What Can We Learn from the Last Quarter of 2023?
2024 has just begun, and we're already eager to start strategizing. Whether you're the type to set a resolution and stick to it or the sort of person who waits for a sign, we can all agree that, when it comes to predicting the future, a good place to start is with the information and insights we have at the present. It looks like less is more when it comes to the numbers. When comparing the fourth quarter data year over year, we saw some ups and downs—but overall, there was less substantial change than we've been seeing in other quarterly reports. With increases of only 1.6% in listings under contract and 2.5% in new listings, as well as decreases of only 4.7% in inventory and 8.9% in sold listings, we're seeing a bit more consistency when comparing this quarter to the year prior. The outlier is, once again, off-market listings, which saw a 19% increase. While higher than the increase we saw of 7% in 2023 when compared to the previous year's Q3, it's a far less startling increase than Q2's 40.43% increase, Q1's increase of 64%, and especially Q4 of 2022's increase of 102%. There's any number of factors that continue to drive the number of off-market listings up—and you can learn more about them here. How to create your success in your 2024 market While many of the challenges that existed for homebuyers in 2023 will persist into 2024, there's hope: if inventory does continue to rise, it will relieve some of the pressure in the market, giving buyers and sellers more breathing room. With comprehensive reports from BrokerMetrics, you can see how all these numbers—and more—compare, year over year. To view the original article, visit the Lone Wolf blog.

How Market Trends Impact Brokerage Valuation
There are about 106,000 real estate brokers in America. WAV Group Mergers and Acquisitions leader George Slusser insists that in the market today, "every brokerage should be either a buyer or a seller." For the most part, even when the market size is shrinking, companies can demonstrate their strength by gaining market share. In the absence of significant recruiting or acquisition activity, brokers' business volume floats with the market. If transaction volume in your market is down 35% year over year, but your business is only down 20%, then you are outpacing the market by 15%. Those are impressive results that will normally show up in market share reports. Realtor.com just released their 2024 housing market trends that highlights significant areas that are expected to surge next year. If you are thinking of buying or selling in these markets, having some predictive analytics on what will happen in the housing market should temper your opinion of the valuation of a brokerage. Here are the top 10 markets that Realtor.com expects will have the largest growth in 2024. It is also very interesting to look at the markets that will struggle for transaction volume. These are the major markets that are expected to continue to lag in transaction volume – but pay very close attention to the change in median home price! Metro 2024 Existing Home Sale Counts Year-over-Year 2024 Existing Home Sale Counts vs 2017-2019 Average 2024 Existing Home Median Sale Price Year-over-Year 2024 Existing Home Median Sale Price vs 2017-2019 Average Combined 2024 Existing Home Sales and Price Growth Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA -15.80% -41.00% 0.40% 63.30% -15.40% Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN -11.40% -35.00% -4.80% 51.30% -16.20% Ogden-Clearfield, UT -15.10% -53.10% -3.80% 57.20% -18.90% San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX -10.10% -28.90% -9.40% 27.30% -19.50% Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO -15.30% -41.80% -5.10% 35.40% -20.40% Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX -12.90% -35.30% -8.40% 31.40% -21.40% Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC -22.40% -45.60% -0.90% 58.00% -23.30% Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX -11.70% -39.70% -12.20% 29.10% -23.90% Baton Rouge, LA -20.40% -38.60% -5.60% 17.80% -25.90% Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA -25.60% -61.30% -7.40% 23.70% -33.00% If you are setting your 2024 goals to expand or sell your brokerage, WAV Group would love to discuss how we can help. Please reach out to any one of us leading this area of expertise: Victor Lund, George Slusser, Finley Hair, or Mark McLaughlin. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Location, location, location: Site Selection provides deep commercial placement insights
It's a truism that finding the best location for your business is one of the biggest keys to success. But how exactly is a city councilmember supposed to know which might be the best businesses to try to attract to their specific district? And where would be the best spot to put the farmer's market that the township is hoping to launch next year? Real estate agents can become the go-to source for answers to these questions when they use Site Selection, an RPR (Realtors Property Resource) tool that's included as part of your arsenal as a REALTOR. It's perfect for commercial agents, business-owners, investors, and anyone else who's interested in building an economically thriving and diverse area. Read on for more details. RPR's (Realtors Property Resource®) Site Selection is an essential part of a commercial practitioner's toolkit. It's an advanced, data-driven tool that simplifies site selection by analyzing comprehensive demographics, economic factors and behavioral patterns. Site Selection helps commercial real estate practitioners and business owners and investors answer the question: "Where are the right people for a business?" Finding Business Locations with RPR A commercial Site Selection analysis starts with a large geography such as a city or county, and from there can be drilled down to identify where optimal conditions exist in smaller geographies, such as ZIP codes or neighborhoods. From there, even further refinement by applying specific attributes from a broad data of categories such as economic, demographic, spending and more. This process helps ensure that the core drivers of a client's business reside in the area, and have the spending power to sustain it. Traditionally, REALTORS® have utilized the RPR Site Selection tool to access extensive information about population characteristics, household incomes and consumer behavior. With this tool, practitioners can identify optimum real estate locations matched to specific client needs. Market trends and prospective investment opportunities can be discerned easily thanks to this valuable tool. Its unique capabilities make it an essential resource for commercial pros seeking instant access to critical information. However, local community leaders are now working with REALTORS® to use it to help build their communities and drive local economic development. Reshaping Local Economic Development With Site Selection Data from RPR's Site Selection isn't just about helping businesses find the ideal location. It's also great for local leaders such as mayors or city council members. The information it gathers helps these leaders make better economic development decisions about how they can improve their towns and what kinds of businesses would be best to attract. Think about it: What if we could find the perfect spot for a farmers' market where locals get the healthiest, freshest options and farmers have the opportunity to sell the fruits of their labor? Or predict what kind of shop would succeed on Main Street and, at the same time, fill a need for the community? RPR's Site Selection and Trade Area data can help with that, shining light on areas such as jobs, income levels, interests and spending habits in any given area. This data and insight could go even further and be applied from a different angle to help solve tricky planning problems, such as where to break ground on new buildings or how public transportation might affect development. REALTORS® share data and insight to help their communities REALTORS® play a crucial role because they're the ones with access to critical market metrics and data points. Local government officials and community leaders are encouraged to work with a REALTOR® to gain access to findings from RPR's Site Selection tool to help in their planning, proposals and roundtable discussions concerning community economic development. Combining this tool with the knowledge and experience of REALTORS® makes a powerful team in city planning efforts. When REALTORS® share insights with city officials, it means better strategies for growth that really fit what each community needs the most. To view the original article, visit the RPR 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.

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.

Brokers: Get Your Agents in Front of the Market Shift with RPR Housing Data
Sensational headlines about the changing real estate market are causing plenty of uncertainty among consumers. As a broker, you can directly help your agents prepare for the market shift and give them access to tools that can help them succeed. RPR (Realtors Property Resource®) has the perfect solution: new housing market charts and graphs. This collection of data, metrics and statistics is incredibly helpful in explaining local market trends. Your agents can easily share this data with clients and prospects to: Build confidence and clear up confusion by delivering local market data Walk clients and prospects through the key details of monthly inventory, above or below asking prices, days on market, median sold price and more Include in communications, presentations and social media to spark conversations Helpful resources to help your agents communicate the market shift Here are some ways you can help your agents learn about new RPR housing market charts and graphs: Watch this video to learn where the market charts are in RPR Provide this Printable Guide: "How's The Market?" for step-by-step, written instructions Review these articles from the RPR blog: RPR Unveils New Charts and Graphs Know Your Market and Your Numbers Shifting Real Estate Market: How to Create a Video That Clears up Confusion Broker-agent success is in your sights Right now, brokers can help their agents prepare for the market shift by showing their agents how to use RPR's new housing market charts and graphs to clear up confusion and deliver local market expertise. Consumers need this information now more than ever as the market shifts and evolves. Help your agents deliver current, up-to-date housing data to their sphere. Because when agents succeed, brokers succeed. To view the original article, visit the RPR 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.

Airbnb, Predictive Analytics to Have Large Impact on Real Estate in 2022
Airbnb will leverage the biggest impact on the residential real estate market in 2022, according to Chris Linsell, senior real estate writer for TheClose.com. Linsell shared several technology predictions during a presentation at the 2021 REALTORS Conference & Expo. "Airbnb are not just selling their product to consumers, they are selling to the providers of the product," Linsell said. "They are selling twice without holding their own inventory. This unique model opens up an incredible level of scalability. "Industry analysts predict that Airbnb will increase their inventory by 25% in 2022," he added. "Many of those housing units are going to come from the residential real estate market." Linsell explained that converting more inventory to short-term rentals will likely have a net-negative impact on housing availability and affordability, unless developers work to bring new options to the market specifically to meet these needs. He told the audience that there are several things that Realtors® can do to prepare. "You should become a zoning law expert in your local market, advocate for sensible zoning law changes at the local level, start adjusting your comparative market analyses to account for potential market value via short-term vacation rental income, seek out investor relationships with buyers and explore getting into property management." Linsell also predicted that predictive analytics will be the dominant marketing strategy and the most important lead generation approach of 2022. Predictive analytics takes large data sets and uses them to make predictions about future behavior. "As real estate professionals, we are all trying to figure out exactly who is going to buy and sell," he said. "These data sets are growing very quickly and predictive analytics algorithms are getting smarter." Between 2016 and 2021 in the United States, there was a six-fold increase in the number of real estate leads, but the number of closings only increased marginally, indicating that Realtors® are capturing more leads, but they are less effective. "Predictive analytics cuts through this noise," he said. "It allows us to focus only on the consumers who are most likely to conduct transactions. This becomes a very powerful marketing sword to wield." Linsell warned that leads from predictive analytics marketing are often long-term nurture plays, making it difficult for Realtors® who need more immediate results to find success. "Sometimes predictive analytics will look at someone's behavior and demographics and identify them as a person who is ready to buy or sell before that person even knows they are ready. They are going to get to that place eventually, but we have to be ready to nurture these leads for a little bit longer to get them across the finish line." Linsell provides reviews of predictive analytics companies on TheClose.com. He recommends perfecting your strategies with predictive analytics while the stakes are still low. "Don't go all in on this just yet. Make a nominal investment in it so you can understand its full value proposition. Perfect your marketing strategies and then you can ramp things up in the back half of 2022.

Howard Hanna Holds Onto Top Spot, Named No. 1 Privately-Owned Real Estate Company in the Nation
Howard Hanna continues to out-perform year after year. All of us at WAV Group ask you to join us in celebrating the great accomplishments of this family-owned business. In the face of stiff competition from publicly held companies, this excellent company continues to thrive by staying profoundly focused on the relationship between customers and agents. Read the full story below: Pittsburgh, PA (April 6, 2021) – Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has once again been named the #1 privately-owned real estate company in the United States, according to the recently released 2021 RealTrends 500 report and the RISMedia Top 500 Power Brokers. The RealTrends 500, is an independently verified compilation of the nation's leading residential real estate companies. RealTrends, a trusted source for news and research about the real estate brokerage industry, has been ranking brokerages for more than 33 years and is the most-trusted brokerage ranking report in the industry. Over 1,750 firms qualified for this year's RealTrends 500. According to a research report produced by Real Trends, the 500 largest residential real estate brokerage firms in the nation closed over 3.9 million residential sales transactions in 2020. RISMedia releases their annual Power Broker Report & Survey, the industry's most comprehensive report ranking the top 1,000+ brokerages in the United States by transaction sides and sales volume. They released a sneak peek of their Top 500 in advance of the full Topp 1,000 report, to be released later this year. The RealTrend and RISMedia lists are full of Wall Street-funded and financially supported entities, and yet Howard Hanna, the nation's largest family-owned and -operated real estate firm, was ranked among the top five largest brokers overall, based on closing transaction sides in 2020, by both entities. As a decades old company built on a legacy, Howard Hanna has grown and evolved in a way that has allowed the business to flourish, even in the challenging years. The continued success of a family-owned business among a litany of corporations is something that few have accomplished, let alone fully realized the potential of their power in the market. "Our real estate professionals have demonstrated their ability and willingness to excel in a tumultuous year," said Chairman Howard W. "Hoddy" Hanna, III. "Realizing a nearly 19% increase in sales volume year-over-year is an outstanding testament to their commitment to growth and success in our various markets." Strategic Growth By rounding out 2020 with $26.7 billion in sales volume reported in the RealTrends list, Howard Hanna ranked fifth for the Top 5 Year Movers category with total sales volume growth of $9.9 billion from 2016 – 2020, for an overall 59% increase throughout those five years. Throughout the past few years, Howard Hanna has had a very deliberate growth plan, focused on increasing their footprint through both strategic partnerships and organic growth. As they looked for new ways to expand, 2020 brought the opportunity to partner with a like-minded firm to move into the metropolitan New York and New Jersey area, providing Howard Hanna with a new territory, as well as the local expertise to manage the region. "It has become clear that our consumers, associates, and partners appreciate the value of a privately owned company," said Chief Executive Office Helen Hanna Casey. "We believe that as more and more companies become owned by shareholders, it is vital to keep the local ties. At Howard Hanna, we have local leadership in each market with regional support to ensure the success of our agents and the overall satisfaction of our customers." Technological Evolution While Howard Hanna has always had a robust real estate technology stack, the company took challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and turned them into opportunities to not only leverage technology but enhance it for agents and clients alike. Each agent has access to the proprietary GoHanna platform, which is essentially the digital real estate office that grants them access to all the tools they need to be successful each day. This platform provides agents with our integrated technology to connect them to vital resources with a single access point. With one touch, our agents can log on to customer relationship management systems, access customized marketing tools, and utilize our award-winning listing alert platform that helps our agents generate new leads. A powerful consumer-facing tool that we have introduced is our home valuation system, which allows homeowners to understand more about their home's value and sets them up for a successful future transaction. Additionally, Howard Hanna has taken great measures to increase the breadth and depth of their internal education platform to educate employees and agents to ensure the best possible experience for our consumers. "Our commitment to evolution continues to be the differentiator for Howard Hanna," said President, Howard W. "Hoby" Hanna, IV. "We've built a custom platform for our agents and introduced revolutionary tools to improve our consumer experience. In addition to that, we have enhanced our internal Hanna University platform to make sure our agents have access to education materials to help them continue to learn and grow as professionals." Full-Service Firm RealTrends also recognizes that realty firms offer more services than to simply broker housing transactions and emphasize other core services such as mortgage, title insurance, escrow, insurance, and other products. As such, Howard Hanna's ancillary businesses of mortgage, title and insurance services are all rated in the Top 5 portion of their respective categories in the 2021 RealTrends 500 report, with Howard Hanna ranking #1 in number of closed homeowner insurance policies. Howard Hanna has been delivering a fully integrated home buying experience for decades and is proud to continue our dedication to the mortgage, title, and insurance services. With the experience of our professionals and all these services housed under one roof, Howard Hanna is committed to getting customers under their own roof in the most efficient, effective manner possible. About Howard Hanna Howard Hanna Real Estate Services is the #1 family-owned and -operated independent broker in the U.S.A. The full-service real estate company has more than 300 real estate, mortgage, insurance, title, and escrow service offices across 11 states, including Allen Tate Realtors in the Carolinas, with more than 12,000 sales associates and staff, including many of the industry's top-producing real estate agents. For more information, visit www.HowardHanna.com. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

JPAR Teams with zavvie to Introduce First Nationwide All Seller Options Platform
J.P. & Associates REALTORS (JPAR) is teaming with zavvie to introduce Sure Sale, the first nationwide all seller options platform. America's fastest-growing 100% commission real estate brokerage and franchise, JPAR is one of the largest brokerages in the U.S. with more than 3,000 agents in over 50 locations. JPAR Sure Sale helps agents engage clients with all the newest selling options, including a buy-before-you-sell option from Bridge providers (JPAR Trades), instant offers from iBuyers (JPAR Instant Offers), as well as a traditional Open Market offer (JPAR List). "If you are a homeowner, you can get multiple offers on your home with the push of a button," said JP Piccinini, Founder of JP & Associates REALTORS® and CEO of Vesuvius Holdings. "Most importantly, you get a trusted JPAR agent to help you compare all of your selling options, even if you choose an iBuyer offer or decide not to sell." "At JPAR, we believe that every homeowner deserves all available options to sell their home and excellent representation no matter what option they choose. JPAR Sure Sale ensures the client receives both in one easy to use platform," said Derek Taylor, Vice President of Technology of JP & Associates REALTORS®. Powered by zavvie, JPAR Sure Sale offers three major options for sellers. JPAR Lists helps homeowners sell on the open market, often resulting in the seller's highest sales price and net proceeds. JPAR Instant Offers helps homeowners with properties in good condition within a targeted price range get an all-cash offer from an iBuyer. JPAR Trades is a modern "Bridge" program to enable a homeowner to buy their next home before selling and moving out of their current house when they are ready. "JPAR hits a home run with Sure Sale," said Lane Hornung, zavvie co-founder and CEO, in a nod to JPAR's new video commercial. "They truly are changing the game, and the winners are homeowners who will have more options to sell than ever before." "The biggest challenge for real estate today is inventory and JPAR Trades helps homeowners who are stuck. It allows you to buy your new home before you sell your current one, bridging a gap that keeps so many homeowners from selling today. And with a JPAR real estate pro at the center of every option, consumers can't lose," added Hornung. "Sure Sale is the perfect marriage of technology and customer support that really gets you more listings," said Justin Tracy, Chief Technology Officer of Vesuvius Holdings. More details about JPAR Sure Sale are here or at jpar.com.

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.

Brokers Show Power in Numbers: RISMedia Announces Power Broker Top 1000
While we all may still be feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, it's encouraging to review the collective power of brokerages across the United States. They are a TOUGH group and are going to come out of COVID stronger than ever. Let's look at some good news coming from our friends at RISMedia to get our focus back on being successful at serving the needs of home buyers and sellers. The 2020 RISMedia Power Broker List has been published and there is some exciting news to share!

See RPR's New Opportunity Zones in Action
RPR now offers another great feature: Opportunity Zones. This powerful data layer will allow REALTORS to use RPR's map interface to analyze and search for properties within the 8,700 Opportunity Zones throughout the U.S., in both Residential and Commercial modes. Residential practitioners who use Opportunity Zones will notice increased marketability of homes within the OZ, while commercial practitioners are more likely to see less desirable properties turn into investment opportunities.

Home Flipping Report Paints iBuyer Story with a Different Brush
Opendoor, Zillow, and others have created a stir in the real estate industry by putting a new name on home flipping called 'iBuyer.' According to the Q1 report from ATTOM Data, 49,059 homes were flipped in Q1 of this year, estimating that iBuyers may only occupy less than 20% of the flipper market today. The volume of units represents a 62% unit increase over last year, but only a 35%-dollar volume increase. This leads me to believe that flipping is occurring at a higher frequency in the lower price points of metropolitan areas. Flipping absorbs about 7.5% of the total US real estate market, so it is hardly significant and puts iBuyers somewhere in the 2% range of trades. The report spells bad news for Zillow Group as they try to scale, and neutral news for Opendoor.

Top Takeaways from U.S. Migration and Housing Analysis
A look at mover motivations and how to market properties accordingly Wouldn't it be nice to know exactly when and where homeowners were moving to and from? While the human race doesn't migrate the same way or with the same predictability as they used to (and for good reason), there are still tens of millions of Americans every year that pick up their lives and head for greener pastures.

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?

Top 5 Data Needs for Researching Commercial Properties
'Tis the season for list making and in this spirit of the holidays, we want to help you with your clients' top five must-have pieces of information when buying or listing a commercial property. 1. Property Details Definitely the number one category of information for your client, and it goes beyond "Is this property available?" Dig into information on square footage, zoning, owners, tenants, tax information, mortgage records, legal descriptions and much more. There are a multitude of resources that help you research a property from free sources such as public records to your paid listing and data service providers. RPR Commercial pulls data together for you in one place through aggregating public records nationwide and partnering with 26 contracted CIEs/CMLSs and 668 MLSs for on-market commercial listings. Currently there are more than 320 million on-market listings, over 35 million off-market properties and with the recent integration of SMR Research, an additional 7 million tenants occupying space available for your research exploration.

RPR Data Strengthens Smart Growth Initiative
Real estate professionals are investing in their communities well beyond helping consumers achieve the American dream of homeownership. They know that healthy neighborhoods, towns and cities prosper in ways that attract families, businesses and investors to the area. That is why REALTORS® across the country are becoming increasingly more interested in sustainable community development, also known as Smart Growth. REALTORS® are uniquely positioned to create added value within our communities," said Nate Johnson, President of Real Estate Solutions and Chair of NAR's Smart Growth Advisory Board. "They are responsible for making sure our neighborhoods are developing in ways that we want by working alongside elected officials, real estate developers, chambers of commerce, transportation and urban planning professionals, governors, and leaders in Washington, D.C., to improve everyday life for people across the country."

Can You Predict Housing Trends Better than NAR?
We're embarking on an experiment--and we need your help. As you may know, the National Association of Realtors publishes an economic report on the 10th of every month. We're interested in finding out if RE Technology readers can predict the data in the housing report. After all, agents and brokers are the ones in the real estate trenches and we have a hunch that your predictions will be pretty close to NAR's. To test our hypothesis, we've created a brief (and painless, we promise) poll that asks questions about pricing, closings, and market conditions in your local area. Please take just five minutes to fill it out and submit it. We will publish the results of the poll next week to see if we can predict the numbers of the NAR report--before the NAR report comes out. Then, following the release of NAR's data, we'll compare your answers to the official report. Let's see if RE Technology readers really have their finger on the pulse of what's happening! Take the housing trends poll now!

Redfin study shows top school zones are pulling big premiums
While you would probably assume top school districts correlate with higher prices, would you have guessed people are paying an average of $50 per square foot more? A new Redfin study showcasing data from Onboard Informatics, Maponics, and GreatSchools dives into how housing prices are affected by the quality of the local school zones. The study evaluated school districts nationwide based on its test scores and proved that, in school districts with good test scores, homes were more expensive. Although this isn't shocking news, the magnitude of the pricing inequalities across school districts is. What Redfin found is that, even if the only attribute separating homes of equal sizes and accommodations is one school boundary zone and less than a mile of distance, price differences can still be as drastic as $130,000. Even if a school's test score percentile is diminished from a 90 to an 80, housing prices in that district can plummet by over $60,000.

Delivering a Simple but Compelling Message that Will Boost Your Lead Engagement
This post comes to us from Delta Media Group: The KCM Blog drew a significant amount of attention this week with the most simplistic of messages. It used the chart below to demonstrate how much extra money it might cost a consumer who decides to buy a house today as opposed to one year ago. Difference in house payment in 2012 vs. 2013 based on typical price and interest rate increases. Source: KCM Blog. The concepts illustrated here are based on a bit of assumption and a bit of fact. The assumption being the same house would still be on the market, and would have increased in price by 10 percent (house prices have increased by double digits in markets across the nation, so a 10 percent price increase in a comparable house is not a stretch). The fact being that interest rates have increased by a full percent over the past year, which they have. That increase alone means a higher monthly cost to home purchasers, and a much higher total price at the end of a 30-year mortgage, if paid out over all 360 months.

What Do We Know About Home Buyers?
Guest contributor Properties Online says: 2012 was the year of the buyer...AGAIN. Low prices and low mortgage rates favored buyers who were able to use good credit and sizeable down payments to achieve home ownership. But what else do we know about home buyers? According to the 2012 Home Buyer Survey, conducted by the California Association of REALTORS®, we know that: Home buyers are getting younger. The average age declined from 44 in 2006 to 35 in 2012. Most have a college degree and an annual household income over $75,000. Buyers spend an average of three months considering a home purchased before contacting a real estate agent. Nearly all buyers used an agent and most of those who did found their agent online. The average buyer interviewed at least two agents before selecting the one with whom they would work. When it comes to service from their agents, buyers want the most responsive and most aggressive agent representing them. An agent's reputation and experience are highly valued qualities to home buyers in selecting their agent. Communication is a key element of the agent and client relationship. The majority of buyers prefers communicating with their agents by email and text message and expects a fast response time.

Real Estate News: Tightening SFR Rental Market Presents Broker Opportunities
A number of factors are contributing to heat up the Single-Family Rental Market. A perception that in many markets pricing has bottomed out and is beginning to increase has brought more investors into the market. At the same time, the aggregate number of ex-homeowners forced to rent after a foreclosure event is at an all time high. Nationwide, rental leasing volumes have been up every month during the last two years. Year-to-date, leasing volume is up 12 percent year-over-year. Listing time is steady at six weeks. Smart brokers will find a way to insert themselves into a market where demand is up and supply is down. Read the latest MarketPulse Report for more detail and city/state specific statistics.

Shadow Inventory Declines
Seriously delinquent, foreclosed and REO properties dropped to 2.3 million units in July. This represents a six month supply. 'Shadow inventory' is not included in the housing inventory reported by NAR and tends to hold down prices until cleared in any given market. Of the 2.3 million properties currently in the shadow inventory, 1 million units are seriously delinquent (2.9 months' supply), 900,000 are in some stage of foreclosure (2.5-months' supply) and 345,000 are already in REO (1.0-months' supply). The dollar volume of shadow inventory was $382 billion as of July 2012, down from $397 billion a year ago and $385 billion last month. Here's a link to the full Shadow Inventory report for July. Highlights: The current residential shadow inventory as of July 2012 fell to 2.3 million units, representing a supply of six months. This was a 10.2 percent drop from July 2011, when shadow inventory stood at 2.6 million unity, which is approximately the same level the country was experiencing in March 2009. Currently, the flow of new seriously delinquent (90 days or more) loans into the shadow inventory has been roughly offset by the equal volume of distressed (short and real estate owned) sales.

Real Estate Statistics Determine Top 10 Sellers Markets: 5 Markets Located in California
This post comes to us from the Showing Suite blog: With home prices being at record lows in most of the country, it is refreshing to see more real estate markets beginning to progress back in favor of home sellers. In these markets, home sellers are more likely to sell their home for close to the asking price and spend less time on the market. Zillow recently released a market report based on May 2012 real estate statistics which analyzed several sets of data to determine whether buyers or sellers had the advantage in a given real estate market. The report revealed that five out of the ten markets where sellers have the upper-hand are located in California. Surprisingly, only one out of the ten markets are located on the east coast. Take a look at the top ten real estate sellers markets: 1. San Jose, California 2. San Francisco, California 3. Las Vegas, Nevada 4. Sacramento, California

Value Added is 'The New Black'
In 1986, Ferris Bueller told us, "Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it." In the case of technology, that statement couldn't be more true. Technology has moved so swiftly and made such incredible advancements in the past 10 years that where you were then with your real estate business and where you are now are not only not in the same ballpark, they are on entirely different planets. With this hyper speed growth of technology, we've seen a couple of fundamental shifts in methodology. Today, I'm going to address the two biggest shifts, and how offering your clients and prospects "Value Added" services will ensure you are one step ahead of the curve, and always at the forefront. Shift #1: Technology & Free Information Means Realtors® No Longer Hold All The Cards. Enter "Value Added." Not all that long ago, REALTORS® held all the cards. If a homeowner was interested in a home for sale and wanted information about it, they either had to call their REALTOR®, call the agent that listed the home, or call their local Real Estate office and talk to the floor agent to learn about the property. In doing this, would be buyers would have to give up information to the REALTORS® to get this information (e.g. their name, phone number and email address for example). Today, the tide has shifted. Information is widely available online, in many cases completely free and able to be accessed anonymously, without hassle or obligation. This means that a prospective buyer or seller does not necessarily need to contact a REALTOR®, or even go to their website for that matter. Companies like Zillow, Trulia and REALTOR.com, as well as websites from mega-brokerages like Coldwell Banker and Century 21 have massive websites, giving away all the content a would-be buyer or seller could possibly want.

A Video Every Broker Must See – Today’s Lifecycle of a Homebuyer
This article comes to us from the RESnapshot blog on VHT.com. Due to the popularity of our recent White Paper series, we have decided to adapt these into a short video series. Today we have released the first in the series, "The Lifecycle of Today's Home Buyer." This particular video gives some great insight into how consumer behavior has shifted over the past 10-15 years in the real estate industry. This is invaluable information for the modern brokerage, and something that every brokerage CEO must learn to survive! Click through to the next page to view the video.

Real Estate Feedback Reports Show that Housing is More Affordable Than Ever
Guest contributor Showing Suite says: According to real estate feedback reports conducted by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), housing affordability conditions have achieved a 42-year record high. January 2012’s Housing Affordability Index indicated the new high is at 206.1, which is the first time since records began in 1970 that the index has hit or passed 200. The housing affordability index aims to measure whether or not a typical family could qualify for a mortgage loan on an average-priced home. The point where a median-income household has enough income to be eligible for the purchase of an average-priced home is defined as 100 according to the index. This means that according to the NAR’s real estate feedback reports, the typical family has doubled the income required to purchase an average priced home. The NAR’s real estate feedback reports also project the 2012 affordability index will be at a record annual high, with little fluctuation in mortgage interest rates or home prices.

A Closer Look: U.S. Homes Expected to Lose Nearly $700 Billion in Value This Year
Further insights from the Zillow Research blog . . . Homes in the United States are expected to lose more than $681 billion in value during 2011, which is 35 percent less than the $1.1 trillion lost in 2010, according to recent analysis of the Zillow Real Estate Market Reports. The bulk of the total value lost during 2011 was in the first half of the year. From January to June, the housing market lost $454 billion.  From June to December, Zillow projects that residential home value losses will be $227 billion. Only 7 percent (9 markets) of the 128 markets tracked by Zillow showed gains in total home values during 2011.  Among those were the New Orleans metropolitan statistical area (MSA), which gained $3.5 billion in value, and the Pittsburgh MSA, which gained $2.7 billion. Nationally, the total market value peaks in Q2 of 2006 which is different from the peak of Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) in Q2 of 2007.  This is caused by the different measurements namely average vs. median.  While the median of Zestimates is the core component of the ZHVI, the average of Zestimates is the core component of the total market value. A breakdown of the results by metropolitan statistical area can be viewed here.

Historical Mortgage Rate Chart: 30 Year Fixed Interest Loan
For whatever reason, people always seem to find these mortgage rate trend charts fascinating. Here is the historical mortgage rate trend chart for 30 year fixed loans from April 1971 through November 2011.

Turn 2012's Market Forecast to Your Advantage
It’s the almost-common consensus among real estate agents that we’re about halfway through a 10-year adjustment period for the real estate market. Veterans in the field have enough time and experience in the business to wait out such a period, and agents who opened up shop 8 to 10 years ago probably don’t want to quit just yet, but real estate rookies might hesitate to launch a career in real estate for a few more years. But they shouldn’t: Because of the advantages of social media marketing, now is a great time to begin buying and selling real estate and making a name for yourself. This week, findings from Jones Lang LaSalle’s outlook were presented in its annual media webcast event. Here’s what they found: Despite the slow improvement in underlying demand for most segments of the commercial real estate market, total investment volume will continue trending upward.

Real Estate Market Analysis: Negative Equity - Insights into the Future
There are many opinions on where the market is going in real estate. With so many moving parts, there is no opinion that is so solid that you’d bet your business. However, there are facts, and CoreLogic recently published some data points that are important. CoreLogic announced that 23.1% of mortgages are in negative equity. That means that according to our data, 23.1% of mortgage loan balances are greater than the associated property values. According to the release, 23.1% of mortgages equates to 11.1 million residential properties. This data moves every month, and does not include commercial properties. An additional 2.4 million homes are within 5% of the equity balance.  

Who is Buying Real Estate in Florida?
Who is buying real estate in Florida? Single, first-time, women buyers who are searching on the Internet, are the ones buying Florida real estate. With the real estate market becoming increasingly more complex, it is important to look at the different home buyers out there. The National Association of Realtors compiled a profile for Florida Realtors to help them see who their potential clients are.

Home Price Stabilization Seen in Most Metro Areas
Home sales rebounded in 49 states during the fourth quarter. Over half of the available metropolitan areas experienced price gains from a year ago, while most of the rest saw prices weaken, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Total state existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, jumped 15.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.80 million in the fourth quarter from 4.16 million in the third quarter. The sales were 19.5% below a surge to an unsustainable cyclical peak of 5.97 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, which was driven by the initial deadline for the first-time buyer tax credit.