Coldwell Banker Real Estate Ranked Highest Real Estate Franchise in Training Magazine's Annual Training Top 125

PARSIPPANY, NJ--(Marketwire - Feb 20, 2013) - Coldwell Banker Real Estate has been ranked No. 3 among organizations from all industries for its Coldwell Banker University training platform in the annual Training Top 125 by Training magazine, the training industry's premier publication. This marks the fourth consecutive year Coldwell Banker Real Estate appeared on the annual Training Top 125 list, improving on last year's No. 9 ranking and repeating as the best training organization in the real estate industry. Coldwell Banker was joined by Verizon, Jiffy Lube, Farmers Insurance and CHG Healthcare Services in the top five.

"We are extremely honored to see our training programs ranked as best in the real estate industry, and it is rewarding to see Coldwell Banker recognized as one of the top three training organizations in the world among all industries," said Budge Huskey, president and CEO of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. "We recognize the growing importance of exceptional training programs in today's evolving real estate industry and have further developed our Coldwell Banker University program to continue to provide our network with the tools and resources they need to reach their personal and professional best."

Coldwell Banker University continues to emphasize performance based courses, innovation and new platforms to train the brand's agents and managers. It now offers cloud-based content, facilitation of informal learning, video streaming and mobile learning, with the BlueView(SM) agent portal now accessible on iPad.

Additional advancements to Coldwell Banker University include:

• Investing in a standardized, cross-industry benchmarked quality measurement system that has helped document increased revenue as a direct outcome of courses
• Expanding course offerings that demonstrate tangible business results
• Enabling the sharing of best practices across the brand's network of 82,000 sales agents
• Developing course content that managers can use at the local level to directly train their agents

This is Training magazine's 13th annual competition that evaluates organizational learning programs and judges companies on a range of qualitative and quantitative factors. The ranking also considers how closely such development efforts are linked to each organization's business goals and objectives.

About Coldwell Banker
Since 1906, the Coldwell Banker organization has been a premier provider of full-service residential and commercial real estate. Coldwell Banker is the oldest national real estate brand in the United States and today has a network of 82,000 sales agents working in approximately 3,100 offices in 50 countries and territories. The Coldwell Banker brand is known for creating innovative consumer services as recently seen by being the first national real estate brand to create an iPad application and the first to fully harness the power of video in real estate listings, news and information through its Coldwell Banker On Location(SM) YouTube channel. The Coldwell Banker system is a leader in specialty markets such as resort, new homes and luxury properties through its Coldwell Banker Previews International^® marketing program. Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Each office is independently owned and operated. Coldwell Banker is a subsidiary of Realogy Holdings Corp. ( NYSE : RLGY ), a global leader in real estate franchising and provider of real estate brokerage, relocation and settlement services.

Have You Been Considering Buying?

By Jennifer Alvarez, Realtor

@Coldwell Banker Cocoa Beach Realty

Brevard County, Florida

realtor.jenniferalvarez@gmail.com • www.cocoabeachrealty.com/jenniferalvarez

If buying has crossed your mind there are three things to think about now...you may consider converting your dream into an existing reality...

1.) Rents continue to escalate, as is the demand...

The U.S. Census stated "rental vacancies have fallen to 8.8% in the first three months of 2012 from 9.4% in the fourth quarter, marking the lowest level in 10 years.  Rising demand for rental units, has pushed prices to the second-highest rate ever (since 1999).   The Census reported 132.6 million housing units in the United States in the first quarter. Some 114.1 million are occupied, with owners living in 74.6 million of them. Renters live in the rest."

2.) Property prices are on the rise, as is construction...

After years of steady and double digit declines in Brevard County, the median residential sales price increased by 10.5% from 2011 to 2012.  Florida Today reported "Brevard homebuilders see signs of resuscitation".  For the first time in several years, the profusion of  foreclosures is seemly coming to an end and developments in the area is one again building

3.) Mortgage interest rates have in shown increase, as may the loan qualification guidelines soon...

Bank Rate.com reported that from 2012 to 2013 "The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 11 basis points to 3.77%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 9 basis points to 3.03%. The average rate for 30-year jumbo mortgages, or generally for those of more than $417,000, rose 9 basis points to 4.17%.  The 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage rose 7 basis points to 2.78%.

 

Federal regulators ("Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Securities and Exchange Commission) are considering a regulation that could create difficulty for most.  Known as the QRM (Qualified Residential Mortgage rule). If goes in effect, a requirement from many home buyers to have at least a 20% down payment in order to qualify for a best interest rate mortgage, and possibly of the FICO score minimum increased even more. 

Cocoa Beach Ranked #3 in Florida!

Cocoa Beach finished third in a statewide ranking of the best beaches. Clearwater Beach in the Tampa Bay area was number one. 

“They might be the best beach town, but we’re the funnest beach town,” said Dave Netterstrom, mayor of Cocoa Beach. 

USA TODAY had “Dr. Beach,” Florida International University professor Stephen Leatherman, choose 10 Florida destinations that combine sand, surf and a welcoming sense of community. Readers then voted online to pick their favorites. 

Nearly 30,000 votes were received. Clearwater Beach took 25 percent of the votes, followed by Siesta Key, Cocoa Beach and Sanibel Island. 

Netterstrom said he had recently been in a discussion to start work on improving Cocoa Beach’s brand. He’d like to see a return of the reputation the area had during the Space Race – one of astronauts and celebrities sunning on the setting of “I Dream of Jeannie,” though the show was actually filmed in California. 

“We want to be the cool place to be,” Netterstrom said. He said he plans to hire an economic development director to market the city’s assets. 

“In a way, we’d like to brag about being the best beach town, but on the other end we’d kind of like to keep it a secret,” he said. “Maybe third is not a bad position to be in.”