Housing News
Twitter Bans List of 370 Passwords You Shouldn’t Use There or Elsewhere
When you signed up for Twitter, if you were a newbie to the web, you probably picked a password like “password” or “12345678” which are now banned along with 368 other password choices for being “too obvious.”
TechCrunch compiled the full list and asks what I was thinking- how did they come up with the 370 “too obvious” passwords they’ve banned? Did they analyze current passwords on Twitter or did they consult with one of those got-really-rich-in-1999-hackers to advise them?
Regardless, it is imperative for your overall web security that you choose passwords that are not obvious. If you check out the List of 370 banned passwords, you’ll see that most of them are under 10 characters and few of them combine words and numbers. It’s a good idea to keep your passwords obscure and complicated so obviously, don’t use your birthday, your spouse’s name or other sentimental details. Because I’m a digital native (was raised with computers in my life), it is natural for me to consider my passwords but that’s not the case with everyone, so keep a smart mind about your passwords, change them frequently (I do it almost monthly but that’s pretty paranoid, you don’t have to go quite THAT far).
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Housing News
Average age of houses on the rise, so is it now better or worse to buy new?
With aging housing in America, are first-time buyers better off buying new or existing homes? The average age of a home is rising, as is the price of new housing, so a shift could be upon us.
The average home age is higher than ever
(REALUOSO.COM) – In a survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development American Housing Survey (AHS), the median age of homes in the United States was 35 years old. In Texas, homes are a bit younger with the median age between 19 – 29 years. The northeast has the oldest homes, with the median age between 50 – 61 years. In 1985, the median age of a home was only 23 years.
With more houses around 40 years old, the National Association of Realtors asserts that homeowners will have to undertake remodeling and renovation projects before selling unless the home is sold as-is, in which case the buyer will be responsible to update their new residence. Even homeowners who aren’t selling will need to consider remodeling for structural and aesthetic reasons.
Prices of new homes on the rise
Newer homes cost more than they used to. The price differential between new homes and older homes has increased from 10 percent traditionally to around 37 percent in 2014. This is due to rising construction costs, scarcity of lots, and a low inventory of new homes that doesn’t meet the demand.
Click here to continue reading this story…
Housing News
Are Realtors the real loser in the fight between Zillow Group and Move, Inc.?
The last year has been one of dramatic and rapid change in the real estate tech sector, but Realtors are vulnerable, and we’re worried.
Why Realtors are vulnerable to these rapid changes
(REALUOSO.COM) – Corporate warfare demands headlines in every industry, but in the real estate tech sector, a storm has been brewing for years, which in the last year has come to a head. Zillow Group and Move, Inc. (which is owned by News Corp. and operates ListHub, Realtor.com, TopProducer, and other brands) have been competing for a decade now, and the race has appeared to be an aggressive yet polite boxing match. Last year, the gloves came off, and now, they’ve drawn swords and appear to want blood.
Note: We’ll let you decide which company plays which role in the image above.
So how then, does any of this make Realtors the victims of this sword fight? Let’s get everyone up to speed, and then we’ll discuss.
1. Zillow poaches top talent, Move/NAR sues
It all started last year when the gloves came off – Move’s Chief Strategy Officer (who was also Realtor.com’s President), Errol Samuelson jumped ship and joined Zillow on the same day he phoned in his resignation without notice. He left under questionable circumstances, which has led to a lengthy legal battle (wherein Move and NAR have sued Zillow and Samuelson over allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets), with the most recent motion being for contempt, which a judge granted to Move/NAR after the mysterious “Samuelson Memo” surfaced.
Salt was added to the wound when Move awarded Samuelson’s job to Move veteran, Curt Beardsley, who days after Samuelson left, also defected to Zillow. This too led to a lawsuit, with allegations including breach of contract, violation of corporations code, illegal dumping of stocks, and Move has sought restitution. These charges are extremely serious, but demanded slightly less attention than the ongoing lawsuit against Samuelson.
2. Two major media brands emerge
Last fall, the News Corp. acquisition of Move, Inc. was given the green light by the feds, and this month, Zillow finalized their acquisition of Trulia.
…Click here to continue reading this story…
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Blair - Homes for Sale in Utah
December 29, 2009 at 10:04 am
Hey there! I can’t imagine the password I’ve been using since I started creating accounts on the internet were one of the passwords banned by twitter. Well, that’s not nice, I think I have to stop using it from now on. anyway, thanks for letting us informed about this. 😉
Paul
December 29, 2009 at 2:46 pm
What a clever way to stop there users from being hacked!
Sumina Bhatti
January 2, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Hey Lani, check out LastPass.com. It is an online password management system that is pretty highly ranked by my resident tech-expert. I have been using it for a while now and life is a LOT easier. It can also autogenerate passwords as well, so they are super-secure.