Real estate commission rebates are back in the news.

Last week, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen signed into law a bill that prohibits real estate agents and brokers from giving cash rebates to home purchasers. One of the arguments used by the legislators supporting the ban was that rebates encourage tax fraud, in that consumers would not report that money as income when they filed their personal tax returns.

With interest rates as high as they've been in 10 months, homeowners are refinancing in droves to fixed rate mortgages.

That could be a smart and timely move for those who can qualify for the switch.
Even a higher rate on a fixed rate mortgage (FRM) now could be a better deal than holding onto an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) in the process of upward interest rate adjustments.
It's a lot easier to budget for a mortgage payment based on a stable fixed rate rather than scramble every six months or so to keep up with payment adjustments on an ARM.

To Connie De Groot, a rising-star of a Beverly Hills real estate agent in Coldwell Bankers No. 1 office worldwide, choosing a full-time real estate agent isn't about anti-competitive behavior or shutting out part-time discounters.

It's about obtaining full-time service for the full-time job of selling or buying what's likely the owner's or buyer's greatest asset, says De Groot whose agent-to-the stars position in the high-priced West Los Angeles market doesn't hurt when it comes to her sales consistently ranking in the top 2 percentile among Coldwell Banker agents worldwide.

Now that "green" is in, taking an environmental stance seems easy. In the post-Gore crush of organizations jumping on the "green" bandwagon, Canadians should not neglect the thousands of individuals -- alone and in groups -- who dedicated years, decades and lifetimes to raising their voices to protect the environment while society was in a more destructive mode.

When "green" was just another term for money, being pro-environment could make you unpopular. Criticize industries and corporations for polluting and you may have been considered anti-jobs. Complaints about off-gases from building materials and concerns about environmental damage caused by harvesting lumber were swept aside by traditions in construction and architecture. Consumers played follow the leader and generally were not receptive to developers who tried to introduce new ideas.