Home price growth rose seasonally in March, but continues to slow

by Lillian Dickerson | May 27, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

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How the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ may impact real estate

by Lillian Dickerson | May 23, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday morning, a legislative package that the National Association of Realtors said “included several major victories” for its members.

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The sweeping bill included a series of tax cuts, border control measures, increased work requirements on Medicaid (which are expected to lead to millions of low-income individuals losing health insurance), rolled back green energy tax incentives and raised the debt limit by $4 trillion, among other measures. It was passed by a vote of 215-214.

The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration, where lawmakers are expected to weigh in on it after the Memorial Day holiday.

Two Republicans and all 212 House Democrats voted against the bill, which House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called a “GOP Tax Scam” that represents “an assault on the economy, an assault on healthcare, an assault on nutritional assistance, an assault on tax fairness and an assault on fiscal responsibility.

“Some Republicans who initially opposed the bill were concerned that it would add to the federal debt, and called for bigger spending reductions — on top of cuts to Medicaid and food stamp programs included in the version bill passed by the House Thursday.

Democrats approached that issue from the other end, opposing the bill’s proposal to extend $4.5 trillion in tax breaks enacted in 2017.

The most recent analysis of the bill by the Congressional Budget Office, published May 20, estimated those tax cuts would increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion over the next decade, while cuts to services would produce $1 trillion in savings.

Moody’s Ratings on Monday became the last credit agency to strip the U.S. of its most favorable debt rating over concerns that Congress and “successive U.S. administrations” have failed to tackle annual budget deficits — an action that could lead to higher interest rates on government bonds and mortgages.

Real estate industry players responded positively to the bill’s passage in the House, in large part because it included several business-friendly measures and sought to provide tax relief for families and low-income households.

“We appreciate House leaders for taking this important step with this tax reform bill, which supports hardworking families and strengthens the real estate economy,” NAR Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy Officer Shannon McGahn said in a statement. “With lower tax rates, SALT relief, and new incentives for small businesses and community development, this proposal brings real benefits to everyday Americans.”

Emily Cadik, CEO of the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition also praised the bill in a statement.

“The housing credit provisions in the reconciliation legislation passed by the House of Representatives today are a welcome step toward the creation of over half a million additional affordable homes in the U.S. At a time when housing costs remain high, and safe, affordable homes remain out of reach in too many communities across the country, we applaud the House’s action toward resolving a crisis that continues to affect millions of Americans.”

Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association, also highlighted positive outcomes for the industry through the bill in a statement on Thursday.

“We have worked diligently with Congressional leadership and committee members to preserve key elements of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This includes the deduction for qualified residence interest, the up to $500,000 homeowner exclusion on the gain on the sale of a principle residence, Section 1031 like-kind exchanges, and the continued deductibility of business interest for real estate. We also support the bill’s expanded deduction for Qualified Business Income under a permanent Section 199A, needed improvements to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, and a new round of Opportunity Zones.”

NAR’s advocacy team was pleased the bill addressed the association’s top five tax priorities: qualified business income deduction, State and Local Tax Deduction (SALT), individual tax rates, mortgage interest deduction, and business SALT and 1031 “like-kind” exchanges.

What follows are highlights of the bill, and if passed in the Senate and signed into law, how it may impact the real estate industry.

An increase in qualified business income deductions (Section 199A)

The new bill would make permanent the deduction for qualified business income, and raises it after December 31, 2025, from 20 percent to 23 percent. Since more than 90 percent of NAR members are classified as independent contractors or small business owners, they would benefit from the increased deduction.

Raising state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps

The bill would raise the SALT deduction cap from $10,000 to $40,000 for households that earn less than $500,000. The marriage penalty would remain in place, meaning that whether filing as single or married, taxpayers would be able to deduct a maximum of $40,000 in state and local taxes. The income cap and deduction would each grow by 1 percent every year over a 10-year span.

Individual tax rates extension

Increased individual alternative minimum tax exemption rates that were set to expire at the end of this year would be permanently extended under the new bill and indexed for inflation, which could aid taxpayers with homebuyer affordability.

Preserving mortgage interest rate deduction

The bill would make permanent the current mortgage interest deduction level to the first $750,000 in home mortgage acquisition debt, what NAR calls “a key tax benefit for homeowners” that “support[s] housing market stability.”

Business SALT and Section 1031 like-kind exchanges

The bill would preserve Section 1031 “like-kind” exchanges, which allows the deferral of capital gains taxes when an investor directs a property’s sale proceeds into a new investment. It would not change anything for most businesses that deduct state and local taxes. Some limits introduced for state-level business SALT workarounds for high-income professionals will likely not impact real estate professionals, NAR noted.

Child tax credits

The new bill provision would eliminate the current expiration date of Dec. 31, 2025, for the double rate, or $2,000, per child tax credit, and make that tax credit permanent, rather than returning to pre-2017 levels of $1,000 per child. The provision also raises the child tax credit to $2,500 per child for tax years 2025 through 2028 and indexes it for inflation starting in 2029. The move would help families and potentially offset some of their housing costs.

Low-income housing tax credits

To support the development of affordable housing, the bill would restore the current 9 percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) to its 2021 level with an allocation increase of 12.5 percent. On the 4 percent LIHTC, the bill would lower the bond-financing threshold to 25 percent for projects that are financed by bonds that are issued before 2030. The bill would also designate tribal and rural areas as “Difficult Development Areas.”

Estate and gift tax threshold

The new bill would permanently extend the estate and lifetime gift tax exemption, which was set to expire at the end of the year, and raise it to $15 million for single filers and $30 million for those married filing jointly. NAR said that the provision would prevent a significant drop in the exemption rate and support generational wealth transfers.

The ‘Big 3’ business tax provisions

The bill would allow taxpayers to immediately expense 100 percent of any qualified property used in a trade or business for properties acquired between Jan. 20, 2025, and Jan. 1, 2030, instead of just 40 percent of the cost, according to existing law. It would also allow for the immediate expensing of properties used for manufacturing, refining, agriculture and other similar industries.

Similarly, taxpayers who previously had to deduct research and development over a five-year period would now be able to expense domestic research immediately.

The bill would also raise the cap on business interest expense deductibles for taxable years 2025 through 2029, with “adjusted taxable income” calculated without taking into account deductions for depreciation, amortization or depletion, which is more favorable to businesses.

Opportunity zones

The current designated opportunity zones (OZs) in the U.S., or areas of low-income that are eligible for qualified investments in exchange for tax benefits, are set to expire at the end of 2026. The provision on OZs in the new bill would launch a new round of OZs from 2027 to 2033, narrow the definition of OZs to census areas with a poverty rate of at least 20 percent or a median family income that does not exceed 70 percent of the area’s median income and require at least 33 percent of OZs be rural. Rural investments would also get enhanced tax benefits, like a 30 percent step-up in basis of 10 percent when investments are held for at least five years.

Ending new energy-efficient home credits

Currently, contractors can claim credits on homes built that meet Energy Star standards, with those that are considered Zero Energy Ready eligible for a $5,000 credit and those at low energy efficiency levels eligible for smaller credits. The program was set to expire at the end of 2032, but the new bill would accelerate that expiration date to the end of 2025.

Those homes that started construction before May 12, 2025, and are acquired by the end of 2026 would still qualify for the credit. However, on future projects, contractors would not receive credits for building energy-efficient homes.

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Real estate marketing 2.0 seeks to double down on attention economy

by Lillian Dickerson | May 22, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

A classy sign and some nice photos used to be all it took for an agent to call it a day on their marketing efforts. But these days, getting a well-shot home tour up on Instagram isn’t always enough to catch a potential buyer’s eye.

Brokerages and their agents — not to mention portals and mortgage lenders — are looking for more ways to win clients’ attention all the time. From recruiting celebrities for ad spots, to hosting wow-worthy events, to employing artificial intelligence and more, real estate professionals are stepping up their game, because in today’s uncertain market, there’s more competition for a less enthusiastic client pool.

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Some new entrants to the real estate marketing space, including Mickey Alam Khan’s Luxboro and Compass agent Khaki Wennstrom’s invite-only network Métier Maison, have sought to expand expectations surrounding real estate marketing, but individual agents and other companies are also pushing boundaries in new ways through the use of AI and their own creativity.

What follows are a few new names and trends shaping the real estate marketing space today, as agents try to break through a challenging market in 2025.

A few new market entrants

Industry players are continuing to innovate with their marketing efforts by identifying gaps and building bridges between verticals.

This week, Mickey Alam Khan, former president of Luxury Portfolio International, launched a new luxury marketing firm called Luxboro that, in addition to helping firms and agents craft marketing and branding strategies, also provides agent upskilling services, curated events and conferences, and help customizing in-house research teams.

Mickey Alam Khan

“Having run so many firms in the luxury space … I realized the no. 1 thing that was missing, especially in luxury real estate, is a proper knowledge exchange and connection with genuine luxury brands,” Khan told Inman. “Because everybody’s so involved in their own industry, they don’t look beyond. And when you’re dealing with luxury, you can’t just be focused entirely on one vertical.”

Khan added that he saw a lot of “cookie cutter” solutions in the industry that only focus on one area, like marketing or technology, but fail to address a more complete picture to drive agent success.

“So what I’m trying to do,” Khan said, “is bring all these ingredients together for brokerages and for networks and say, ‘All right, I can help you. Our firm could help you with a marketing branding to help position you as a leader. We can help train your agents, not just give them all the Kool Aid about, you know, using one formula, and you’ll get 10 times more listings.’ A real education on what goes on in the larger world of luxury and how they can emulate that best practice stuff that I’ve done as an operator.”

Lauren Fox

HomeSmart also recently elevated its marketing offerings for agents through a revamped marketing platform called the Marketing Design Center. The MLS-integrated platform includes new AI and other automated tools for agents, including automated listing marketing packages, email client integration, a video editor, AI content and image editing, social media caption generation and scheduling, hundreds of customizable templates, QR code generation and more.

“It was really about [empowering] the agents with a seamless, AI-enhanced platform. To me, that’s what’s critical in today’s environment, is that it brings those modern marketing elements right to their fingertips,” Lauren Fox, the company’s vice president of marketing, told Inman. “It’s really not just keeping up with the latest trends, but about making sure that our agents stay ahead of those trends and have that accessibility available to them.”

Fox added that one of the biggest pain points for many agents is dealing with what she calls the “tech tax” in deploying their marketing, meaning piecing together various subscriptions and tools in order to create a full marketing package, which can get annoying and costly. That’s one of the advantages to the Marketing Design Center, is that it’s a one-stop shop for agent needs that is at no additional cost to them.

Khaki Wennstrom

Compass agent Khaki Wennstrom about a year-and-a-half ago softly launched a brokerage-agnostic referral network for top luxury agents across the country and select international markets that is also breaking new ground in luxury marketing and cross-collaborations.

Dubbed Métier Maison, the invite-only network connects agents with one another and other clients in different markets, as well as interior designers and other luxury brands that can help promote properties through bespoke collaborations.

Métier Maison recently brought fashion and lifestyle brand La Ligné to debut their spring collection at a $42.5 million Malibu listing represented by top Malibu agent Chris Cortazzo, who is also affiliated with Compass. The immersive experience brought high fashion and luxury real estate together to elevate a video home tour to a new level.

“We did an incredible all-day photo shoot, video shoot, and it’s been all over Instagram and social media, bringing eyes to that property from coast to coast,” Wennstrom said. “[It’s about] the exposure and aligning the right brands with each property and doing real estate differently.”

One of the photos taken during La Ligné’s photo shoot at Chris Cortazzo’s Malibu listing | Credit: Joao Canziani @joaocanziani

Artificial intelligence

From generating listing descriptions to video captions to editing videos and more, AI is quickly changing real estate and helping to ease certain pain points for agents when developing marketing materials.

Luxury Presence CEO Malte Kramer

Malte Kramer, CEO of marketing firm Luxury Presence, said that he sees virtual assistants, or AI-powered bots, changing consumer search behavior with ChatGPT, and AI-informed CRMs as having a big impact on agent marketing now and in the next few years. Kramer compared virtual assistants to having an intern that can monitor a website and make updates to it automatically.

“They still need supervision, they still make mistakes, but they can do a lot of work,” Kramer said. “So if you add them to an existing team, you can just be a lot more productive.”

With consumer search behaviors, Kramer added, more and more people are turning to ChatGPT rather than Google when they want to look up information about something. And Google, likewise, has started featuring AI snippets in their search results. That means that instead of solely focusing on SEO, agents and others who want to optimize their search results should also start doing so with optimizing for Large Language Models (LLMs) in mind.

“There are a lot of similarities to SEO, but there are also some very specific things that you need to do to make sure that your website and brand shows up when someone searches for, say, ‘Who’s the best real estate agent in Los Angeles?’ on ChatGPT,” Kramer said.

The CEO also said he foresees CRM experiences improving because new, AI-informed CRMs will be able to track client details and make updates more quickly to CRMs in real time.

“There will also be more voice-based data entry, so you can imagine just talking into your phone after you’ve met with the client, and the result of this and why it matters for marketing is that I think we’ll see much better data as a result,” Kramer said. “And obviously, better data means better targeting and better marketing.”

Events

Bolstering up a marketing plan with a well-executed event can also help a listing gain traction, Matt Lionetti of The Real Brokerage told Inman, but many agents tend to miss the mark.

Matt Lionetti

“I think there’s a lot of things, like parallels, and a lot of things you can do together to bring your event marketing, bring it back to your social and vice versa,” Lionetti said. “So I think if it’s done properly, it could be effective. And I think this is kind of a year to do it, when it’s a tougher year and I think a lot of people are pulling back on some of those things, like events. I think this is a year, if you can, to put your foot on the gas pedal. It could really separate you from the pack when the market does start coming back stronger.”

Métier Maison leans into this strategy with an event during Paris fashion week in coordination with the network’s Paris-based agent, Melissa Regan. The network is also hosting an exclusive dinner part in Aspen during the Food & Wine Classic in June at a $65 million listing in downtown.

“We’ve partnered with top luxury brands to bring experiences into these properties,” Wennstrom said. “So, I always ask my agents, ‘Oh you have a new listing, would they want to do anything? A dinner party? A photo shoot?’ And really get you the most exposure. Some clients are very private, and then there are some clients that are like, ‘Oh my goodness, we would love to have a fashion photo shoot here at our property to get more exposure.’ So really looking at each property and figuring out which properties are open to doing these very creative ways of getting your property seen.”

Video and visuals

Lionetti, who is known for his attention-grabbing videos and being a host of the Over Ask podcast, said that video continues to be a leading marketing strategy for agents across social media outlets. When creating his video content, Lionetti tries to figure out what the listing’s story is and lean into that story.

“The industry is moving so fast with AI and all that, that I think we can capture an actual emotion and make people feel like they can see themselves in the property, it goes such a long way,” Lionetti said. “So I think I’ve seen storytelling pick up more than I have in recent years. I think people are really trying to put that into their listings as well.”

Instagram carousel posts, in which users can share multiple photos or videos in a single post, also appear to be making a comeback in terms of performance, Lionetti added.

“It’s because you have more of a chance to be seen by more people,” Lionetti said. “Because when you have 10 photos in the carousel post, if someone you know looks at your post, then gets off the app, when they go back on the app, they’re probably going to see that post again with just a different photo from the carousel post. You have a higher likelihood of people actually seeing the content, which is always nice.”

Channeling the unexpected

Whether it’s funny, weird, emotional, or something else, the agents that do something unexpected with their marketing are often those who reap the biggest benefits in their business — and that’s a trend that will never go stale.

Take Janice Samson’s video posted a few weeks ago on social media, in which she begins the video by adopting the role of barista — which many people supposedly assume is her profession (incorrectly), due to her RE/MAX’s office’s location in the same building as a cafe. It’s a quick, 21-second video, but by the end, the viewer knows her name, her credentials, where she’s located and her RE/MAX affiliation.

@remax.jaret.cohn How does Jessica pull this off?! ☕️ We have no idea, but call Janice to sell your Midcoast Maine home

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Yes, another social media panel — because it’s important for business

by Lillian Dickerson | May 21, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

At every industry conference for about the last 15 years, there’s the obligatory social media panel. But, there’s a reason for that, panelists at Inman On Tour Miami argued.

“Social media has evolved and is what catapults a lot of people to success,” moderator Katie Kossev of Side said.

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The session’s three panelists — Angel Nicolas of Compass, Tiffany McQuaid of SERHANT. and Jonathan Vega of One Sotheby’s International Realty — have all developed social media presences over the years that have helped them garner business. And their different approaches to the marketing tactic show that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to finding success through social media.

Nicolas started out by hiring a few different companies to help him with his social media presence, but ended up moving the work in-house to his team because “the equality wasn’t there.”

Meanwhile, McQuaid said she has always managed her social media presence herself, “and it’s mostly not real estate-related.” She draws on whatever she’s thinking about at that time, with a focus on authenticity and being true to herself, and it helps draw like-minded clients into her sphere.

“What a difference it makes when you’re walking into a listing appointment or a buyer walks into the office specifically to meet you because they follow you,” McQuaid said. “Talk about skipping steps in terms of engagement and conversion and standing out over your competition. Content to creation to conversion — aren’t those the three C’s that we’re all after?”

Vega also has a team in-house that manages his social media presence for him while he acts as “the brains.” But when he first launched his real estate career, Vega said he hired someone to film him for about $15 per hour, and then he would edit the videos himself.

But he realizes that not everyone, especially new agents, has the resources to hire out someone else to handle their social media, so he said, “It’s just getting your phone out and recording as much as you can, and figuring out as you go.” Today, agents can also use AI tools to help edit content for social media for free, he added.

Posting about listings or the market are all fine ideas, but it’s important to provide value for your followers about topics unrelated to real estate, too, panelists said.

“When you’re on social media for a long time, there’s only so much you can post of sharing properties, and I think there comes a time — and you start to feel it — when you need to evolve out of that space and into that authentic space and sharing who you are,” McQuaid said.

It can be hard to watch oneself on social media, Kossev pointed out, but it’s important to get past that in order to share yourself with followers.

Nicolas said that when he first started posting videos of himself, he “almost threw up” watching himself. His wife also pointed out how much his accent came through, which made him self-conscious. But he learned not to worry about his accent so much, because it’s part of who he is.

“I’m like, ‘I’m from the Dominican Republic; what do you want me to do?’” Nicolas joked with his wife after cringing during one of his early videos. “But I will post it anyway, and I think that creates relatability, right? People can relate to that, and for me, it was from the beginning, I want to be genuine. I want to be myself and, love it or hate it, if people are going to connect with my vibration, that’s what matters the most.”

It’s important to learn how to connect with your specific audience and find a platform that works for you, panelists urged the Inman On Tour audience.

“You gotta find what works for you, and the only way to do that is trial and error,” Vega said. “You have to try the different platforms and figure it out.”

Vega was stuck at about 500 YouTube followers for what seemed like forever, he said, but after a lot of fine-tuning and refining his content, those followers ultimately grew to the more than 28,000 he has today on YouTube. He urged agents to post consistently and post about their personal lives.

Vega shared that he recently posted a video of himself showing a penthouse in Brooklyn to his grandfather, who had never been in a penthouse before, and “it’s gotten the most engagement that I’ve had.” He said he originally made the video to have it to show to his own kids someday, but it has the added benefit of performing well for his business, too.

“That’s what we’re all doing this for, is family, and for our lives,” Vega said, “so I think if people feel like they can relate to you through social media, then they’ll want to reach out to you.”

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Top Florida real estate agents say collaboration is the key to success

by Lillian Dickerson | May 20, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

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