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Spring is historically one of real estate’s busiest and most opportunity-filled seasons. As buyers reenter the market and sellers prepare to list, content becomes critical for staying top of mind.

But to stand out today, agents must move beyond templated graphics and generic listing promos. The most effective real estate professionals use content to tell stories, showcase expertise and build brand trust.

These 10 content ideas combine current trends with strategic messaging to help you connect with modern buyers and sellers without sacrificing your professional edge.

1. Spring reset: How to prepare a home for market in under 30 minutes

Take advantage of the spring cleaning conversation by sharing quick, impactful tips sellers can implement right away, like decluttering entryways, updating light fixtures or refreshing curb appeal. Keep it bite-sized and visual to make it scroll-friendly and shareable.

2. Seasonal trends: The butter yellow effect

This trending hue is popping up in design and fashion, and agents can use it to showcase homes with natural light, warm tones or fresh seasonal styling. A content series that leans into color psychology can demonstrate your understanding of what visually resonates with buyers in today’s market.

3. Patio season: How outdoor spaces can influence a sale

As buyers begin to picture their summer, outdoor living becomes a strong selling point. Use content to highlight features like decks, fire pits or flexible entertaining areas. Share tips for staging these spaces, or feature local contractors or landscapers for added community value.

4. Hosting ready homes: Positioning listings through lifestyle

Create content that reframes listing features through a lifestyle lens. Open concept kitchens, spacious dining rooms or seamless indoor-outdoor flow can be positioned as ideal for entertaining. This helps buyers emotionally connect with the space and shows sellers how you market homes beyond the basics.

5. What buyers actually want this spring: Tap into design and lifestyle trends

Instead of relying on outdated preferences, share what’s trending right now in design and lifestyle and how buyers are responding. Think warm minimalism, statement lighting, earthy neutrals, curved furniture or biophilic design elements that bring the outdoors in.

Create content that shows how these trends appear in real homes, and explain why they matter. You’re not just selling properties; you’re helping buyers envision a lifestyle.

6. Fresh start stories: Real client wins from the spring market

Whether it’s a first-time buyer or a seller relocating for a dream job, spring is the perfect time to share feel-good client stories. Keep the focus on transformation, new beginnings or lessons learned, adding warmth and credibility to your content.

7. Local spring roundup: Your community guide

Establish local authority by sharing seasonal guides for your area, highlighting parks, farmers markets, events or the best patios in town. Position it as a “live like a local” moment for buyers exploring the area and a feel-good lifestyle piece for your wider audience.

8. Visual refresh: Before and after listing content

Spring is about transformation. Show how thoughtful staging, lighting or landscaping can change a listing’s entire presentation. Use a before-and-after format to demonstrate your strategic eye, and position yourself as a professional who adds measurable value.

9. Think outside the box: Listing prep content that doesn’t feel overdone

Everyone shares a “how to prep your home for spring” checklist, but forward-thinking agents take it further. Offer a strategic breakdown of what actually impacts perception online.

For example, what types of listing photos perform best, which small upgrades boost visual appeal or how to prep a home specifically for short-form video. Or do a mini case study on how a seller followed your advice and increased perceived value. This builds your authority while subtly showing how your marketing process is different.

10. Make it yours: Brand yourself with a signature spring strategy

Use this season to create a branded content angle that only you’re known for. Maybe it’s “The Spring Edit” where you share your top picks weekly or a “Freshly Listed Fridays” series. Or a personal mini series showing what you’re doing differently this season to elevate your service.

It’s not only following trends; it’s about establishing consistency and creating an experience around your brand. When done well, people start to associate you with the feeling of spring and action.

The most effective real estate professionals don’t just sell homes; they communicate value. By tapping into seasonal trends, offering expert guidance and creating relatable content, you can position yourself as a trusted advisor in a competitive market that an audience wants to pay attention to.

Whether you use these content ideas to connect with new leads or deepen relationships with your existing audience, spring is your chance to show up with relevance, clarity and confidence.

Alyssa Stalker is a real estate branding strategist and host of the Above Asking podcast. Connect with her on LinkedIn or Instagram.

In April, we’ll go deep on money and finance for a special theme month, by talking to leaders about where the mortgage market is heading and how technology and business strategies are evolving to suit the needs of buyers now. Inman’s Best of Finance returns for 2025, celebrating the leaders in this space. And subscribe to Mortgage Brief for weekly updates all year long.

Housing experts surveyed by Fannie Mae expect national home price appreciation to cool this year as inventories continue to swell, with dozens of local markets already seeing double-digit annual declines in median list price.

Fannie Mae’s latest Home Price Expectations Survey (HPES), released Tuesday, showed more than 100 housing and mortgage industry experts expect home price growth to slip to 3.4 percent in 2025, down from 5.8 percent last year.

The latest quarterly survey shows experts are less optimistic than they were in January, when they were forecasting 3.8 percent price appreciation in 2025.

The HPES panel expects price appreciation to continue to cool to 3.3 percent next year, down from the 3.6 percent forecast for 2026 issued in January.

Pessimists see home price appreciation flattening

Projected cumulative home price growth from Q4, 2024. Source: Fannie Mae / Pulsenomics LLC.

But the most pessimistic quartile of survey panelists sees national home price appreciation flattening to 0.6 percent this year and remaining weak until 2028.

While prices could go up more sharply in some markets, they’re also expected to fall in some metros where listings come onto the market faster than buyers can snatch them up.

At the national level, there were 1.75 million new and existing homes on the market in February, up 15 percent from a year ago, according to data tracked by the National Association of Realtors and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Inventory of new and existing homes

The inventory of existing homes grew by 17 percent, to 1.24 million, according to NAR data, while the number of new single-family homes on the market grew by 7 percent, to 500,000, the Census Bureau reported.

Realtor.com was tracking 1.3 million listings in March, up 17 percent from a year ago.

The latest readings from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices showed national home prices were up 4.1 percent from a year ago in January, with Tampa the only market in the 20-City index to see prices slip over that period, by 1.5 percent.

Nicholas Godec

But the second half of the year “told a different story,” S&P Down Jones Indices’ Nicholas Godec said in a press release, with only four of 20 cities — New York, Chicago, Phoenix and Boston — managing to “eke out” price increases during that period.

San Francisco posted the largest six-month decline at 3.4 percent, followed by Tampa at 3.2 percent, Godec said.

Selma Hepp, chief economist at Cotality (formerly CoreLogic), said flattening home price changes over the last six months “suggest further price deceleration is ahead.”

Selma Hepp

“While this year’s cold winter and large natural disasters play a role in dampening demand, falling consumer sentiment suggests potential homebuyers are wary of the short-term economic outlook and future inflation,” Hepp said in a March 30 report.

Home prices are driven by local supply and demand, and Realtor.com data shows median list prices in 69 metros were down by 10 percent or more from a year ago in March.

Median list price declines in 69 markets

Markets experiencing double-digit annual declines in median list price included Steamboat Springs, Colorado (-34.2 percent); Winona, Minnesota (-32.6 percent); Wenatchee, Washington (-22.1 percent); Flint, Michigan (-21.1 percent); Marion, Indiana (-19.7 percent); Enid, Oklahoma (-17.6 percent); Santa Fe, New Mexico (-14.5 percent); Ukiah, California (-13.7 percent); Dublin, Georgia (-13.4 percent); Montgomery, Alabama (-11.3 percent); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (-10.9 percent); Wausau, Wisconsin (-10.5 percent); and Boulder, Colorado (-10.2 percent).

“There are many ways to slice and dice housing data,” Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said in her most recent weekly housing market update. “Through the lens of geography, our data reveals some commonalities.”

Danielle Hale

Realtor.com’s last Hottest Housing Markets report found that homes are selling more quickly in many markets in the Northeast and Midwest, and that a separate Down Payment Trends report showed buyers were putting more down on homes in the Northeast and Midwest and less in the South and West.

Last month, Fannie Mae economists said a pullback in mortgage rates should provide a “small boost” to home sales this year, in part because tariffs implemented by the Trump administration might inflate prices and slow economic growth. But tariffs announced this month have sent mortgage rates on the rebound, jeopardizing such forecasts.

Get Inman’s Mortgage Brief Newsletter delivered right to your inbox. A weekly roundup of all the biggest news in the world of mortgages and closings delivered every Wednesday. Click here to subscribe.

Email Matt Carter

In April, we’ll go deep on money and finance for a special theme month, by talking to leaders about where the mortgage market is heading and how technology and business strategies are evolving to suit the needs of buyers now. Inman’s Best of Finance returns for 2025, celebrating the leaders in this space. And subscribe to Mortgage Brief for weekly updates all year long.

Housing experts surveyed by Fannie Mae expect national home price appreciation to cool this year as inventories continue to swell, with dozens of local markets already seeing double-digit annual declines in median list price.

Fannie Mae’s latest Home Price Expectations Survey (HPES), released Tuesday, showed more than 100 housing and mortgage industry experts expect home price growth to slip to 3.4 percent in 2025, down from 5.8 percent last year.

The latest quarterly survey shows experts are less optimistic than they were in January, when they were forecasting 3.8 percent price appreciation in 2025.

The HPES panel expects price appreciation to continue to cool to 3.3 percent next year, down from the 3.6 percent forecast for 2026 issued in January.

Pessimists see home price appreciation flattening

Projected cumulative home price growth from Q4, 2024. Source: Fannie Mae / Pulsenomics LLC.

But the most pessimistic quartile of survey panelists sees national home price appreciation flattening to 0.6 percent this year and remaining weak until 2028.

While prices could go up more sharply in some markets, they’re also expected to fall in some metros where listings come onto the market faster than buyers can snatch them up.

At the national level, there were 1.75 million new and existing homes on the market in February, up 15 percent from a year ago, according to data tracked by the National Association of Realtors and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Inventory of new and existing homes

The inventory of existing homes grew by 17 percent, to 1.24 million, according to NAR data, while the number of new single-family homes on the market grew by 7 percent, to 500,000, the Census Bureau reported.

Realtor.com was tracking 1.3 million listings in March, up 17 percent from a year ago.

The latest readings from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices showed national home prices were up 4.1 percent from a year ago in January, with Tampa the only market in the 20-City index to see prices slip over that period, by 1.5 percent.

Nicholas Godec

But the second half of the year “told a different story,” S&P Down Jones Indices’ Nicholas Godec said in a press release, with only four of 20 cities — New York, Chicago, Phoenix and Boston — managing to “eke out” price increases during that period.

San Francisco posted the largest six-month decline at 3.4 percent, followed by Tampa at 3.2 percent, Godec said.

Selma Hepp, chief economist at Cotality (formerly CoreLogic), said flattening home price changes over the last six months “suggest further price deceleration is ahead.”

Selma Hepp

“While this year’s cold winter and large natural disasters play a role in dampening demand, falling consumer sentiment suggests potential homebuyers are wary of the short-term economic outlook and future inflation,” Hepp said in a March 30 report.

Home prices are driven by local supply and demand, and Realtor.com data shows median list prices in 69 metros were down by 10 percent or more from a year ago in March.

Median list price declines in 69 markets

Markets experiencing double-digit annual declines in median list price included Steamboat Springs, Colorado (-34.2 percent); Winona, Minnesota (-32.6 percent); Wenatchee, Washington (-22.1 percent); Flint, Michigan (-21.1 percent); Marion, Indiana (-19.7 percent); Enid, Oklahoma (-17.6 percent); Santa Fe, New Mexico (-14.5 percent); Ukiah, California (-13.7 percent); Dublin, Georgia (-13.4 percent); Montgomery, Alabama (-11.3 percent); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (-10.9 percent); Wausau, Wisconsin (-10.5 percent); and Boulder, Colorado (-10.2 percent).

“There are many ways to slice and dice housing data,” Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said in her most recent weekly housing market update. “Through the lens of geography, our data reveals some commonalities.”

Danielle Hale

Realtor.com’s last Hottest Housing Markets report found that homes are selling more quickly in many markets in the Northeast and Midwest, and that a separate Down Payment Trends report showed buyers were putting more down on homes in the Northeast and Midwest and less in the South and West.

Last month, Fannie Mae economists said a pullback in mortgage rates should provide a “small boost” to home sales this year, in part because tariffs implemented by the Trump administration might inflate prices and slow economic growth. But tariffs announced this month have sent mortgage rates on the rebound, jeopardizing such forecasts.

Get Inman’s Mortgage Brief Newsletter delivered right to your inbox. A weekly roundup of all the biggest news in the world of mortgages and closings delivered every Wednesday. Click here to subscribe.

Email Matt Carter

In April, we’ll go deep on money and finance for a special theme month, by talking to leaders about where the mortgage market is heading and how technology and business strategies are evolving to suit the needs of buyers now. Inman’s Best of Finance returns for 2025, celebrating the leaders in this space. And subscribe to Mortgage Brief for weekly updates all year long.

Banker, investor and lawyer Omeed Malik — recently dubbed “MAGA world’s premier financier” by New York Magazine — is the latest addition to mortgage giant Fannie Mae’s board of directors, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte announced on social media Monday.

Before founding the investment bank Farvahar Partners and venture capital firm 1789 Capital — where Donald Trump Jr. became a partner in November — Malik was managing director and global head of the hedge fund advisory business at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Pulte said Malik “brings great capital markets, legal and investment experience” to Fannie Mae’s board of directors.

As chairman and CEO of Colombier Acquisition Corp., Malik helped take PublicSquare — which touts itself as a marketplace for “patriotic businesses and consumers” — public in a 2023 SPAC merger with Colombier, a special purpose acquisition company.

Malik stepped down from PublicSquare’s board on Dec. 3 — the same day Trump Jr. joined it, along with Willie Langston, a partner at wealth management firm Corient and a former national finance chair for Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign.

Described as a “close friend” of Trump Jr. in a November New York Magazine profile, Malik on March 3 reposted a picture the president’s son published on X the day before — in which Trump Jr. thanked Malik for co-hosting a fundraiser for Vivek Ramaswamy’s bid to become Ohio’s next governor in the 2026 election.

Great time last night hosting a fundraiser with @RealOmeedMalik for our friend @VivekGRamaswamy‘s campaign for Governor of Ohio. pic.twitter.com/lvgHWyUxbk

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 3, 2025

Malik is also an investor in The Daily Caller, the conservative news outlet co-founded by Tucker Carlson. His addition to Fannie Mae’s board follows Pulte’s purge of 14 board members at the mortgage giant and its sister company Freddie Mac, in March.

Pulte — the grandson of homebuilder William J. Pulte, the founder of PulteGroup Inc. — appointed himself the chair of Fannie and Freddie’s boards less than a week after he was confirmed by the Senate as Trump’s choice to lead their federal regulator.

Board Chair Michael Heid was one of eight Fannie Mae board members removed by Pulte, who declared, “DEI is dead at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

Fannie Mae CEO Priscilla Almodovar was one of five board members who kept their seats. They’ve been joined by Pulte’s other appointments to Fannie Mae’s board: Mike Stucky, a former Pulte Group division president, and FHFA General Counsel Clinton Jones.

Jones, who joined the FHFA in 2019 and was promoted to general counsel in 2021, was also appointed to Freddie Mac’s board.

One of Pulte’s other picks — Christopher Stanley, a staffer from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — was appointed to Fannie Mae’s board on March 17 but resigned the next day.

Mike Stucky

Stucky, who, according to his LinkedIn profile, is a retired heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) executive, was appointed vice chair of Fannie Mae’s board on April 10, the company disclosed Monday in a regulatory filing.

The FHFA has determined that Fannie Mae’s board should have at least five and no more than 13 directors. With Malik’s addition, the board will have nine members.

In addition to Chair Lance Drummond, Pulte removed five other directors from Freddie Mac’s board, the company said in a March 17 regulatory filing. In addition to Pulte and Jones, new additions to Freddie Mac’s board included Brandon Hamara and Ralph “Cody” Kittle.

Hamara is the vice president of land acquisition at homebuilder Tri Pointe Homes Inc., a Nevada-based homebuilder that completed 6,460 homes last year. Kittle is a partner at RenWave Kore, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based private equity firm.

On March 24, Freddie Mac board member Grace Huebscher announced her resignation, and Pulte appointed Michael Parrott, CEO and founder of consulting firm 480th Company, as her replacement.

Freddie Mac now has 10 board members, including interim CEO Mike Hutchins, who took on that role after Pulte fired Freddie Mac CEO Diana Reid and Head of Human Resources Dionne Wallace Oakley last month.

Appointed as CEO in September, Reid was the first woman to lead Freddie Mac. With Almodovar having served as Fannie Mae’s CEO since 2022, both mortgage giants were briefly led by women for the first time in history.

Get Inman’s Mortgage Brief Newsletter delivered right to your inbox. A weekly roundup of all the biggest news in the world of mortgages and closings delivered every Wednesday. Click here to subscribe.

Email Matt Carter