2023

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Mortgage demand gets a boost as rates decline for three straight weeks

Housing Wire

When the 30-year fixed rate dropped for the third straight week in late March, homebuyers responded, giving a boost to mortgage applications. And, following investors’ rush into bonds after the recent bank failures earlier this month, yields moved even lower last week — and mortgage rates followed. Mortgage applications increased 2.9% week over week on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending March 24, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

Mortgages 410
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Get Ready: The Best Time To List Your House Is Almost Here

Keeping Current Matters

If you’re thinking about selling this spring, it’s time to get moving – the best week to list your house is fast approaching.

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Broker Spotlight: Alex and Margot Platt, The Platt Group at Compass

Inman

Find out how these Boca Raton natives use social media and the power of networking to create leverage and sell homes.

Brokerage 158
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Peek inside $75M family compound for sale on San Juan Island

Seattle Times Real Estate

A 90-acre property on San Juan Island hit the market this month for $75 million, among the most expensive listings ever in Western Washington.

Sales 105
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Real Estate Solutions: How to Crush Your Sales Goals and Fuel Your Pipeline

Speaker: Mary Maloney, Founder & Team Leader at Hometown Realty

The sales cycle in real estate is frequently measured at 3+ months. During this time, real estate agents frequently lose contact with clients and miss out on opportunities because they fail to follow up and provide value to the client. Top real estate agents are distinguished from developing agents by their ability to convert organic connections into sales opportunities.

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Only 5 of the top 20 real estate companies boosted sales in 2022

Real Estate News

In a tough year for real estate, many of the top companies and franchise brands held onto their rankings, but only a few were able to grow sales volume.

Sales 106
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Buying a New Construction Home

Windemere Buying

You’ve got several options to choose from when buying your next home. With existing homes, it’s in sellers’ best interest to spruce up their properties, so they’ll usually complete some kind of upgrades, curb appeal projects, and remodeling before hitting the market. A new construction home, however, has no previous owner; it comes brand new. Learning about the new construction buying process will help you understand how it differs from other types of housing, such as existing single-family home

More Trending

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How and Why You Want FHA Condo Approval

Realty Biz

A condo might be perfect if you don't want to buy a single-family home. Though, if you want to use an FHA loan , you might find it more difficult as condos need to be approved. There are many things to know about buying a condo , and this is one of them. We will take an in-depth look at the FHA condo approval process and the importance of doing so. What are FHA Approved Condos?

FHA loan 108
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How to Become a Successful Real Estate Agent (6 Simple Strategies)

The Close

When I first became a real estate agent in 2010, I waltzed into the office with a swagger that would make Beyoncé blush. My local market was booming. New luxury high-rises were popping up like weeds, and open houses looked more like trendy nightclubs with lines of eager buyers spilling out onto the sidewalk. How could I not become a successful real estate agent in that market?

Agents 126
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8 Tips for First-Time Home Sellers

Windemere Selling

You’ve seen “For Sale” signs around your neighborhood, but what does it take to actually put your home on the market? First-time home sellers often enter the selling process unaware of what’s to come, their heads full of questions. Understanding the selling process will inform your conversations with your real estate agent and will help you stay organized and on schedule as you sell your home for the first time.

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NAHB 2023 “Priced Out” Estimates – State and Local Estimates

Eye on Housing

NAHB recently released its 2023 priced out estimates, showing how higher prices and interest rates affect housing affordability. The new estimates show that 96.5 million households are already not able to afford a median priced new home in 2023 due to the fact that their incomes are insufficient to qualify for the required mortgage under standard underwriting criteria.

Mortgages 116
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Database Restoration: How to Revive Dead Leads and Generate New Ones

Speaker: Rivers Pearce, CEO of W8LESS

Successful real estate professionals know that the most powerful tool in their business (aside from their stellar personality, of course) is maintaining a robust database of past, current, and prospective clients. However, keeping your contacts in a spreadsheet, or worse, sitting in your iPhone, simply won’t cut it in today’s world. In this session, Rivers Pierce, CEO of W8LESS, will teach you how winning agents restore and revive their database to continue to gain market share.

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FHFA to expand payment deferrals for borrowers facing hardships

Housing Wire

Government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow borrowers facing financial hardships to defer up to six months of mortgage payments, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced on Wednesday. The option was previously available for borrowers who fell behind on their mortgage payments due to the financial impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the enterprises will start offering it for those experiencing other eligible hardships.

Mortgages 389
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Why Buying a Home Is a Sound Decision

Keeping Current Matters

If you’re thinking about buying a home, you want to know the decision will be a good one.

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@properties, Christie’s expand to Madison, Wisconsin, with affiliate

Inman

The independent brokerage formerly known as LeGrand Real Estate is the luxury brand's first affiliate in Madison, and its third in the state of Wisconsin. It is led by the mother-son team of Melissa LeGrand and Brogan Brunker.

Brokerage 158
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Seattle landlords can ask about criminal records, court rules

Seattle Times Real Estate

Seattle’s “Fair Chance Housing” law, passed in 2017, barred most landlords from asking prospective tenants about their arrest or conviction history.

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The Real Estate Pulse: Analyzing the 2022 Housing Market

Speaker: Grier Allen, CEO and Co-Founder of BoomTown

For real estate professionals, 2021 was an iconic year. And while the seller’s market continues to shape 2022, real estate experts predict significant changes in inventory, mortgage rates, home prices, and buyer’s checklists. It can be difficult to navigate these constant shifts. However, with the right strategy in place, there is no doubt that you can achieve success.

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Commissions lawsuit now a class action, greatly increasing its scope

Real Estate News

A judge ruled that the Moehrl suit would now cover all sellers who paid commissions to named companies over a 5-year period, plus “current and future” sellers.

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Summer Home-Selling Maintenance Checklist: 15 Expert Tips

HomeLight

Yikes… it was a rough winter, and maybe the spring-cleaning memo got lost in your inbox. Now it’s time to put your home on the market , but if you leave it unmaintained and unkempt, you’ll never impress potential buyers. You need a summer home-selling maintenance checklist. So, where should you start? We interviewed some of the top real estate agents about what buyers look for when they’re shopping for homes and found out everything we could about how to whip your home back into shape this summe

Agents 111
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The Recession That Loomed

Propmodo

The U.S. economy has been going through a rough patch, as economies are prone to do now and then. Last year, it met the informal threshold of a recession with two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product growth. But despite that, the National Bureau of Economic Research has not officially declared a recession yet. Typically, it takes them about a year to make that call as a recession is based on a broad range of economic factors.

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Homebot Acquires Quo, a Mobile App for First Time Homebuyers

Realty Biz

Homebot , an ASG home education portal that empowers consumers to make smart home finance decisions and facilitates meaningful engagement between loan officers, real estate agents, and their clients, today announced its acquisition of Quo Finance (“Quo”), a mobile app that helps first-time homebuyers secure their dream home and begin to build wealth.

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#Trending: How to Leverage Instagram’s Algorithm to Build Your Pipeline

Speaker: Eric Simon, Founder of The Broke Agent Media | Matt Lionetti, Real Estate Salesperson at The Agency

Social Media is one of the most efficient sales tools an agent can use! It has the potential to produce high-quality leads and foster client relationships when used effectively. As new social media tactics flood the market, agents are being inundated with the various apps and trends that could lead to their success. In this webinar, The Broke Agent and Matt Lionetti breakdown the strategies they utilized to grow their accounts to over 400,000 combined followers.

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Demand for homes continues to outpace inventory

Real Trends

If I told you more homes this week went into contract than last year at this same time, would that surprise you? How can that be? Well these are both supply-constrained markets. So while overall demand is much lower this year, there are still fewer homes on the market than we have demand for. And inventory fell again this week. This is not a story of too much demand Two of three home price leading indicators are down year over year.

Sales 118
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Homeownership Terms to Know: Pre-Approval, Pre-Qualification & More

Windemere Buying

Throughout the home buying process, you’ll encounter several checkpoints. At every stop, you’ll get closer to the ultimate goal of purchasing your next home. Each one satisfies unique criteria required to become a homeowner, and each one has its own terminology. Before you begin your home buying journey , it’s helpful to know about pre-approval, pre-qualification, and proof of funds, and the role they play in a real estate transaction.

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Concrete Products Lead Building Materials Prices Higher

Eye on Housing

After four consecutive declines, the producer price index (PPI) for inputs to residential construction less energy (i.e., building materials) rose 0.3% in February 2023 (not seasonally adjusted) follow a 1.1% increase in January (revised), according to the latest PPI report. Price growth of goods inputs to residential construction, including energy, gained 0.4% over the month.

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Housing Market Tracker: Mortgage rates and inventory fall together

Housing Wire

The financial and housing markets are still trying to sort out the banking crisis and whether we have seen the last Fed rate hike in this cycle. These events led to lower mortgage rates and increased purchase application data last week, but decreased housing inventory. Here’s a quick rundown of the last week: The 10-year yield had a Lord of Rings battle at a critical technical level, pushing mortgage rates lower at the end of the week with no real break in the bond market.

Mortgages 453
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The #1 Reason Why Sales Coaching is Critical to Your 2022 Sales Success

Speaker: Tim Hughes, Co-Founder and CEO of Digital Leadership Associates

In this era of social media, traditional ways of selling are not as effective as they used to be. As prospects become more proficient on social media, many organizations struggle to keep up, not knowing how to navigate the new digital landscape. With most of the world’s population active on social media, it is imperative that teams improve their sales strategies by investing in sales coaching & training.

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Is It Really Better To Rent Than To Own a Home Right Now?

Keeping Current Matters

You may have seen reports in the news recently saying it’s better to rent right now than it is to own your home. But before you let that impact your decisions, you should understand what these claims are based on.

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Bombshell multibillion-dollar commission suit now a class action

Inman

A judge on Wednesday granted class certification in a federal commission suit that could rock the real estate industry and impact how agents are compensated nationwide.

Agents 167
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WA efforts to cap rent hikes, give tenants more notice fail in Olympia

Seattle Times Real Estate

A bill to cap rent increases in Washington failed to pass before a key deadline Wednesday.

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Pending sales signal modest improvement in housing market

Real Estate News

NAR reported that February pending home sales were up 0.8% from January, making it the third consecutive month of increases.

Sales 104
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The Only Business Plan You'll Ever Need in Real Estate

Overthinking your business plan? The old and tired process of building a 12-month business plan simply doesn’t make sense for the modern real estate business. Learn how to build one that will actually help you keep on track, stay nimble, and close more deals in 2022. Download now!

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Curb Appeal: A Fresh Facade Makes a Statement

Coldwell Banker

Maybe your perfect house was “new” a few years ago and it’s time for a refresh, or perhaps you’re just ready to mix things up a bit. Whatever your motivation for a mini home makeover, it’s always smart to begin by focusing on the facade. Go beyond a fancy mailbox or a seasonal wreath and […] The post Curb Appeal: A Fresh Facade Makes a Statement appeared first on Coldwell Banker Blue Matter.

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The Next Big Multifamily Amenity: Flexible Rent Payments

Propmodo

The conversation surrounding which amenities are a must-have for multifamily properties has a funny way of changing as the market cycles. From a landlord’s perspective, offering unique or highly desirable amenities can give a property the extra oomph it needs to stand out in the marketplace. With a recession around the corner and the Fed gearing up to raise interest rates yet again, nearly everyone is bracing for the impending economic downturn.

Banks 116
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Miami-Dade Luxury Sales Surge

Realty Biz

Miami-Dade $1-million-and-up transactions surged triple digits versus pre-pandemic 2019 transactions as total pending home sales and showing appointments rose again for the second consecutive month, according to February 2023 statistics released today by the MIAMI Association of Realtors (MIAMI) and the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) systems. MIAMI Chairman of the Board Ines Hegedus-Garcia Miami real estate, which posted its second-most total home sales in history in 2022 despite an unprecedente

Sales 109
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6 top secrets to selling expired listings

Real Trends

Your No. 1 job in your real estate practice is to generate new business. Without a steady stream of new listings, nothing else matters. You could have the most polished listing presentation, be fantastic at prequalifying prospects and even be a great negotiator and closer, but without leads, none of that matters. Working with sellers of listings tha t didn’t sell can be a goldmine.

MLS 132
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How Sales Enablement is Supporting Social Selling in 2022

Speaker: Brynne Tillman CEO | LinkedIn Whisperer at Social Sales Link

In many organizations, Sales Enablement is owning both LinkedIn and Social Selling. LinkedIn, even the free version, is an essential sales tool that every sales professional should be using, while leadership is continuing to turn to Sales Enablement to ensure that the business development team has all the strategies and tactics they need to be successful.