If you feel a bit of whiplash trying to keep up with housing market shifts over the past few years, you’re not alone. Real estate agents, buyers and sellers have been buffeted by rising home prices, low inventory, heated competition, new migration trends and, more recently, a quick increase in mortgage rates. As an agent, you can put national housing market trends into context for your local market and provide individualized insight and advice for your clients.

The rapid rise of mortgage rates in the spring of 2022 sent a shock wave through the housing market. While buyers and sellers are beginning to adjust and accept that mortgage rates aren’t likely to dip back to 3% or less anytime soon, rates that hover around 5% to 6% reduce affordability for buyers compared to those historically low rates.

Modern house flipping can be traced back to the autumn of 1960, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) into law. Believe it or not, the legislation creating REITs was tucked into the Cigar Excise Tax Extension Act. For the first time ever, a broad base of investors could now pool resources for real estate projects, specifically commercial real estate development. In effect, REITS gave birth to the democratization of real estate investment.

No matter what local market conditions are like, many real estate agents work pretty much all the time. After all, they need to be available when their clients are free, and they need to constantly refresh their knowledge of their local market. And yet, there are some real estate agents who manage their work-life integration seamlessly and carve out time for their family, friends and relaxation. How do they do it? One way is to rely on timesaving programs to speed up or outsource some of their tasks.

Whether you’re a homeowner or real estate agent, one thing is certain, before selling a home sellers and their agents are always looking for ways to make the home stand out to attract more buyers and sell for the most amount possible. One increasingly popular strategy is home staging, a process that involves preparing a property for sale by making it look its best. But what exactly is home staging, and why does it matter? Let’s dive into it.

Dreaming of a kitchen facelift but cringing at the thought of a full cabinet replacement? It’s understandable. Kitchen renovations are a big deal—both for your wallet and your daily life. Although the idea of replacing your kitchen cabinets can seem overwhelming, there is a cheaper and often easier solution: cabinet refacing. But before you dive in, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of refacing kitchen cabinets so you can make the right decision for your kitchen and your wallet.