Sunday, April 22, is Earth Day — a time to appreciate this beautiful planet and raise awareness about the ways we can protect and make it better it for generations to come. 

Manhattan brokerage Town Residential is eliminating its sales and leasing operations to zero in on international and new development, a spokesperson for the firm confirmed on Friday. The move will force more than 400 agents to find a new home.

CNBC
US mall owner's CEO is about to retire, sparking deal speculation
CNBC
Macerich's chairman and CEO, Art Coppola, is set to retire at the end of this year, having led the company for 25 years, and the news is fueling the idea that more deal activity could be looming in the retail real estate industry. Already this year ...

The Real Deal
Special masters eyed for Cohen probe all have RE fraud experience
The Real Deal
Mueller is investigating potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian nationals in the 2016 presidential election, but the Trump real estate empire has come into increasing focus. Among the items of reported interest are emails to Cohen ...

On April 16, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed three three misdemeanor charges against real estate agent Melissa “Missy” Echeverria for raising the price of a rental from $5,000 per month to $9,000 per month ...

Bloomberg
A $66 Billion Investor Is Warming Up to European Bank Shares
Bloomberg
In the Bloomberg Europe 500 Banks and Financial Services Index, the median price-book value ratio is now 0.98. De Vries-Hippen said he sees “good banks” in the Netherlands after the Dutch government did “a great job” repairing the damage done by the ...

Streetsblog California (blog)
Lansing Is Your 2018 Parking Madness Champion!
Streetsblog California (blog)
In the last few weeks we've gotten to know 16 ugly asphalt wastelands overrun by surface parking. But only one city (per year) can emerge victorious from the Parking Madness bracket and win the Golden Crater™. Our readers have spoken, and this year ...

Federal regulators on Friday hit banking giant Wells Fargo with a $1 billion fine for violations involving home mortgages and auto insurance.

During our session, we spoke at length about disaster preparedness, stranded assets, rising home insurance rates, and the promise of new home technology — to each other. Out of the 150+ industry leaders who attended Disconnect, ours were the only two voices.

AccorHotels to pursue acquisitions, no special dividend
The Business Times
[PARIS] AccorHotels, Europe's biggest hotel group, will make further acquisitions in coming years, using cash from the sale of a majority stake in its property business rather than paying a special dividend, its chief executive said on Friday. In ...

Washington Post
An unexploded WWII bomb forced a mass evacuation in Berlin. There will be more to come.
Washington Post
Both on land and in the sea, the delayed impact of Europe's World War II legacy may not have reached its peak. As shells are rusting away in the North and Baltic Seas, toxic chemicals may begin to leak near popular beaches. On land, rising rents across ...

Facebook is under investigation for housing discrimination, again. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reopened an investigation into discriminatory housing advertisements on Facebook, according to a report in Gizmodo.

Real Estate Notebook: John Williams remembered; Dwindling intown industrial
Atlanta Business Chronicle
It's now one of the nation's fastest-growing real estate companies. Williams, who was 75, died unexpectedly April 16. The loss of such an iconic real estate developer stunned the Atlanta business community and longtime friends, including former DeKalb ...

Eight of the nation's largest multiple listing services have committed to taking decisive steps toward streamlining the delivery of listing data for real estate agents and brokers.

Reuters
Pricey US home sales soar as buyers ignore new tax code
Reuters
The 30-county data from realtor.com represent 98 percent of final closings unlike the less comprehensive, but more timely, samplings often used to indicate real estate activity. The counties account for 10 percent of all home sales and 60 percent of ...

In an effort to increase pre-market listing exposure for its customers, ZipLogix has introduced a new product called listFlash, which gives agents a way to rapidly distribute new listings to brokerage colleagues before they land on the multiple listing service (MLS). It's a "coming soon" alert, in essence.