Agent Survey Reflects Continued Optimism Ahead of Anticipated Industry Changes
The Real Brokerage Inc. announced results from its March 2024 Agent Survey, offering insights into housing market trends and real estate agent expectations across the United States and Canada. The survey reveals continued optimism among agents about future market conditions in both the United States and Canada, despite expectations of a continued year-over-year decline in industry transactions in March. The survey also highlights agent expectations for improved transparency and readiness as the industry prepares to implement practice changes associated with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently announced settlement agreement. "We are grateful for the perspectives of our growing agent base, which has now surpassed the 17,000 milestone," said Tamir Poleg, Chairman and CEO of Real. "Their opinions and insights are essential in guiding our approach, ensuring we remain thoughtful and agile as we navigate industry shifts together." "Embracing change and fostering transparency are cornerstones of our culture," remarked Sharran Srivatsaa, President of Real. "Our agents' continued resilience and adaptability are critical as we position the company to capitalize on evolving industry dynamics and emerge even stronger." Key Findings Agents Remain Positive About Forward Outlook, Although Optimism Index Ticks Down Sequentially from February Level Real asked agents at the end of March 2024, "Compared to one month ago, are you more optimistic or pessimistic about the outlook for your primary market over the next 12 months?" Among the agents surveyed, 45% felt more optimistic and an additional 15% felt significantly more optimistic about the next 12 months, outweighing the 13% who felt more pessimistic and 7% who felt significantly more so. The average response among survey participants resulted in a weighted index reading of 63.3 on a 0-100 scale, with scores above 50 reflecting a positive outlook and those below 50, a negative one, thus signaling an expectation for improving year-over-year growth trends in the year ahead. March's index level showed a slight decline from February's 69.2, indicating lower optimism compared to the end of February, primarily due to a decline among U.S. agents, which offset improved optimism among agents surveyed in Canada. Balance of Power Shifts Further Towards Sellers When asked "Would you consider your primary market to be a buyer's market, seller's market, or balanced market?" 61% percent of agents noted sellers have the upper hand, an increase of 4 percentage points from February, while only 13% of agents believe buyers have the upper hand in their markets. Total North American Home Sale Industry Transactions Expected to Decline Year over Year in March Real asked agents, "In your primary market, how would you describe the number of transactions closed in March 2024 compared to March 2023?" The average response among survey participants resulted in a weighted index reading of 48.6 on a 0-100 scale, with scores above 50 indicating growth and below 50, a decline. The results suggest a modest decline in total industry transactions across the U.S. and Canada during March 2024 compared to March 2023, with a decline in the U.S. home sales market, while the Canadian market is expected to grow. March's index reading of 48.6 was slightly below February's 48.7 level. More Pronounced Decline Expected in the U.S. in March - The total number of U.S. home sale transactions is expected to decline in March 2024 compared to March 2023. Agent responses indicate a more pronounced pace of decline in March relative to February, with the average response among survey participants resulting in a March weighted index reading of 47.3, below the 48.5 level reached in February. Canada Market Growth Accelerates - Agents surveyed in Canada signaled accelerating year-over-year growth compared to February, with the average response among survey participants resulting in the overall Canadian weighted index rising to 62.9 in March from 51.8 in February. Affordability and Low Inventory Remain the Biggest Challenges Challenges for prospective home buyers include affordability/interest rates (47%) and inventory shortages (40%), with economic uncertainty and buyer competition tying for a distant third (each at 5%). Over One Third of Agents Expect Practice Changes to Improve Commission Rate Transparency Agents were asked whether they believe (i) a new rule prohibiting offers of buyer broker co-op compensation on the MLS and (ii) a requirement that MLS participants working with buyers enter into written agreements with their buyers, would improve transparency regarding commission rates in real estate transactions. Thirty-seven percent of agents surveyed believe these industry practice changes would improve transparency, compared to 29% who believed the changes would be neutral, and an additional 29% who believed the changes would not improve transparency. Agents See Buyer Agency Agreements as an Opportunity to Communicate the Value Agents Bring to a Transaction Forty-five percent of agents surveyed believe securing written buyer agent agreements will be relatively easy, contrasting with 27% who foresee potential difficulties. Meanwhile, 23% of agents are neutral on the issue, believing the ease of securing a written agreement will depend on each client's understanding of industry practices. Approximately Half of Agents Anticipate a Decline in Buy-Side Commission Rates Due to the Proposed Practice Changes Thirty-nine percent of agents surveyed expect buy-side commission rates to decline slightly as a result of the proposed practice changes, while an additional 12% expect buy-side commission rates to decrease significantly. This compares to 35% of agents who expect buy-side commission rates to remain about the same, and 9% who see an opportunity for buy-side commission rates to increase as a result of the proposed changes.

[Podcast] Housing Sustainability: Navigating Economic Challenges for Homeowners
In this episode of The National Housing Conference's Beyond Four Walls podcast, experts share best practices, insights into borrower empowerment, and innovative strategies for keeping individuals and families in their homes during challenging times. By addressing the unique needs of diverse communities and collaborating with stakeholders, this podcast seeks to reshape the narrative of mortgage servicing as a proactive force for housing stability. Beyond Four Walls: Conversations on Affordable Housing goes beyond the rhetoric and engages with key figures in the housing and finance sectors to discuss tangible, impactful, and achievable solutions to the affordable housing crisis. The podcast also focuses on the personal stories of these housing leaders and policymakers and the journeys that have shaped them into the accomplished leaders they are today. The conversations promise to be insightful, challenge conventional wisdom, and shed light on innovative approaches that can make a real difference. Listen on: Spotify Amazon Apple Podcasts Visit the episode homepage for show notes and more detail.

Real AI: AI in 2024, fast facts, top headlines and Quote of the Week
Real AI is a 100% human-created weekly roundup of all things AI in real estate and emerging AI innovations in other sectors likely to impact real estate. AI in 2024 "This is only the beginning." That's what my youngest son said when we talked about AI during a holiday family dinner with three generations this week. He was explaining this to his 83-year-old grandparents how AI's exponential growth will continue. Proud dad here: He is one smart kid (Boise State grad with highest honors in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Electrical Engineering, now working for Epic Systems in Madison, WI), who sees what we see in terms of AI being a fabric of our lives and not a fast-fading fad. 2024 could make 2023's rocket-speed growth of Generative AI look more like a trot than a sprint. The real estate industry has a jump-start on embracing AI and we see that continuing. The emergence of AI personal assistance is not a future thing, it's a 2024 thing. If you want to validate the continued explosion of all things AI, as my wife's dad told me years ago: follow the money. The Economist got it right: Generative AI will go mainstream in 2024. Data firms are going to continue to be showered with dollars. Ponder this: ChatGPT is only a year old; think what it might do as a two-year old! Yes, there will be bumps in the road. We had to chuckle when the NY Times claimed in its lawsuit against OpenAI that ChatGPT alters The NY Times content and even attributes stories that The Times never wrote. No duh (see "AI lies"). But AI will prevail in 2024. Watch out for greater use of these buzz words, driven by AI advancements: voice activated, content intelligence, smart search and personalized search, omnichannel experiences, AI analytics, immersive experiences, mixed reality, super screeners, and your own personalized bot. And because of real estate love acronyms, because of AI, more of us will be using ML, NLP, and LLM in our daily lexicon, not just tech heads. Ryan Thomson, a sports enthusiast and motivational speaker said, "It's not about how fast you go. It's about how long you go fast," which is likely to be the mantra for AI in our lives in 2024 and beyond. AI Five Fast Facts Generative AI's potential annual impact on the global economy may range from $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion, based on the 63 use cases examined by McKinsey. Note: The total GDP of the United Kingdom in 2021 was $3.1 trillion. Goldman Sachs reports that AI could potentially replace 7% of all jobs in the United States, while improving 63% of US jobs, and leaving 30% untouched by AI. Generative AI has the potential to boost marketing productivity, with a value equivalent to 5% to 15% of the entire marketing spending, according to McKinsey. Media firm Insider found 56% of survey participants believe that AI-generated content is biased or inaccurate. A study by Tidio discovered the tasks that people most frequently delegate to ChatGPT are writing code (27%), explaining complex concepts in simple terms (25%), and preparing for job interviews (24%). Source: Various collected by AIMultiple AI Headlines Take 5 Demystifying Responsible AI For Business Leaders | 12/22/23 - Information WeekStriking a balance between ownership, privacy, and accuracy is crucial for using AI successfully. After a big 2023, make no mistake: Artificial intelligence is here to stay | 12/26/23 - Inman NewsAI is no fad, fast becoming an essential part of the real estate industry. New York Times Sues Microsoft and OpenAI, Alleging Copyright Infringement | 12/27/23 - Wall Street JournalWhen content is used to train AI, is it "fair use" or "copyright infringement"? The courts will eventually decide, and the impact could be massive. Trends to Watch: The Impact of AI on Startups Across Industries in 2024 | 12/22/23 - AI BusinessConsolidation of AI platforms, the adoption of fully integrated solutions, and focus on specialized sectors are some of the emerging trends among AI startups. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the real estate market | 12/26/23 - MediumA practical review of how real-estate related consumer search, marketing, and investing will impact real estate. Quote of the week To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

[Podcast] AI and Tech Trends in Real Estate with Jake Hamilton
In this episode, Michael Lucarelli sits down with Jake Hamilton, Chief of Staff at Lone Wolf Technologies, an end-to-end real estate software suite for brokerages and agents. The conversation revolves around the potential of AI in the real estate industry and its practical applications, including speeding up research, extracting critical information from lengthy documents, and streamlining work processes without sacrificing originality and creativity. The two men also talk about the potential of technological integration in the workflow of real estate agents to improve efficiency. Finally, Jake provides a sneak peak of Lone Wolf's future offerings, including next-gen back office tech and a unified platform experience. Listen to the full episode above, or click one of the links below to listen on the podcast service of your choice: ‍Apple Podcasts‍ Spotify‍ To view the original article, visit the RentSpree blog.

Consumer Savings Are Running Out. What Does That Mean for Real Estate?
Real estate values have been holding the realm of suspended values. Despite the incredible rise in interest rates, home prices have remained resilient. Most homeowners are locked in a low mortgage rate, demonstrating that people buy payments and not for the price of a home. This has reduced the turnover of homes, stifling the move-up-buyer and keeping inventory levels low. Homebuyers have no choice but to step up to the higher home prices today – but this all may change. One of my favorite economists in real estate, Elliot Eisenberg the Bowtie Economist, wrote that: During the Covid pandemic, Americans saved an additional $2.1 trillion above and beyond normal savings because of stimulus checks, an inability to travel and so on. Since August 2021, $1.9 trillion of that amount has been spent suggesting there remains just $200 billion. At a drawdown rate of $100 billion/month, the rate that has prevailed since mid-2022, the excess will be fully exhausted during 23Q3. He has a great blog that sends economic snapshots like this almost every day, and he is an amazing speaker. You can subscribe to the blog here. As I absorbed this snapshot about consumer savings, it shocked me into the belief that America is in for an economic drop this fall and winter. The flip side of savings is debt. On August 16, Eisenberg indicated that debt was up $.4 trillion in the second quarter; 70% of that household debt is in the home. (Sidebar: 9.2% of the debt is in student loans – rather than canceling student loans on the backs of taxpayers, I hope our government taps the endowments of universities to pay for loan forgiveness. You should suggest this to your representatives.) Typically, when consumers lack money in their checking account, retail takes a hit. On August 15, Eisenberg noted that retail has faced six months of decline. Retail is 38% of all consumer spending. With all of this bad news, one would think that the mortgage delinquency rate would be going up. To the contrary, Eisenberg writes on August 14 that delinquency rates are down to 3.37% – the lowest since record keeping in 1979. Foreclosure rate is .53%. Homeowners have a ton of equity in their homes. You may wonder, what is happening to credit and credit cards? Well, the U.S. credit rating was dropped from AAA to AA+. I think that this is the first time in history (Eisenberg, Aug. 1). Government spending is up 2.4%, but we have a looming government shutdown with the budget battle in the months ahead. Credit card balances went past the $1 trillion mark. They rose nearly 5% between first and second quarters of 2023. For me, the combination of this data indicates a negative economic outlook for America and housing. Housing is already down between 20% and 35% in most major cities – indicating that real estate is definitely in a recession. The only way to reverse this negative trend is to ease interest rates. Unfortunately, the Federal Reserve is still fighting inflation and likely to hold interest rates, or worse, raise them during their upcoming meetings in Jackson Hole. Our hope is that WAV Group's Mark McLaughlin, a resident of Jackson Hole, will get some good insights. The meetings start August 24. This is going to continue to put pressure on America's public real estate brokerages. Zillow is -$.73 earnings per share (EPS). Compass – $1.06 EPS, Anywhere -$4.45 EPS, Redfin -$2.07, Elliman -$.51, RE/MAX $.01, and EXP $.05. I would look for RE/MAX and EXP to head into negative territory with the others in the third and fourth quarters, probably staying there until we get some signal on the outcome of the elections. Our brokerage guidance is that you should maintain a hold on spending, or cut spending. This is an opportune time for brokerage consolidation. Talk to other brokers in the market about how you can combine offices through a merger to cut losses. The WAV Group M&A division can help identify merger candidates. Contact Victor Lund or George Slusser. If you want to learn the process of M&A on your own, buy our book, Acquiring More Profit, and its companion M&A workbook. The workbook has spreadsheets for financials, NDA, offer letters, confidentiality agreements, etc. It's a great read and will put you on the right path. The digital edition is the best value! Click here to purchase your downloadable copy now! If you would prefer the physical printed version, visit Barnes and Noble's site (Amazon is sold out). To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

The Latest US Migration Trends and How Brokers Can Use Them to Their Advantage
Buyers and sellers have a lot to think about before deciding to contact an agent. So many factors go into buying or selling a home. Sometimes, buyers have no choice: they get a new job, either across town or across the country, and have to relocate to be closer to work. Other times, they want to move to a new neighborhood so that their children can go to a better school, or they've built up enough equity that they want to graduate from their starter home into something their family can grow into. Whatever the reason, we know that when people move somewhere new, there is very often one (or even more) real estate transactions that need to happen. Recent trends in migration are giving brokers a new reason to invest in their relocation workflows and mine this incredible source of leads. Trends affecting American migration patterns As we've talked about in previous posts, according to NAR, 43% of homebuyers today are millennials, the highest percentage of any age group. The economic and social trends affecting this age group are also affecting migration patterns across the country. Let's look at some of these trends and how your brokerage can leverage them. Remote work and newfound buyer flexibility A survey reported in the New York Times found that as of April 2023 12% of workers were fully remote and 28% were hybrid. More and more employers are willing to grant their teams additional flexibility about where and how they work, which means employees are increasingly free to live where they want, not necessarily where their jobs are. In some cases, like in Silicon Valley, companies are changing office locations, too, giving their employees an opportunity to relocate to the same city or somewhere new entirely. Changing interest rates and budgetary constraints It's no secret that interest rates are the highest they've been since the 1980s. This has had a big effect on affordability, and for many buyers, it's a moving target. For example, if Sally Buyer prequalifies for a $400,000 mortgage at 4% interest, she might only qualify for $375,000 at 4.5% interest (just a half a percentage point increase), even if all other factors remain the same. Suddenly, properties she was considering are out of budget. In an environment where interest rates are expected to rise a bit more, some of your buyers may need to shift their search outside of your brokerage's service area. A referral becomes a win-win way to provide great customer experience and serve your own business goals. Increase in long-distance migration According to the Brookings Institution, local moves (defined as moves within the same county) are at a historic low. At the same time, long-distance moves (defined as moves across state lines) have increased year on year since 2020. Let's think back to the high percentage of leads that come from referrals: what happens when local referrals are at an all-time low, but the potential for long-distance referrals is much greater than in years past? The answer is still referrals—but relocation referrals, provided you have the right tools to manage them. Cost of living and high-amenity cities Another surprising trend is that white collar professionals are starting to make new and unconventional decisions about where they live. Cost of living and affordability are somewhat subjective, as each household or individual determines what income they need to feel comfortable where they live. According to a data analysis conducted by and reported in the New York Times, an increasing number of college graduates with higher-than-average incomes are following in the footsteps of their peers without college degrees and are leaving large coastal metro areas—New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc.— where the cost of living is highest, and moving to midsize and smaller metro areas. A major reason movers cite is that these new cities offer the same kinds of amenities they had in the big city, but at two-thirds of the cost, or even less. Another data point worth paying attention to: having a degree is also a strong indicator of home ownership. According to Point2, 70% of homeowners have at least an associate or a bachelor's degree, while the share of homeowners who never finished high school is only 7%. Degree holders have a higher median income and are likelier to qualify for a mortgage. This means a lot of your past clients may be considering a move soon. It's an opportune time to reach out and ask to drum up more seller leads and provide a trusted relocation referral. Why should relocation professionals care about these migration trends? What picture are these statistics painting? More remote work, more long-distance moves, more college graduates who are likelier to be selling their home—it sounds like a great time to work on strategies to capture more relocation referral leads and refine the workflows for managing those deals. To view the original article, visit the Constellation1 blog.

What the Year-over-Year Numbers Can Tell Us About 2023
"The best way to predict the future is to create it." It's a sentiment that's shared often around the new year. Everyone is eager to succeed in 2023, and when it comes to making predictions, we've found that the best strategy involves turning to our data for insights on what to expect. So, now that the new year is here, what can we learn from last year's data? Supply remains low overall—but that number is going up Factors like home prices and interest rates dominated headlines in 2022—along with the supply of new listings. Our data, provided by BrokerMetrics, continues to show a decrease in new listings year over year. When we're comparing to 2022, we're seeing a continued decrease in sold activity with uncertainty in the market. Off-market listings are on the rise According to Inman, the primary reason for both off-market and withdrawn listings is a too-high asking price. Amidst market factors that include increasing interest rates, seasonal slowdowns, and the quantity of new listings, it seems that off-market listings have become more and more common. In fact, our data shows a staggering increase of 102% in off-market listings between Q4 2022 and Q4 2021. In an uncertain market, we're seeing fewer new listings—and fewer homes sold But this isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, 2023 is looking to be a promising year for buyers who've found themselves on the sidelines in previous years. With inventory on the rise and more homes staying on the market, buyers will have more to choose from. How to create your success in 2023's market Check out our report from BrokerMetrics to see how the numbers compare year over year. When you're working with the best insights that data can offer, it's simple to understand how your business fits into the big picture. To view the original article, visit the Lone Wolf blog.

Zillow's Hot Housing Takes for 2023
Midwestern markets will heat up, and more friends and family members will pool their money to buy homes together in 2023, as people look for new ways to overcome the housing affordability crisis. However, that crisis will stabilize — if not improve — from its pandemic-era apex, Zillow economists predict. New construction will be focused on rental units, and we should see a jump in homeowners becoming first-time landlords. Those are among a slew of new predictions the Zillow Economic Research team has made heading into 2023. "Americans finding ways to make payments on a roof over their heads is going to drive the market next year. Where costs are lower, we'll see healthier sales and inventory levels. If rent is less expensive than a new mortgage, we'll see increased demand for rentals — something builders and landlords understand," said Zillow chief economist Skylar Olsen. "Affordability is going to be the biggest factor in housing for 2023, but there's room for optimism on that front if mortgage rates recede." The Midwest to feature front and center in 2023 Unlike in nearly every other region of the United States, prices in most Midwest metro areas haven't risen to outrageous extremes. Mortgage costs are still within reason compared with incomes across Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio and smaller metros in Illinois, which will allow first-time buyers to take the plunge. Lower rents and home prices in these areas, as well as in some Pennsylvania, New York and other Northeastern metros, make it easier to save up for a down payment. A typical mortgage payment1 in Topeka is $1,269, compared to $4,129 in Sacramento. Having houses available to choose from is another key component of a healthy market, and the Midwest stands out. Inventory there isn't in a massive hole compared to pre-pandemic times, and more homeowners are willing to list than elsewhere in the country, encouraged by more consistent demand from buyers. Buying with friends and family will gain momentum Soaring housing costs have been a popular topic of conversation in 2022, but buying a home with a friend or relative who isn't a partner or spouse turned out to be more than idle chatter for a surprising share of folks. With housing costs rising far beyond previous affordability norms, those chasing homeownership are turning to unconventional means of making it pencil out financially, and this should increase in 2023. A Zillow survey fielded this spring found that among recent successful home buyers, 18% had purchased with a friend or relative who wasn't their spouse or partner. Of prospective home buyers, 19% intended to buy with a friend or relative in the next 12 months. Affordability and qualifying for a mortgage were cited as the top reasons for buying a home with someone else — both are challenges that are now even more acute. Mortgage payments for a typical U.S. home rose from requiring 27% of median household income in January to 37% in October — far beyond the 30% threshold at which housing becomes a financial burden. As more millennials and now Generation Zers enter what will still be a historically expensive market in 2023, more folks are set to put "bestie" to the ultimate test. Affordability crisis will stabilize Monthly mortgage costs have doubled since 2019, driven by pandemic-era price hikes and, to an even greater degree, by rapid mortgage rate growth this year. High mortgage rates are not only pushing buyers to the sidelines, they're tanking new inventory as homeowners hang on to their current houses and their historically low mortgage rates. Rents have grown faster than wages, making it harder to save up for a down payment, and renters of color are more likely to have experienced rising rents for their units. Affordability will continue to be the driving force in the housing market in 2023, but there is a decent chance it will improve. At the very least, the market should stabilize, making it possible for households to budget and plan for housing decisions coming up in the months and years ahead. Zillow expects national home values to remain relatively flat next year, and even fall in the markets most challenged by affordability issues. Mortgage rates are seeing some recent and encouraging progress downward as inflation and labor market tightness show some small signs of easing. If we've actually turned the corner on inflation, that should continue. Rent growth should move closer to historical norms next year, as well. Annual growth came down quickly from a massive peak of 17.1% in February to 9.6% by October. Rents fell during the month of October, the first time in two years, signaling a return to regular seasonal patterns. New construction strength will be in rentals Despite a pullback in permits and starts for single-family construction, the sheer number of houses currently under construction after the pandemic boom – still up 50% since February 2020 – will mean continued rolling deliveries to the market. This temporary glut in available new homes will drive price reductions for new construction, and potentially in the existing home market, too, which otherwise will continue to experience low inventory. In contrast, builders of multifamily units are feeling much more bullish. The number of multifamily units to start construction each month has increased steadily, rising 8% from pre-pandemic levels in October. Elevated multifamily permits point to a strong vote of confidence in continued demand for rental units, despite looming recession fears. This confidence will also encourage more construction of build-for-rent single-family homes, as many would-be homeowners will need to continue renting into later stages of life if they're currently unable to qualify and move forward with a purchase of their own home. We'll see a surge in first-time landlords in 2023 The record-low mortgage rates of 2020 and 2021 provided the leverage of a lifetime for investment in a second house. Vacation areas saw significant upticks in sales, and 34% of buyers surveyed by Zillow in 2021 said the opportunity to rent out their entire house was an important reason for buying it – up from 27% in 2018 and 28% in 2019. With rent growth expected to rise faster than home values over the next year, many of these second homes have an even better potential to yield regular rental income above the mortgage payment fixed with record low rates. The potential for regular income, bearish expectations for stock markets in 2023, and the big pullback from home buyers due to higher mortgage rates may reinforce the incentive to hold onto those investment properties. Similarly, more homeowners looking to move in 2023 might decide to keep and rent out their current house rather than sell it, to not give up a historically low mortgage rate and a potential income stream at a time when rents are high. 1 Mortgage payments determined using the October raw Zillow Home Value Index for each metro and assuming a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with 5% down. Does not include taxes and insurance.

Q3 Market Report: How has your market shifted?
It's not a dramatization to say that the real estate market has been a roller coaster the last few years. From seller's markets to buyer's markets and everything in between, we've seen major changes impact real estate agents and brokers—as well as their clients—in extremely short spans of time. This past quarter especially, we saw major shifts in terms of what's available to buyers and how buyers are responding to that availability. Let's explore some of the key trends we saw between Q3 2021 and Q3 2022. Inventory's rising, but sales are slowing down In the last few years, we've seen fierce competition among buyers, combined with a relatively low supply of listings. Now, as the industry shifts toward a more balanced market, we're starting to see more homes on the market. Between Q3 2021 and Q3 2022, we saw a dramatic 16% rise in inventory! This increase, however, is interestingly juxtaposed with a nearly parallel 14% drop in new listings between Q3 2021 and Q3 2022. This suggests that while more homes are available to buyers, more aren't entering the market—and those already listed are taking longer to sell. Interest rates are dissuading buyers Interest rates, now well recovered from the record lows we saw near the beginning of the pandemic, are creating a barrier for new and experienced buyers alike. Between Q3 2021 and Q3 2022, we saw sold listings drop by 24%. But as Inman suggested in a recent article, the bleak outlook for buyers doesn't need to be a barrier. Finding the right deal simply takes more work than it might in another market, and with a tactical approach, real estate agents and brokers can help recover those sales. Pro tip: Detailed market analysis and insights make it much easier to stay tactical and strategic in unpredictable market shifts. How does your market measure up? Though national averages provide solid overall insight into the real estate market at large, the numbers vary by individual markets—and that can make a major difference in an agent or broker's strategy. To view the original article, visit the Lone Wolf blog.

Dreaming of Places Far, Far Away: New Coldwell Banker Data Shows High Rate of Out-of-State Searches
This summer, as Americans enjoy their favorite activities to cool down, dreams of moving are heating up. Fresh data from the Move Meter on the refreshed coldwellbanker.com shows trends and insights into where Americans are dreaming of moving, giving sellers an informative, clear picture about the potential of listing their homes. In fact, 82% of all Move Meter searches to date were looking to move out of state. The Move Meter compares cost of living city by city. It was created by Coldwell Banker Real Estate as part of a suite of industry exclusive tools to allow consumers to dream of home and guide them to their new destination. Americans are on the Move (Meter) Going the distance: The average Move Meter search covered 1,015 average miles (about the distance of New York to Miami). Eighty-two percent (82%) of all Move Meter searches were looking to move out of state. On the flip side, Massachusetts had the greatest proportion of searchers considering staying in-state, with 40% of all searches from Massachusetts looking to stay loyal to the Commonwealth. Only about 13% of all searches were looking within a driving distance of 100-miles from their origin destination, with the highest proportion of moves being somewhere between 500 to 1,500 miles away (42%). Chasing Sunshine: While Midwesterners and Northeasterners are looking for warmer temps in the Southeast (38% vs 46%), Southeasterners, Southwesterners and Westerners all had higher likelihoods of staying local to their respective regions. Americans are dreaming of moving – but where to? Southern Charm: Austin, Texas, topped the chart as the most searched destination to move to, and had 46% more searches than the next closest destination. The top locale dreaming about moving to Austin is San Diego, California. So how does the move stack up? According to the Move Meter, the move from San Diego to Austin could be a smart move if you value job market strength. California Dreamin': 20% of searches from California were looking to stay in the Golden State. The top in-state searches looking to move somewhere else within California were from San Diego, San Francisco and Bakersfield. And for those looking outside of California, where were they dreaming about? Californians are looking to Texas, Florida, Tennessee and Washington overall, with Austin, Dallas, Seattle and Nashville having the greatest move appeal outside of California. Burnin' Up for Florida: The #1 state topping the Move Meter interest index was Florida with one out of seven of all Move Meter searches looking to move to the Sunshine State. The top states looking to soak up the Florida sun included New Jersey, California, New York, Illinois, Ohio and Massachusetts. Where in Florida are these searchers looking? Sarasota, Miami, Naples, and Tampa were the most popular searched cities. Floridians don't disagree – they, too, see the appeal, as they were one of the top states searching for destinations within the state as well, with a quarter of Floridian searches looking to stay in-state. The other top states Floridians are searching was North Carolina and Tennessee. Destination Dreams: The top 10 searched cities included Austin; Sarasota, Florida; San Diego; Denver; Nashville, Tennessee; Tampa, Florida; New York; Naples, Florida; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Seattle. Home sellers and buyers can visit coldwellbanker.com to find an agent and prepare for their next move to their dream home using the coldwellbanker.com/movemeter.

Dreaming of Home: Many Gen Z and Millennial Homeowners Plan to Sell in the Next 12 Months
2022 is shaping up to host another hot real estate market with more than two in five (44%) of Gen Z homeowners (age 18-25) and over a third (35%) of Millennial homeowners (age 26-41) saying they plan to sell their homes within the next 12 months, according to the latest survey commissioned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate, and conducted online by The Harris Poll among over 2,000 U.S. adults. With so many young American homeowners planning to sell in the next year, they need tools and guidance to navigate the tight housing market. Meeting Consumers Where They Are The survey found that 59% of Gen Zers and 65% of Millennials say they expect good real estate agents to use social media (e.g., Facebook, TikTok, Instagram) for marketing purposes (e.g., to sell themselves as an agent, to post their home listings). Coldwell Banker commissioned the survey to understand how much they value a real estate agent's social media presence. Findings include: Older Americans Value Social Media, Too: 58% of Gen Xers (age 42-57) and 60% of Baby Boomers (age 58-76) strongly or somewhat agree that they expect good real estate agents to use social media for marketing purposes. A Majority of Americans Agree: 61% of all Americans would expect good real estate agents to use social media for marketing purposes. The Social Generation: Nearly two thirds of Millennials (65%), and nearly half of Americans overall (48%), would think more highly of a real estate agent if they had a strong professional social media (e.g., Facebook, TikTok, Instagram) presence. "With more than two in five Gen Z and over a third of Millennial homeowners planning to sell their homes in the next 12 months, reaching these generations is key to unlocking inventory in 2022," said M. Ryan Gorman, CEO of Coldwell Banker Real Estate.

[WATCH] Capitalism 2.0: The next generation of real estate success with web3, NFTs and the Metaverse
There's a technology revolution happening called web3. The pioneers of this movement are creating massive online communities selling digital land, digital properties, and even digital rentals. Fueled by $3 trillion in cryptocurrency wealth, there is a brand-new set of buyers for a brand new type of real estate available. High net-worth individuals and companies are engaging in NFTs and cryptocurrency as a hedge that benefits tax strategy and currency fluctuations, too. Others are reinventing business operations in the metaverse. Posted below is the recent discussion hosted by WAV Group managing partners Victor Lund and Marilyn Wilson along with Nelson Diaz, the company's web3 division leader, explaining why you don't want to miss out on the opportunities that lie ahead. Enjoy! To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Independent Brokers: The Next Big Real Estate Trend?
I just met with potential buyers who found me on Google. When I asked how they came across my brokerage, they said they searched for an independent broker in Sonoma County. They found four in their initial search, and after poking around a bit, they decided to call me. "Why me?" I asked. This is how they explained it. 1. I'm an independent broker My new clients found me on Google because my title is one of the first things I state in every profile I have. That includes Active Rain, LinkedIn, Yelp—everywhere I can think of. And why does this matter to buyers and sellers? Because they know that an independent broker is free to negotiate. Buyers and sellers have figured this out, folks. 2. I have my own website. I'll be the first person to tell you that I have seen much better looking websites, but mine has two things going for me. It's mobile-friendly and it provides IDX that doesn't require registration. Visitors have the option to create an account, but they aren't forced to. This particular buyer seemed to be very tired of corporate provided websites that had pop-ups and prompts every two seconds. 3. I blog. And more importantly, I have blogged recently. I don't blog as often as some, but it hasn't been two years since my last post. By reading my blogs, this buyer got to know me. They had already figured out my personality and knew that I had robust knowledge of my local real estate market. So are independent brokers trending? You tell me. This is the third time this year that I have been chosen to represent a buyer or seller because of my independent broker status. I didn't see this trend coming, but I am so happy to be where I am right now. If you have been thinking about earning a broker license and starting your own business, I can't think of a better time to do so. If you ask me, I'd say independent brokers are definitely trending. Cynthia Larsen is an independent real estate broker based in Cotati, CA where she has lived and worked for over 30 years. One of her passions is to help the aging community plan for the future. Cynthia is knowledgeable about barrier-free environments, universal design and home customization that involves everything from widening doors and hallways to installing lifts and elevators. To view the original article, visit the Zurple blog.

The Children Are the (Technological) Future
I believe that we are in a unique period of time in business. Recently, we have been spending a lot of time in Web3 projects. It has been a steep learning curve. We do Web 2.0 projects with ease. Web3 is a completely different development game. The architecture and business practices are completely different. Not to mention, the way that brands and customers interact is also significantly different. Companies are going to need to consider dramatic changes or face the consequences of losing their customers. If you were like me, you were in shock when Facebook changed their name to Meta. They spent $300 million for the name. Do you know why? Because Facebook knows that they were the leading company in Web 2.0, but Web 2.0 is on its way out and Web3 and the metaverse is going to replace it. If that is not a signal to you as a business owner, you are at risk. Your business needs a Web3 strategy NOW. A good place to start is on Discord. It's like a combination between Facebook Groups and Slack. Truthfully, it's better than both. It started out as a way for gamers to chat outside of the game. Now it is the cornerstone of group communications on Web3. Most business owners aged 50 and up have not really adopted to Facebook Groups or Slack very well. This is what leads me to the title of this post, The Children Are the Future. My 19-year-old daughter is home at the moment from Syracuse University. She has been sitting in our Web3 meetings. What is clear to me when meeting with senior executives in marketing and communications projects for NFT drops, is that most seasoned execs are clueless about this new genre of marketing. My kid in college is fluent in the conversation and probably has stronger skills than VPs of the brands we are talking to. Marketing in a Web3 world is all about trends and influencers. There are kids managing brands online that have tens or hundreds of thousands of subscribers—more than major brands. Case in point: Compass has 10k subscribers on YouTube. SparklesLund has 26k followers and she is not famous. Kids understand content. They are creators. They know what is dope and what is bullshit (my Gary Vee moment). I come from a family with an apprentice mentality. You learn from your elders. That is the change today. The elders do not know anything about what is happening online. The elders need to learn from the children. You need young digital natives in your marketing and communications departments. The good news is that you have time. The process of moving to a decentralized economy will be a decades-long road. I would expect real estate technology companies to start building communities for their customers. Real estate brokers and agents will acclimate as a new way to build relationships with key vendors, access support, and learn best practices from other resources. I look forward to the potential day when a company like eXp allows customers to connect to their website via their Metamask to work with an agent. It's time to grab your board and drop into the WAVes of change. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Explaining WAV Group and Web3
WAV Group has recently posted a few articles about Web3 and NFTs that had clients calling us and wondering if we are leaving real estate. The answer is absolutely not! Web3 is the next version of the internet that is being adopted. There is very little happening in real estate today related to Web3, but it is coming, and we are jumping in feet first to learn. Every day my knowledge of the space grows. As consultants specializing in real estate, our expertise is helping clients navigate their way into the future. To do this, WAV Group needs to develop on that expertise. In addition, we have made a significant investment in one of the top companies helping artists to sell their NFTs. We will be making announcements over the next few weeks as we launch some of our first projects. At this point, the only connection to the real estate industry is that we are launching a metaverse that will create a digital experience tied to a luxury development in Costa Rica; where the sale of property in the metaverse and the sale of the land in real life will all happen on the blockchain through NFT sales. As we have stated here and in prior posts, very little is happening in the Web3 space in the real estate industry today, but brands and companies outside of our industry are investing and learning. We believe that our clients need to learn this space – something is going to happen, we are just not exactly sure what or how. Last year, we saw a bunch acquisitions of crypto companies by modern finance companies. Examples are Galaxy Digital's purchase of BitGo for $1.2 billion, Kraken purchased Staked, Siam Commercial Bank's purchase of Bitkub for $537 million, PayPal buying Curv and Robinhood buying Cove Markets. A lot of this activity is around two themes: crypto payment and decentralized finance. Crypto payment is the ability to use crypto currencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum (Eth) to buy products in stores. Much in the same way that there is a backbone for credit card payments, there will undoubtedly be a system for using crypto. This is obvious and is going to happen. The benefit is that crypto will stay in crypto and the fees for converting crypto to fiat currency will be avoided. At a base level, this tells me that all of you should have personal crypto wallets now. You can buy one Eth for about USD$3,500 today. That should be plenty for you to play with. The easiest way is to download the crypto.com app on your phone and connect it to a credit card or to your bank so you can convert USD to ETH. Reach out to me if you need help getting started. Decentralized finance is another obvious development that is happening. People with lots of crypto are looking to diversify their strategy. We all know people who have made incredible returns buying and selling crypto currency. Congratulations on the success of currency traders! But like fiat currency traders, the gains are not great relative to making investments in the stock market or businesses. Crypto traders have realized that they can compound their investments and stabilize volatility when they purchase NFTs and put their crypto to "work." Right now, the leading crypto currencies are in a dip, but the NFTs are continuing to appreciate in value to offset the currency value loss. I am sure that people with crypto would finance home purchases just to put their money to work. The best part is that the decentralized loan can be fractionalized across a bunch of investors. We are workshopping the usefulness of using Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) to manage how organizations operate. In the metaverse, governments and laws do not have control. The DAO makes those decisions. This is obvious for homeowner associations – but might be interesting for technology companies and brokerages, too. For tech companies, they can launch an NFT to users (to give them a financial incentive in the company) and create a DAO for voting on future product development. Brokers may offer NFTs to their agents and operate a DAO for how the brokerage operates to drive retention. #CrazyIdeas In last week's blog post, we talked about NFT investor, @FVCKRENDER who owns a few million dollars in NFTs, and how he is wanting to trade them for real property. This is an example of how interesting this has become. He wants to trade his collection of NFTs for a home in Vancouver. If I were Phil Soper, I would buy this guy a house and take the NFTs. The media value alone would be worth it. Stay tuned for some exciting business announcements ahead. We will be issuing a press release of our new WAV Group partner who will lead our Web3 consulting projects, be available as a educator, and drive our Web3 business development in the metaverse. Don't worry – WAV Group is not changing, we are growing! Web3 will be a new center of excellence led by our new partner. Our core centers of excellence are in Strategic Planning (Marilyn), Public Relations and Communications (Kevin and Myra), Technology Services (David), Mergers and Acquisitions (George), Research (Marilyn), Recruiting (Marilyn), Venture Capital and Advisory Services (Victor). The biggest trend in NFTs right now is collaborations. We are looking for opportunities for our real estate brand clients to collaborate. If you are interested, let me know. I'm happy to hop on a call to discuss this exciting and constantly-developing new world we're entering in to. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Web3, Decentraland, Crypto, NFTs and Virtual Real Estate
When real estate first encountered virtual currencies and blockchain, the immediate discussion turned to something like an immutable ledger and the disruption of the title industry -- that is not happening anytime soon unless title companies adopt the technology and disrupt themselves. Here is what is happening. I just splurged $300 on wearables and concert tickets — and I'll never see any of those IRL. In 2022, digital asset shopping could become as mainstream. Digital asset sales have boomed this year, from NFT art to virtual apparel and real estate. NFT sales hit $27B in 2021, surging 7x from 2020. Art auction sales alone hit a record $6.5B, largely thanks to NFTs. Since e-pparel is booming, Nike filed trademarks for virtual shoes and merch. As people prepare for an immersive internet future, more treasures could live on the blockchain. Welcome to Web3 What is happening now – and happening in a big way ($27 billion) – is virtual real estate in a space called the Metaverse; it is currently in its infancy. There are only a few hundred thousand people who even understand what is going on. But one of those is Facebook, er… Meta. Yes, the largest social media company in the world changed the biggest brand name in the world to Meta. That is a signal that we all need to wake up and pay attention. Virtual living is becoming as relevant as real living for an entire generation of gamers. Over $150 million was invested in virtual real estate NFTs last month! It started in online gaming If you are of a certain age – say over 50 years old – you are probably not a gamer. Solitaire, online poker, and Sudoku do not count. If you have tried Candy Crush, you understand the process of in-app purchases (IAP). When you get into organized groups to play games – referred to as multi-player – things get interesting. Playing multi-player games are entertaining because you are playing with other people from around the world that you would normally have no reason to meet. Gamers are all about looking flashy, pretty or flexing. They do this by buying or earning premium skins (like Nike shoes) for your avatar, special weapons, and other fancy stuff; this all makes the game more entertaining. You can typically pay to become stronger, faster. Gamers are dropping thousands of dollars into their online characters and enhancing their virtual properties. They are also creating communities on Discord – a place where you should set up a profile now. Discord is used as a private membership group for NFT owners – it is how brands connect to customers. Twitter is big too, and to a lesser extent, Instagram. Facebook, not so much. Some of the top growing games include Clash of Clans, Game of War, Fortnite, and Call of Duty Mobile. In Clash of Clans, you purchase Gems to build your village and build your fighting skills for competition in clan wars. In Game of War – Fire Age, the most popular in-app purchase is a $99 pack of 28k Gold. In both Fortnite and Call of Duty Mobile, the player can either unluck achievements (and skins) by accomplishing certain tasks or they can pay to get those enhancements faster. During Covid, I started a game called State of Survival. It is similar to Clash of Clans. I am on a team of 100 players. We each build our own settlement with virtual buildings, but band together as a team to fight other teams or kill zombies. Every day, players log into the game for around 30 minutes or up to numerous hours to do simple tasks like collecting food from farms or partake in other personal challenges that allow you to get stronger. What is important to know about these games is that you play with people you know every day – and you are communicating with them via voice, text and video every day. The investment in time to build up your player and the relationships that you make are significant. These games are hard to leave because of the feeling of being part of a community. The bad part about these games is that you really do not own your place. This is where virtual worlds kick in. There are a few virtual worlds that have become quite popular recently – Dencentraland and SandBox. These virtual worlds are known as "metaverses." It's a place to own all things digital and share them with others. Buildings are intended to deliver experiences that can range from an art gallery to a theme park. OpenSea is a marketplace for these virtual worlds – click the link to browse some of them. As a primer, OpenSea trades using Ethereum [or Eth] – and one Eth is currently around $4,000. Digital land sales Here is the part that should interest people in real estate. Recently, Metaverse Group, a subsidiary of Tokens.com, purchased a patch of digital land for about $32.43 million. That land is set in the so-called fashion district of Decentraland. Want Snoop Dogg as your neighbor in the metaverse? Like many artists, Snoop's people hare heavy into NFTs for property, music and art. Snoop has an area he purchased and developed called Snoopverse – an interactive world that the rapper is building in The Sandbox – another virtual world for creating and monetizing online hangout spaces and gaming experiences. Snoop is building a digital twin of his real-life Diamond Bar, California. mansion. There will be a venue for concerts, members-only parties, and more. People can even customize their avatar's looks and wardrobes, and boast souped-up NFT cars. The plot next to Snoop sold for $450k (at a 10% commission). If you paid any attention to Art Basel in Miami after Thanksgiving, there was as much excitement about digital art as there was for real art. Music, art, and fashion are all moving into the metaverse – Gucci, D&G, Balenciaga, Sotheby's, Christie's, etc. Another trend is to only allow people who own brand NFTs to get access to new releases of their real-world products. Big NFT conferences are NFT NYC, ComplexCon, NFT Basel, DCentral Miami and Art Basel. By the way, this used Hermes Himalayan Crocodile Birkin women's purse, which sells in real life for $450,000, was knocked off by NFT artist Mason Rothschild who created a digital MetaBirkin series that sells for between $13,500 and $40,000. That's right. The only thing more absurd than a lady's handbag that is higher than a median price home is a digital version that costs as much as a car. Where is the opportunity for real estate? I am not sure quite yet, but there is definitely something here. Perhaps the brokerage company that is likely to figure it out is eXp. They operate their brokerage in their private eXp metaverse today. I would expect them to buy showrooms in the top metaverse sites like Decentraland and Sandbox. If they are aggressive, they will harvest agents across their company that are into NFTs. A technology contender might be Matterport. All the digital twins of homes that they own can be sold to the real homeowners and placed in the Metaverse (remember, Matterport owns the scans of homes; they only rent them to agents). BoxBrownie can digitally stage them with the homeowner's NFT collection. We have not seen any announcement from Matterport – but you can expect that it's coming. You can buy this Matterport of a bar in Silicon Valley for $43k. There is no doubt that people will pay for things using cryptocurrency. All the payment platforms now allow you to buy and sell using crypto. A few homes have even traded using crypto. It is early on, but it is happening in our lifetime. Brokers in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, London, Tokyo and other major entertainment hubs are likely to be on the front line of managing crypto payments for homes. People have a lot of money in crypto – and they want to trade for homes using their gains. If you purchased Eth in 2019 for $129 per unit, you could sell it today for $4,000. That is a big gain that buys a lot of house. The opportunity for real estate today may simply be one of open curiosity. Read articles. Learn the lingo. You do not need to be an expert or a gallerist. WAV Group's own Marilyn Wilson is working with a team on a project to launch a virtual resort. Stay tuned for a webinar that can help you get up to speed on this insanity. Sorry for the long post. I assure you that we only scratched the surface. Gamers have set the stage for virtual entertainment. It is not going away. The human condition has a love of art and vanity – in the real world and the virtual world. They seem to be coming together, like the Holodeck on Star Trek.  Happy New Year! Web3 is just breaking through the surface. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

BHGRE Emphasizes the Importance of Lifestyle in Buyer Mindset in Latest Industry Report
Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate latest market trends report, "Lifestyle Leads the Way for Today's Buyers," examines how and why lifestyle is leading buyers' decision-making when it comes to purchasing their next home. Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate affiliated brokerage leaders and agents across the country contributed to the report, providing a first-hand account of what today's buyers are prioritizing in their home search. According to the brokers and agents interviewed for the report, key observations included: Destination lifestyle markets are now more accessible than ever, thanks to the surge of Americans working from home. These markets are a reality for many working professionals, from the beach to the mountains to sought-after planned communities. The pandemic effects and intense market competition have redefined what a "dream home" could be. Buyers are prioritizing a lifestyle market and are willing to compromise on home features to live in their preferred location. Limited inventory has not been a deterrent for buyers' intent to get into the market they desire. Many out-of-market buyers are leveraging equity when selling their home to make their next house their dream home. Many professionals are pushing up their retirement move by a few years due to their ability to work from home until they are ready to retire. People are re-evaluating the function and features of their houses with the increase of time spent at home – both inside and outdoors. Inside the home, kitchens are still king, but there has been more emphasis on outside living areas featuring kitchens as well. With the growing demand for lifestyle locations, agents need to become familiar with larger service areas beyond their core market to help match buyers with homes. Current market conditions are prime for vacation and second home purchases. "We understand that our homes are more than a structure; they are where both the big and small moments in our lives take place," said Sherry Chris, President and CEO, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. "Our affiliated network of brokers and real estate professionals have access to propriety tools, robust resources and dynamic lifestyle content to connect with today's home buyers and sellers every day, year after year. As homeowners across the country continue to embrace a new reality made possible by the increased ability to work from home, the importance of lifestyle will continue to be a significant factor in how consumers reimagine where they reside to live their best life." The report is available for download here.

2022 Real Estate Predictions
After a historic year of increased demand and skyrocketing home prices, many are wondering what's to come for the 2022 real estate market. Of course, predictions can vary slightly depending on the source. There's also a variety of opinions behind the assertions. We'll take a closer look at reports from Zillow, Freddie Mac, and the Home Buying Institute to gain a better understanding of what's to come in 2022 and the reasons behind it. Zillow Believes the Market Is Cooling Off An August 2021 report from Zillow states that the current trajectory of the market is "cooling down" from "white hot" to still burning "red hot." However, "slowing monthly appreciation is not expected to be echoed in slower annual growth until early 2022, with year-over-year growth in the Zillow Home Value Index expected to end 2021 up 19.9% from the end of 2020 and continue accelerating to 20.1% in January 2022 before beginning to slow down." One reason Zillow claims is influencing the historic market we are in has to do with millennials reaching home buying age. Millennials born between 1989 and 1993 are currently reaching their 30s – the time when most look towards homeownership. The already upset market could not handle this sudden demand, thus creating even higher competition. Freddie Mac States No Crash in Sight Currently, high house price growth has been supported by increased demand due to low mortgage rates, disposable after-tax income that has risen during the current recession and a major shortage of housing supply relative to our population. According to Freddie Mac, the seller's market could be coming to a close without a crash in sight. They believe that current homebuyers are becoming exhausted in the high-competition market and are therefore backing off, creating less demand. "That's reflected in our home sales forecast, which has total home sales declining to 6.9 million in 2021 and 2022 after reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.6 million and 7.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021, respectively," says Freddie Mac. The Home Buying Institute Predicts a Reprieve from the Competition The Home Buying Institute claims that the home buying market in 2022 will return to favoring buyers, at least slightly. The HBI cites three reasons why the market might be better for buyers in 2022. First, according to Realtor.com, data collection from the largest 50 metro areas indicate more homes coming on the market, thus giving homebuyers a slight reprieve from the competition. The competition has been heavy, leaving many buyers exhausted. Second, they state that the market is cooling overall. Competition has been on the rise in what seems like every facet of the industry and that could be slowing down. Third, the average price of homes could see a significant reduction. Again, this means less competition and a happier environment for homebuyers. Market Disruptors The market is influenced by a variety of factors. Here are a couple disruptors that have been shaking some ground. To start, the business of real estate is catching up to the world of technology, streamlining transactions like never before. Platforms like Transactly help save agents time, allowing them to focus on things that matter. In the age of technology, work-from-home life, and light-speed communication, it's vital agents stay ahead of the curve. Additionally, the millennial generation reaching home buying age has shown a significant impact on the market. Reaching their mid-30s, these individuals are hitting the market in droves, creating an even steeper level of competition. Summary of 2022 Real Estate Trend Predictions Overall, it doesn't appear that the housing market is in for a crash. On the contrary, it appears that the historic market is leveling off a bit in 2022. For sellers, their upper hand over the market could be dropping by August 2022. However, the cooling of the market overall doesn't have to be a bad thing. Happier home buyers make agents' jobs easier. While for homebuyers, home prices are technically coming down, the reduction is from a 17.7% increase to an 11.7% increase. Fortune mentions that despite this slight reprieve from price increases, the market is still troublesome for the average homebuyer, who will not be receiving an 11.7% wage increase from their employers. To view the original article, visit the Transactly blog.

Broker Resource Network Releases Zero Days on Market Report
WAV Group is very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with some great brokerage organizations from time to time. This summer, the Broker Resource Network (BRN) asked us if we would be interested in writing a report about an alarming trend related to days on market. Days on market is a calculation between the date and time a listing is marked active in an MLS vs. the date the status changes to sold. When the time on market is less than 24 hours, that is called Zero Days on Market. Another term commonly used is a comp(arison) only listing; these are listings being entered into the MLS so a record of the transaction will be there for statistical purposes – which include reflecting unit volume, dollar volume, and creating a historical price and date of sale. The real estate industry has been working hard to tackle the very difficult issue of pocket listings or off-market listings. On May 1, 2019, the nation's Realtor-affiliated MLSs adopted the Clear Cooperation Policy. The aim of this policy was to eliminate pocket listings by compelling brokers to put all listings in the MLS. This year, firms subscribed to the BRN agreed to collaborate to study the impact of Clear Cooperation. The assumption was that Clear Cooperation should result in fewer listings being entered as comp-only listings. The brokers pulled a year of listing data before Clear Cooperation was implemented and compared it to the year that followed. In market after market, the data demonstrated that the number of listings processed by the MLS with Zero Days on Market went up dramatically. This dramatic increase happened across all 24 markets reviewed. For the first time, the BRN is allowing non-brokers to access their research. They are inviting an industry to have a conversation about this issue. As an industry, it is important for agents to gain access to information and training about the value of the MLS. WAV Group would like to thank the brokers of the BRN for the opportunity to pin their story. If you are interested in reading the paper, "The Quiet Threat of Zero Days on Market," it is downloadable for free on the BRN website. If you find value in this type of research and want to collaborate with other brokers, then the BRN is a network open to all brokers of all sizes and brands. WAV Group encourages brokers to join. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Tips for Brokerages to Leverage 3 Top Trends and Make Their Markets
Despite record low inventory, surging buyer demand, high building costs, and other major industry challenges, informed and creative broker/owners and their teams are riding this red-hot real estate market and closing amazing deals. Staying on top of the most current trends like inventory, migration patterns, and buyer demographics makes uncovering listings and helping buyers a whole lot easier. Let's look at a few trends and how your team can leverage them. Trend 1: Low inventory The US has a chronic housing shortage. Forbes predicts that low inventory will continue to frustrate homebuyers for many years. More than a decade of underdevelopment and high demand means that listings can be hard to come by, and the ones that do pop up sell fast (national average of 21 days on market in 2021 versus 38 a year ago). Tip: Data There are listings out there, but buyers might not know what to look for or how to find them. Your market expertise, paired with the best listing data available, will allow you to find properties that meet your leads' criteria. For example, according to Constellation1's own data analysis, homebuyer search radiuses have expanded in the past year to identify listings that meet their criteria. Agents need to know how to leverage data to help buyers expand their searches correctly and find the right listings. Trend 2: New migration patterns Historically, moving patterns have been driven by households with below-average income. In 2020, for the first time ever, most moves were made by households with above-average income, i.e., newly mobile knowledge workers in sectors like tech, creating exciting opportunities: Higher-income households are more likely to use real estate professionals Many movers will be completing two transactions: the sale of their current home and the purchase of a new one Households with above-average income often have higher budgets Tip: Referrals According to NAR, in 2020, nearly half (47%) of buyers used an agent that was referred to them by a friend, neighbor, or relative. Many people are moving significant distances, from cities like San Francisco and New York to Houston or Miami. These distances mean it's unlikely a single brokerage will capture both sides of the transaction, but professional networks, referrals, and relocation tools can help brokers tap into these migration patterns and generate new leads. Trend 3: Millennial homebuyers Buyer demand is expected to remain high as more millennials start entering the housing market. According to John White, quoted in Inc.com, millennials make up 66% of first-time home buyers and 34% of home buyers overall. As a broker/owner, you must be catering to a millennial clientele. Tip: Social media marketing Without a quality social media presence, millennials will never find you. Millennials are digital natives who aren't reading newspapers, listening to the radio, or even watching broadcast television: they're online. Having social media pages that boost your business and generate leads is more important than ever to reach these consumers. Social publishing is a great way to keep your brand in consumers' minds, ensuring your team gets a steady stream of both buyer and seller leads. The current market is tight, but buyers and sellers are out there if you know how to make your market. Keep up to date with ongoing trends and solutions and your team is sure to cash in this year and beyond. For more information about the best MLS data available, relocation, digital marketing, and more, get in touch with Constellation1 today. To view the source article, visit the Constellation1 blog.

The Biggest Trend in Small Brokerages in 2021
Is there anything that makes your small brokerage different from other small brokerages in your area? Like any other space, in the real estate industry differentiating your brokerage from competitor brokerages is key. There isn't exactly a handbook that outlines what you should be doing or what you need to be doing to become the best, so it can be difficult at times. The good thing is you don't need to re-invent the wheel here. Learning from other brokerages your size, and "fast following" what is working for others, is an easy way to get started on becoming more competitive. Biggest area of opportunity for most small brokerages: technology. Technology has always been the great equalizer that levels the playing field for brokerages big and small. Looking at brokerages of today, the area of focus to move the proverbial needle is anything to do with marketing or marketing automation. Offering a marketing platform for your agents may sound like a daunting task, but today there are options for as little as $10/month. The benefits of introducing new technology like this has some obvious benefits. Namely, agents that market themselves and their properties more, get more traction which means more business for everyone. But there are other benefits too. When a small brokerage starts to offer tools and benefits typically found in a larger national brokerage, you can start recruiting better talent—which again increases business for everyone. When you do start looking for a marketing or marketing automation tool, make sure it covers all the bases of how top agents are marketing themselves today. Make sure it includes features like: Social media campaigns Email marketing campaigns Text message campaigns Google search and Google display ads Digital flyers Ability to schedule deployment of campaigns Templates for agents to use As a final thought, making your small brokerage more competitive does not require a major overhaul of your business. There is some low hanging fruit to be picked. Tools to help get your current agents more active and attract new top talent are out there and very affordable. Most solutions built for small brokerages typically come with full support as well, so you won't be burdened with supporting your staff either. Overall, it's an easy move to get things headed in the right direction. About Amarki: Amarki was built by real estate experts for brokerages and agents based on years of industry experience and firsthand feedback. We developed a marketing tool accessible to anyone, no matter the experience or marketing budget. By providing an intuitive tool that works "for" the agent, Amarki is able to remove the complexity of marketing tasks making agents more active. Check us out by clicking here.

Latest Trends in Brokerage Tech: The End of the End-to-End Solution
The following is an excerpt from RE Technology's Success Guide to Broker Technology: For the last decade, real estate brokerages and vendors have been focused on developing the "end-to-end solution." Like all trends, this one is on the way out. The reason why end-to-end solutions were so popular was that agents did not want to log into 27 different end point applications to do their business. Putting everything under one software roof made a lot of sense. It provided agents a single place to go to accomplish everything they need. Great idea, but it failed. There are two reasons why the end-to-end solution failed. First, agents may love or hate the platform. So as not to condemn a current vendor, I would like to use Agent Achieve as an example. Agent Achieve was developed for Intero by a great group of software developers, but it was also sold to other brokerages. Under one platform, the agent had access to their website, lead management, CRM, CMA, transaction management, drip marketing, and so on. Agent Achieve was awesome, and it allowed Intero to recruit amazing agents in the heart of California's tech savvy Silicon Valley. The problem, however, was that Agent Achieve was too complicated for some agents. Another problem was that Intero agents would frequently compete for the same customers using the same templated website, the same listing presentation, the same drip marketing, etc. This brings us to the second reason why Agent Achieve failed. It did everything, but was a master of nothing. It was not the best product as a website, CRM, CMA, transaction manager, or anything else. It did all of those things, but was not the best in any category. The two biggest trends that have allowed brokerage technology to evolve beyond the end-to-end software products are Single Sign-On (SSO) and Application Programming interfaces (APIs). These two features combine to allow the brokerage to integrate a group of different applications from different vendors all under one roof. In effect, the brokerage can build their own end-to-end platform using integration tools. Think of it as a Lego set for building a firm's custom technology ecosphere where you can choose the best products and integrate them into your personal mix of the right tools for your agents. The best news of all is that just about every technology company in the real estate industry today supports SSO and APIs. Moreover, they are rolling out app stores that feature their integration partners. As you rethink your technology roadmap this year, focus on partners who have robust integration tools and existing partnerships. As we move forward in this new environment of technology product integration, brokers will have more flexibility than ever before. When you think about technology products, think about choice. You do not need to have one CMA product for all of your agents. Let your agents choose from a selection. Obviously, a selection of two or three is probably more than enough for most agents and teams. The SSO links and API integrations make this possible today. The tricky part is in negotiating the contract with the vendor. We suggest licensing technology on a per seat basis. Agents can only make a vendor switch once a month. At the end of each month, the vendor looks at the user logs and bills you for the number of agents who were active on the platform. If agents did not use a product, you don't pay for it. This will allow you to give agents the best products for the most reasonable price. If product usage for a particular product dwindles down, remove the option and replace it with something better. Download Success Guide: Broker Technology to learn more about broker technology trends, how to evaluate broker technology, and more.

Broker Trend for 2021 Is All About Playbooks
It is funny how trends emerge in real estate. New terms pop up and suddenly everybody is jumping on board. The latest trend that we caught wind of is the word playbook. A playbook is a grouping of activities, and in this context, playbooks are a proven, automated, and integrated set of actions that drive outcomes faster. Over the past five years, the adoption of client relationship management software (CRM) has been awesome. Real estate agents have finally recognized that successful performance as a salesperson means the organization and dedication to the management of customer relationships. Automation has helped a lot. For example, it is now a requirement for the agent CRM to integrate with the broker's email and calendar solution. This is invaluable because it keeps customer records and the agent's calendar in sync. Another great evolution in CRM has been artificial intelligence (AI). On a basic scale, sending a notification to a customer when a new or updated listing matches their search criteria is an example of AI. But there are many more, like suggesting properties for customers based upon scanning images and determining which homes are "look alike" homes. A lot of AI development is in the area of drip marketing campaigns and other marketing automations. If you take this a step further, you can begin to understand the reference to a playbook. Playbook Examples: Promote a New Listing Run an Open House Power Up My Sphere Get Repeat and Referral Business Build a Lead Funnel I spent a few hours watching the spring launch of the new kvCORE Platform from Inside Real Estate. Some of WAV Group's brokerage customers are on the platform today and they tend to find their way onto the list when brokers hire us to help them explore new vendors. Inside Real Estate is shaking the norm again by their release of playbook technology inside kvCORE. Quite simply, this looks to be a game changer. In kvCORE, a playbook is a series of activities that that simplify and automate proven tasks to help agents achieve optimal outcomes, faster. To be clear, a playbook is not a checklist. In technology they use the term IFTTT – If This, Then That. Playbooks are like an "easy button" solution that helps agents accomplish more in less time. Behind every automated playbook are proven steps based on top-performing agents and successful results. On average, these playbooks save agents 80% of the time it would normally take to achieve those same results. That's a pretty impressive productivity enhancement. A playbook for promoting a new listing would include prompts to send postcards, flyers, post to Facebook, send an email to agents in the office, or whatever. Playbooks are designed to automate common activities so agents have a clear, streamlined process that eliminates the guesswork of what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. Everyone certainly has a little different take on their preferred activities, but the basic framework is there and all of the activities can be completed through the platform. Plan your work and work your plan. I really believe that playbooks may be as important as any other thing that brokers focus on this year. Brokers who encourage adoption by agents will see their efforts profoundly improve their business performance and the relationship that their brand has with the customer. I would love to see a marketplace for playbooks at some point in the future—so agents could download the Ninja Selling playbook for prospecting, or the Tom Ferry playbook for getting referrals, etc. But to make these work the way Inside Real Estate has invented these "technology-based playbooks," they would need to be built in to your tech platform so they function seamlessly with your day-to-day activities. I ran across some other great footnotes from the kvCORE webinar like Pond Accounts – think of this as new vocabulary for team functionality – like contacts and activities shared in a pond for teams to collaborate. It is great to see vendors rolling out this type of innovation. I may write about pond accounts in a future article. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Brokerage Consolidation Continues and Will Accelerate in 2021
Today's announcement by Hanna Realty of the acquisition of Roy Wheeler Realty in Charlottesville, VA is another reminder that 2021 could be one of, if not the most, active consolidation year in real estate brokerage history. The consolidation trend is rampant as aging baby boomer owners contemplate their exit strategy. There are also many other forces at work that are not age-related and will assure continued consolidation in the industry.

Top 5 Commercial Real Estate Trends to Know in 2021
A tumultuous 2020 has left its mark on a multitude of economic sectors. What are the consequences of the pandemic crisis on the commercial real estate market in 2021? What can be expected will depend to a large extent of where the property is, and which segment of commercial activity is being considered. At any rate, there is by all accounts a huge pent up demand. The U.S. savings rate has doubled over the last year. The stock market is on fire, which is a good thing, but it is also making investors nervous. Equities seem to be poised for a major pullback. Savvy investors are starting to look into diversifying more of their assets in real estate so they can dodge that bullet.

The Latest Trends in Team Software
The following is an excerpt from RE Technology's Success Guide to Team Software: Website Some team platforms develop excellent websites with a high focus on lead generation, content creation, and search engine optimization. Teams doing a lot of online digital advertising will need to look for websites that offer the ability to create lead generation pages--also called squeeze pages. Others recognize that a team website is like a business card. If you are not in love with the activities around online lead generation, having a fancy website is probably not that important to you. Mobile Apps Mobile apps have been an exciting growth area for team platforms over the years. The driving trend among these mobile apps has been less about developing branded mobile search apps that are in the Apple App and Google Play stores, and more about delivering functionality that allows teams to access customer records on the fly, or to take a group approach to responding quickly to customer requests. If your team is mostly mobile, rather than office based, this may be a very important feature for you. Contact Record Monitoring One of the biggest areas of new development in software for teams has to do with reference data and client monitoring. Using artificial intelligence, the software can track activities across all of your client records. Using this data the software can, for example, tell you when there is a customer that you have not interacted with in the last year or suggest that you reach out to a customer who has been spending an insane amount of time looking at listings on your site. The goal of contact monitoring is to make sure that you stay connected to everyone in your database, and to focus on those customers who show the most activity in the process of executing a transaction. Some solutions even monitor Facebook and LinkedIn for the most recent posts made by your clients so you can check up on them from within your contact records. Contacts, Calendar, Email Integration Most business professionals lack time for administrative upkeep such as scheduling meetings or updating contact records in multiple places. An important feature in team software platforms is mobile phone integration. It allows an iPhone or Android device to connect to your CRM. If you get a new customer call on your phone, and you save that contact, your phone will then sync the contact record to the CRM in your team solution, so you do not need to re-enter it. Likewise, if a team member schedules a task or meeting for you, they can access your calendar for your availability and set that appointment so it displays on your phone's calendar. If you are speaking to a tech supplier for your team, ask them about Google Sync or Outlook Sync. Reporting and Forecasting One of the challenges to operating a team is to measure team productivity. These metrics fall into the realm of reporting and forecasting. Depending on the role of the team member, good reporting and forecasting can provide the team leader with data that shows how team members are using the system, the value of business they have in the pipeline, etc. Remember, when you are running a team, you need to think about it like you are running a business or running a brokerage. Productivity per team member is a key matrix that you need to track. Dynamic Automation The idea behind software has always been automation. In the past, automation in team software was pretty linear. Linear automation is when you schedule things to happen at a specific time in a specific order. On day one, do this. On day two, do that. On day five, do this other task; on their birthday, do this, etc. Dynamic automation uses the intelligence of software to observe consumer actions and adjust the behavior accordingly. In tech speak, they use the term "if this, then that." For example, let's imagine that a past client comes to your website to read an article about home improvement, then starts looking at houses. Dynamic automation would bring this to your attention and save the search for that client without them needing to do anything. The software could then send them a follow-up email the next day with the listings that they reviewed and ask if they have questions or would like to see any other homes. These auxiliary communications use machine learning or artificial intelligence to anticipate the needs of clients dynamically and automatically. Download Success Guide: Teams to learn more about Team software trends, how to evaluate Team software, and more.

Why Large Firms Are Growing While Small Firms Face Uncertain Futures: 5 Strategies for Success
While a friend of mine was attending Steve Murray's M&A webinar, he sent me a screenshot showing that small firm valuations are dropping. If you do not know of Steve Murray, I recommend familiarizing yourself with his work. He operates Real Trends, a business consulting firm he founded to focus on valuations, mergers, and acquisitions. Steve knows his stuff when it comes to trend recognition. He is right. Small firms are dying.

More Positive Trends in the Real Estate Market
Different signs from May and June continue to support the claim by many experts that the real estate market is in a V-shaped recovery. The National Association of Realtors surveyed more than 4,000 real estate professionals about their monthly transactions in their May 2020 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey and found that survey respondents saw roughly three offers each on homes closed in May, compared to about two offers in April and 2.3 in May 2019.

Early Signs of the Real Estate Market Comeback from COVID-19
Through this Coronavirus pandemic, we have been sharing insights into different data to pay attention to so you can navigate these difficult times. Check out our previous posts here, here and here. I wanted to put together a quick, high-level post to share with you what I'm seeing. I feel this will provide some hope as we all prepare for the upcoming recovery.

How to Deal with Coronavirus in My Business: An Analytical Approach to Business Leading Indicators, Part 2
Last week, I talked about trending data as we are seeing it now. You can find that article by clicking here, and you may want to read it before reading this article. For this article, I want to discuss a tool that I have found to be invaluable in my businesses, called Rate of Change. This tool, or methodology, comes from ITR Economics. I was introduced to ITR Economics ten years ago through my Vistage group. What stuck out to me about this methodology of analyzing current data and leading indicators is it provided early insight into trending changes that affected my business.

Zelman Roundtable Exceeds Expectations
The real estate industry is an important driver of economic activity in America. Each year, I am given the opportunity to meet with analysts and money managers that subscribe to the Zelman Institutional Investor Research. Zelman newsletters have been very valuable to WAV Group and their clients. Zelman's world is all about research and forecasting the performance of public companies in our space – think Realogy, Redfin, RE/MAX, Zillow, etc. I enjoyed seeing many friends in the room at the Zelman Roundtable. Our small group of a dozen or so executives answered questions about the residential resale market. There were a few key takeaways for me.

The 6 Trends We're Seeing in Top Real Estate CRMs
The following is an excerpt from RE Technology's latest Success Guide: CRM is a constantly evolving category of technology for real estate. Vendors in this category regularly introduce new functionality to improve the breadth of services that agents or brokers can accomplish. Here are a number of new functions and trends that we see emerging across the real estate CRM landscape.

How Real Estate Companies Are Finding Value in Blockchain Technology
Like many industries, there are various pieces of insider information that have long been deemed sensitive within real estate and its institutions. Commonly kept under wraps have been details such as comparisons of real rent levels for different property types, the actual price of property, or exact valuations. It takes much more than just a Google search to access certain information. This lack of transparency has generally been viewed as creating a competitive advantage—that is, before technology and the power of data turned the tide of information.

Trend Spotter: Indie Broker Mergers in the San Fransisco Bay Area Continue to Build Momentum
Red Oak Realty is a great company on the east side of the San Francisco Bay. Some of the major cities include Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, El Cerrito, Layfette, Concord, Walnut Creek, and of course, Oakland. This area provides a lucrative place for independent brokerage firms like Red Oak Realty to thrive. Pacific Union was the last company to focus on independent firm mergers in this area before their sale to Compass. Now Red Oak Realty has announced an acquisition with Marvin Gardens Real Estate. The companies combine to host 160 real estate agents with a combined broker volume of $1.2 billion in sales across 1200 transactions (January through June 2019). Each company was about the same size. WAV Group reached out to Vanessa Bergmark, CEO of Red Oak, to learn her perspective on the transaction.

How Advanced Technology Can Suffer from Simplification
As someone who has spent the last two decades writing about--and working with--real estate technology firms, I find myself frequently attempting to simplify the complex. My efforts haven't always been successful. I know that when a CTO (Chief Technology Officer) cringes at one of my attempts. Reporters who cover real estate face the same challenge. They must write for their "average" reader. In the real estate industry, we know from extensive research that the average real estate professional is not very tech-savvy.

The Blurred Line Between Real Estate and Technology: How Proptech Is Changing the Client Experience
The real estate industry has long been heavily dependent on word of mouth. A couple considering the purchase of their first home, for example, may turn to their parents, friends, or colleagues for a direct recommendation for an agent or brokerage. It has been paramount for real estate professionals to provide top-notch service in order to earn these coveted referrals – happy clients lead to future business, after all!

Let's Talk Real Estate: Partnerships, Predictions, Popular Phrases
Welcome to Let's Talk Real Estate! This will be a regularly scheduled column where we go over what's going on in the industry--from news to industry expertise, fun facts and more. First on the list, let's talk websites. Last week, Lone Wolf announced a partnership with Real Estate Webmasters to integrate their website solution with our transaction management platforms. You can read more about that here, but we also think this article from Victor Lund at the WAV Group did a great job at summing up what's happening and what it means for both our customers and REW's customers.

Ten Years From Now: The Future of Real Estate and Everything
Science and technology amaze me. In a unique way, I choose to embrace science and technology for the good that it can do. I am bullish on humanity making the right decisions, but most of all, I am willing to give up certain freedoms in exchange for allowing technology to blossom as a contributor to humanity. Perhaps the most significant advancement we have seen over the last decade is deep machine learning. Deep machine learning is a process that allows algorithms to run against massive amounts of data in a mostly unsupervised way. It allows computers to think and be creative. Computers can ask, answer, and critique questions. Through this process of data interrogation, computers can learn.

On Brokerage Profitability and Sustainability: Where Does Technology Fit In?
Recently, I was reading an article from REM that discussed the change in real estate that seems to come with its own Fight Club clause: the declining profitability of the real estate brokerage. Essentially, the article (titled "Brokerage profitability and sustainability," if you wanted to read it) posits that while we tend to discuss the paradigm shifts that have happened in the industry over the last few decades—from a brokerage focus, to an agent focus, to a tech and consumer focus—we never seem to talk about how the net-to-office revenue share for brokerages has taken a hit each time. So why does the real estate industry never talk about it?

The Latest Trends in Market Analytics
Perhaps the most significant disruption in real estate market analytics has been the launch of Zillow's Zestimate. The Zestimate is an automated valuation model that uses mathematical algorithms to speculate what a home's value might be. In the banking industry, these mathematical algorithms are called AVMs, or Automated Valuation Models. As consumers gained access to the Zillow Zestimate, it sent the industry into a tailspin. "The Zestimate is too high," or "The Zestimate is too low," shouted the crowd of industry pundits, REALTORS®, and consumers alike. The tailspin was created by opening up the dark box of real estate data that had previously only been available to real estate professionals. On a property by property basis, real estate agents would carefully sift through dozens or hundreds of properties on the market, under contract, or recently sold in the process of establishing a market value for a home. This remains true today, and the real estate professional who painstakingly performs this analysis continues to be the authority in helping sellers price homes or supporting buyers with successful offers. So the battle is on. Real estate agents have a strong challenger in Zillow, who aims to become the source of real estate information on property values. The good news is that software vendors in the real estate industry continue to raise the bar for REALTORS® by delivering a wide array of products that not only enable the agent to gain astute insights into market data, but analyze and report on that market data with exceptional professionalism. Used correctly, the agent can continue to maintain their position as the most trusted source of what is happening in the real estate market. The challenge is adoption. We have seen an enormous effort expended by the National Association of REALTORS® to maintain the advantage of the REALTOR by the development of the RVM®, or REALTOR Valuation Model. It is like an AVM, but only available to members of NAR. The RVM is created by NAR though their subsidiary, Realtors Property Resource®. This is certainly nothing new, but it is a significant trend in the industry because of its enormous evolution. The product has gotten really advanced in the data available, its ease of use, and certainly the quality of its reports. Frankly, RE Technology believes that RPR is among the most advanced mobile tools available to real estate professionals today. Another enormous development in the real estate industry has been in tax systems. CoreLogic has shifted their development of REALIST® from a standalone solution and opted to focus on Matrix 360, a fully integrated MLS and tax system in one. Alongside this trend, we have seen CRS Data completely rebuild their tax interface and become one of the newest tax systems in real estate. These systems, along with the marketing focused tax system Remine, have splintered the strategic direction of off-market data accessed by real estate professionals. Of course, data quality as measured by accuracy (typos), depth (number of fields), and timeliness (speed of update from the recorder's office) varies by county. No matter how good the software or reports are, the underlying data is the most important resource. Agents and brokers continue to tie market data into their CRM and leverage market reports in lead generation forms for "What's my home worth?" In this regard, we have seen a lot of activity by leading CRM providers like Inside Real Estate, Contactually, Top Producer's Market Snapshot, Boston Logic, Booj, Real Estate Webmasters, Gabriels, and so many others. It is the most powerful drip marketing report with soaring open rates, some hitting as high as 40 percent because consumers are starving for this information and expect it from their agents. Want to learn more about how to make market analytics work for your business? Download our FREE Success Guide to Marketing Analytics today!      

From RoboCop to Robo-Advisor to... Robo Agent?
How likely is the rise of the robo agent and what can boutiques do to stay relevant? The Robo Advisor Not long ago, the investment advisory business was taken by storm with the introduction of "Robo-Advisors" that combine time-tested, traditional wealth management strategies with automation to lower fees and open investing to broader masses.

5 Social Media Predictions and Goals for Your Business in 2019
Predicting where social media is headed can be tough, however, looking back on the past year can give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. After many years of growth and smooth sailing, it's no secret that 2018 was challenging for many social media platforms, most notably Facebook. Let's begin this year on the right foot and check out these five trends that are surely going to dominate social media and marketing in 2019!

How Technology Will Shape Real Estate in 2019
It's 2019 and technology cannot be ignored. It already affects almost every aspect of our lives, business to personal. But where will technology go from here? Find out what 2019 has in store for real estate professionals here.

Magnificent 7 Tech Trends to Watch in 2019 and Beyond
Two years ago, I picked a "Magnificent 7" list that included Automation, Deep Learning, IoE (Internet of Everything), Intelligent Apps, Security, Digital Twins, and Ghosting. Here's my list for 2019 of the NextGen and NextLevel tech that have caught my eye and the implications for real estate.

How Amazon's HQ2 Could Shape Housing Markets in VA and NY
Amazon's long-awaited HQ2 announcement arrived earlier this month: The tech giant will be splitting their new headquarters between Queens' Long Island City neighborhood in New York City and the Crystal City neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia — with about 25,000 employees expected in each location. So, what will an influx of these jobs mean for the real estate markets in Long Island City and Crystal City?

Brokers Need to Shift Strategy Immediately
The October financial numbers have come in and it is not pretty. Many brokers experienced their worst GCI numbers of the year in October. The market is frozen--low inventory and low transaction volume. Smart brokers are hunkering down for a cold winter.

WATCH: 3 Trends to Put Your Business on the Fast Path to Growth
WolfNet COO Jennie MacIntosh sat on a Dreamforce panel last month to discuss growing your small business. We thought she did a great job and had some awesome takeaways! Watch the session below, or read her blog post.

Trends: The 2018 Real Estate Market Heats Up
With experts predicting sizzling summer market conditions to continue in many states, what real estate trends are integral to buyer and seller success? 2018 Sales a Week Faster than Last Year Sellers Priced right, the pressure of a faster home sale has been relieved, and negotiating power improved.

Top 10 Issues Facing Real Estate: What's on Your List?
Victor Lund, founding partner of the WAV Group, and I recently returned from the National Association of Real Estate Editors Conference in Hot Vegas. 107 degrees hot. One of the hottest topics was the iBuyer, and Victor headed up a panel that took that topic head-on. Let's say it was one of the livelier sessions of the conference. The one thing I was sure of, Victor made a great impression among reporters based on the feedback he gave me. If I were to unveil my own Top 10 list of issues affecting real estate in 2018-19, iBuyer indeed would be at or near the top of my list. Just in the last few months, the news has been jarring. After Redfin jumps in as the first brokerage to put its toe in the water, we have a flurry of activity in this space for the first half of 2018.

How Do the Top 20 Sites Manage Digital Search Advertising?
At WAV Group, we like to look under the hood at what the top property search sites in America are doing to engage consumers and boost performance. In some cases, we work with the site owner and have access to their analytics. In other cases, we use benchmarking tools like Hitwise and ComScore to get a glimpse into what these top performers may be doing. The results are interesting. In the snapshot that we took, the nation's leading portal – Zillow.com – is benchmarked to be the top search site with 36 percent, and also the top investor in paid search. Their paid click share is 35 percent of their search traffic and 36 percent of their search traffic is organic. Overall, Zillow acquires 5 percent of the paid click traffic. Zillow's Click-Through Rate (CTR) on paid traffic is 5.33 percent.