via instant message (IM). Start typing where indicated in the box below for a quick response, or contact us via AIM (narinfocentral), Google Talk (narinfocentral), Yahoo! Messenger. or Windows Live Messenger/MSN, and a FaceBook page.

December 28, 2007
Social Networking: Last year, Information Central reported on social networking tools in A Web 2.0 Sampler: YouTube, ActiveRain, and iTV. Since that time, many more technologies have gained momentum as powerful networking and marketing tools for REALTORS®. As expected, social networking websites and applications continue to take the lead when it comes to "must have" technologies. In this new report you will find tech tools you absolutely must know about to reach those tech savvy consumers. Find out more in the latest technology report from NAR's Information Central.

October 12, 2007
A Look Back at Real Estate's Beginnings: The latest video in our series on our favorite resources for REALTORS® and association staff takes a look at the 1958 book Real Estate in American History by Pearl Janet Davies.