The 2009 winners of the National Association of Real Estate Editors' journalism competition. Cyberhomes Editor Janine Sieja is third from left.
The new kid on the block picked up some cred over the weekend.
Cyberhomes attended the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Washington, D.C., last week and left with a first prize, Best Real Estate Website, in NAREE’s annual journalism awards — not too shabby for a first-time entrant.
The competition, 59 years running, is judged by journalism faculty of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. Judges’ criteria included overall graphics presentation, clarity of writing, objectivity, originality and depth of reporting. For the record, the precise category Cyberhomes won (it’s a mouthful): Best Web Site Solely Devoted to Residential or Commercial Real Estate and/or Home Design.
“This site has excellent consumer coverage for buyers and sellers about every aspect of the home sale process,” said Holden Lewis, NAREE president and Bankrate.com senior reporter. “Moreover, it is well written, well designed and easy to navigate. If you’re looking for a house; you should bookmark Cyberhomes, which is, in my opinion, more informative than its competitors. In addition to looking up home listings, you can get information about neighborhoods and schools, and the site’s blog is also useful.”
Thanks for the praise, Holden.
The Saturday awards ceremony was one segment of a packed conference agenda that spotlighted efforts the federal government is making to ease the housing meltdown. Attendees visited Capitol Hill on Friday for meetings with congressmen including Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Rep. Kit Bond (R-Mo.). Frank, the colorful chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, didn’t disappoint the group. Frank had this to say about the beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: “When the tide goes out, you can see who’s been swimming naked.”
Top officials from the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Treasury and Energy also addressed conference participants. A policy change being considered by one regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Authority (which oversees Fannie and Freddie) would allow distressed homeowners to refinance loan amounts higher than 105 percent of the home’s value, the current limit. Such a change would ease the pain of homeowners in the nation’s hardest-hit real estate markets.
With the journalism of real estate growing more interesting by the day, we’re already looking forward to next year’s conference, in a far-from-D.C. setting: Austin, Texas. —Janine Sieja