It’s our weekly Real Estate Resource Round-up – a few stories that caught our eye this week! Remember, we find these stories every week – definitely not every real estate story out there. So, if there’s a story you’ve seen you want to share, post the links in the comments below!

Housing Forecasts for 2015: Resurgent Home Building and Restrained Optimism
Realtor.com chief economist Jonathan Smoke predicts that new-home sales will increase by 25% in 2015 from their current rate of roughly 440,000 for 2014.

10 things Americans want in their homes
Overall, people are generally satisfied with their homes, but there are some desires—both discretionary and non-discretionary—holding people back from being completely happy with where they live.

Mortgage refinancing falls despite rates at 18-month low
Applications to refinance a home loan fell 13 percent last week from the previous week, pushing overall application volume down 7.3 percent week-to-week.

REALTOR Productivity Study Shows High Optimism despite Low Inventory Concerns
A new study shows REALTORS^® are largely optimistic about their local markets, still struggle with low inventory challenges, and 60 percent of them are doing 100 percent of the business.

Special Report: Why the real estate industry does not compete on commission rates
Listings may still be hard to come by in many markets, but the overwhelming majority of real estate brokers and agents surveyed by Inman say they’re not about to compete for sellers by advertising that they’ll work for less than full commission.

13 Tips That Will Heat Up Your Winter Home Sale
Just because it’s cold outside, doesn’t mean the winter market’s the same. Some great tips to share with your customers how they can selling their home during the winter season.

Better Homes and Gardens^® Real Estate launches ‘Idea Shed’ Collaboration Platform
We’re excited to launch our new collaboration platform, Idea Shed. Can’t wait to see the great ideas that grow out of this effort!