Near historic lows, mortgage rates see little movement in late July

Mortgage rates held steady near month’s end, with interest rates on 15-year fixed rate loans remaining at all-time lows, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly lender survey. Continue reading

Pending home sales fall further than expected in June

Pending home sales dropped 1.9% in June, and 1.9% year over year to an index of 112.8, according to the National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index, released Thursday. Continue reading

Riding luxury boom, Realogy reports strong growth in Q2

The company, which tallied $2.3 billion in revenue from April to June, says early results from its iBuyer program are strong and warrant additional investment. Here’s what you need to know. Continue reading

Startup homebuilder Welcome Homes hires Compass executive

With the hire of Benjie Burford, Welcome Homes is poised to grow its personnel by 500 percent and expand into multiple markets by next year. Continue reading

Knock moves into 50th market, launches closing guarantee

Knock, a real estate technology company that facilitates a buy-now, sell-later financing model called Home Swap, is officially in Chicago, the company announced, in combination with news that it’s now offering a $5,000 on-time closing promise. Continue reading

New agents: How you handle rejection can make or break you

People have all sorts of reasons for choosing another agent, and rejection is just part of the job. New agents need to understand and learn how to move past this fast. Here’s why. Continue reading

5 nifty (and thrifty) social media marketing ideas

If you know where to look, you’ll find that the digital space is chock-full of free resources and tools you can use to up your social media marketing game. Here are a few. Continue reading

3 ways agents can help today’s savvy, educated buyers and sellers

Online resources can give buyers and sellers an advantage when it comes to accessing information on the market and current listings. However, nothing can replace the expertise and knowledge of an experienced agent. Here’s why. Continue reading

3 looming shifts that could change real estate

Increased regulatory enforcement and the ending of IC status are just a few of the possible changes that could greatly impact the way we do business. Here’s what agents should prepare for. Continue reading