Authorities in Ohio have charged two men with the Sept. 20 murder of a 67-year-old Realtor who was showing a vacant home in Youngstown, and issued a warrant for a man wanted for questioning in the murder of another Realtor showing a home 40 miles away on the same day.

Police say the murders are unrelated, although one of the men charged in the Youngstown murder has also been charged along with his brother in the Sept. 15 robbery of another real estate agent showing an apartment.Robert Brooks, 25, of Youngstown, and Grant Cooper, 21, of Hubbard, are charged with the murder of Realtor Vivian D. Martin, 67, who was scheduled to show a vacant home in Youngstown at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 20.All rights reserved. This content may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News.Use of this content without permission is a violation of federal copyright law. [Read the full article]

Book Review Title: "Does This Make My Assets Look Fat? A Woman's Guide to Finding Financial Empowerment and Success" Author: Susan L. Hirshman Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2010; 320 pages; $17.99 at Amazon.com ($11.99 for e-book). As you may know, the smart/savvy woman consumer demographic holds a special place in my heart. It's how I self-identify, and this was the group I primarily served in my real estate business. I even wrote a couple of real estate guides for this group, on grounds that the informational cravings and lifestyle needs that women seek to feed in the course of buying a home are quite different than those of men. As a result, I'm always interested in personal finance materials that are obviously targeted to women, and have found them to vary very widely when it comes to the gimmick-to-substance quotient. [Read the full article]

Real estate search and marketing company Trulia.com is set to release the newest version of its mobile application for the Apple iPhone. The company expects Apple to approve its updated app as soon as Thursday.Trulia launched its iPhone app in September 2008. Since then the app has been downloaded more than 400,000 times (total for all versions).Trulia spokesman Ken Shuman said that the app is drawing "serious homebuyers," which is key, even if "We might not have the most downloads in the App Store."Over the past year, the company has seen mobile traffic to its website jump from 2 percent to 10 percent overall -- and 15 percent at peak times, according to Rob Cross, Trulia's director of distribution. [Read the full article]

DEAR BARRY: I am buying a home and need to hire a home inspector, but they are so expensive. How can I find an inspector who charges a reasonable price? --ElenorDEAR ELENOR: How would you define a "reasonable price"? Is it the lowest price possible? Or is it a fair price for the quality of service that you receive? Consider what is at stake. You are about to make one of the largest financial investments of your life. You want this to be a good investment, without any negative surprises.You don't want unexpected repair costs after you buy the property. In short, you want the most thorough and experienced home inspector you can find, regardless of price.When people price-shop for a home inspector, they assume that all inspectors provide the same degree of disclosure and that the only difference is price. This is a mistake that has saddled many homebuyers with costly regrets.Home inspectors do not provide equal degrees of disclosure. [Read the full article]