Real Estate Professionals React To NAR’s $418 Million Settlement

By NICOLE MURRAY People who make their living helping homebuyers and sellers have spent the last two weeks figuring out what the $418 million settlement deal announced by the National Association of Realtors means for them and their clients. If approved by a judge, under the settlement buyers will be expected to enter into written compensation agreements with their real estate agents starting in mid-July. Sellers may pay a buyer’s agent commission as part of the negotiation process. They can also opt to pay just their agent. This represents a departure from the current model, where sellers typically pay for their agent, as well as the buyer’s agent, through cooperative compensation. The Mortgage Note spoke with real estate industry professionals…

Stepping Into Spring: Hear From Real Estate Professionals And Buyers

Spring is here and the home selling season is getting underway. Writer Nicole Murray spoke with real estate professionals and recent buyers to see what they think about the current market for our latest podcast. If you would like to participate in future episodes, please email us at [email protected]. Read articles featuring the guests: To Buy Or Not To Buy? Homeowners Offer Insights Avoid The Doom And Gloom: How To Survive To 2025 Sign up for our free newsletter.…

Are You Ready To Fall In Love With A Home?

By KIMBERLEY HAAS This Valentine’s Day, if you are ready to get off the sidelines and into the housing market, you are likely not alone in your quest to find a place you love. Potential buyers are coming out of the woodwork and touring homes, according to Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index, which measures requests for tours and other buying services from Redfin agents. And although that hasn’t translated into home sales yet, they expect this increase in tours to convert into an improvement in pending sales over the next few months. Dana Anderson, a data journalist at Redfin, explained that more buyers are touring homes now because mortgage rates are holding steady at below 7% and some of these people…

To Buy Or Not To Buy? Homeowners Offer Insights

By NICOLE MURRAY As more people consider jumping into the housing market this year, what do they need to know? The Mortgage Note set out to answer this question, talking to industry leaders and three people who recently purchased a home to get their opinions. Kevin Wu, who bought his first home in 2020, started looking at potential properties with his fiancé just as the real estate market started to transform. The couple looked at almost 15 houses and found their forever home when interest rates were 3.3% in a rather unique experience. “The home we bought was under contract with an approved offer but for whatever reason, they allowed us to look and even place an offer,” said Wu.…

Avoid The Doom And Gloom: How To Survive To 2025

By NICOLE MURRAY A number of real estate industry professionals experienced a painfully slow 2023 and it is predicted this trend will continue in 2024. With high interest rates and low inventory expected, people are encouraged to use this year to prepare for an explosive 2025. The Mortgage Note spoke with industry professionals to see what they expect and what tactics they plan on utilizing to be successful until the inevitable market boom everyone eagerly awaits. “2024 is going to be another stubborn year for originators,” says Jason Perkins, president of CRM company Bonzo. “We might get some relief with rates, but tight inventory and rising home prices will continue to be a burden for potential homebuyers for quite some…

Hallmark Heaven: These Sought-After Towns Have Holiday Names

By CHUCK GREEN Curled up in front of the television watching a Christmas movie, one might romanticize the notion of laying down roots in a holiday-themed town or city. Believe it or not, there are a number of municipalities in America that have names people might associate with this time of year. Stacker, based on information from the Census Bureau, found 29 of them, including North Pole, New York; Rudolph, Wisconsin; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Santa Claus, Arizona; and Christmas, Florida. Snowflake, located in Navajo County in Arizona, has one of these novel names. Jay Eckhardt, the 2023 president-elect of the White Mountain Association of Realtors, told The Mortgage Note that the name is a talking point but buyers move there for…

Zillow, RE/MAX: This Is How Twitter Wars Start

It started innocently enough: I look at Zillow like it’s my social media. ??‍♀️?— Whitney Ortiz (@OrtizWhit) March 30, 2021 Which Zillow appreciated: We like to think of it as research ?— Zillow (@zillow) March 30, 2021 But then RE/MAX had something to say: You might want to try a more trusted site. ?— RE/MAX (@remax) March 30, 2021 We’ll update you with any developments in the burgeoning Twitter war.…