by Kendall Bonner | Aug 26, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
The Florida-based brokerage’s buyer-focused marketing and educational resources are made for agents in need of assistance as they pitch buyer representation services, executives told Inman.
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LPT Realty, the winner of Inman’s 2024 Innovator Award for “Most Innovative Brokerage,” is building on its reputation with the release of a new resource for agents navigating changing buyer representation rules, Inman has learned.
The Florida-based brokerage deployed training and industry insights to develop what it calls “Buyer Power Tools,” a collection of marketing and educational assets for agents to use when pitching buyer representation services, executives said Friday. The product is similar to the brokerage’s “Listing Power Tools,” which CEO Robert Palmer described as “the genesis of the brokerage creation.”
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“Our goal is to provide an unmatched experience that empowers both our clients and our agents, making the real estate process smoother, more transparent and more efficient matching the speed of today’s market.” he said in a statement.
LPT’s buyer-focused marketing assets provide agents and clients with a comprehensive and clear explanation of the advantages of representation, the rules around it and the freedom to work together compliantly. It also includes on-board e-signature features for the Buyer Brokerage Agreement, allowing users to sidestep third-parties to finalize the process.
“At the heart of this offering is a proprietary pre-showing disclosure and agreement, seamlessly integrated with a cutting-edge digital marketing solution,” executives said in the announcement.
New commission rules that went into effect this month require agents to engage with clients through a formal agreement before conducting official acts of business, the definition of which has become contentious for agents and brokers.
An Aug. 20 Inman report addressed the nuances around buyer agreements, citing the National Association of Realtors own FAQ on the subject. Attending an open house or scheduling a visit with a listing agent do not require the paperwork, provided the listing agent remains the representative of the seller.
Providing brokerage services to a buyer — like identifying potential homes, arranging a showing or negotiating for the buyer — is when the need for the agreement kicks-in, according to NAR.
Industry efforts to work around the requirement have emerged, but they pose promlems, consumer watchdogs say, pointing to rules prohibiting NAR-affiliated MLS listing sites or collateral
“We are extremely concerned Realtors are using misinformation and scare tactics to try and persuade clients into signing anticompetitive buyer brokerage and listing contracts that artificially inflate buyer brokerage fees,” Consumer Advocates in American Real Estate Executive Director Doug Miller told Inman.
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by Jotham Sederstrom | Aug 26, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
This report is available exclusively to subscribers of Inman Intel, the data and research arm of Inman offering deep insights and market intelligence on the business of residential real estate and proptech. Subscribe today.
The number of home listings, and therefore transaction revenue, available to real estate agents is back on an upward trajectory — albeit a stubbornly slow one nationwide.
But some local housing markets over the past year have leapt out far ahead of the national curve, an Intel analysis shows. And with a boost from homebuilders, a few states such as Florida and Texas have even clawed their way back within striking distance of pre-pandemic levels of new-listing availability.
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These gains in a select number of local and regional markets are even more remarkable considering the mortgage-rate environment of the past year.
Rates have dropped off a bit from their peak, but remain much higher than what most homeowners with mortgages have locked in on their current loans. And this has left dozens of major markets in the lurch.
For this analysis, Intel crunched two years of listing data from Realtor.com, taking the temperature both at the state level and at the market level in the nation’s 200 most populous metropolitan areas.
In this report, Intel goes deep on what connects the biggest risers and the biggest fallers across the country.
The exercise also revealed how influxes of new inventory are already producing tangible relief for buyers — in terms of prices and negotiating power.
Where the recovery is on
Overshadowed by the overall mortgage-rate environment and its effect on new listings nationwide, a number of major population centers across the U.S. have enjoyed surprisingly strong bouncebacks in new listings over the past year.
This section focuses on these places where new listings have been on the steepest uptick.
To avoid month-to-month noise at the market level, Intel tracked the entire number of new listings that came online in the recent 12-month period ending in July, according to data from Realtor.com.
Intel then compared these totals with the number of new listings the previous year.
Explore an interactive map below, followed by breakdowns of what the top listing-generators had in common.
1. Florida markets and other beachfront towns in the coastal South
Many of the places where new listings have seen the biggest rebounds are in Florida communities big and small — including Miami and Tampa, and ranging from Jacksonville on the state’s eastern side to Punta Gorda off the Gulf of Mexico.
- All of these metro areas saw new listing levels over the past 12 months that were at least 11 percent higher than the year before.
But Florida wasn’t alone in this regard.
Coastal towns throughout the South appeared again and again on the list of biggest year-over-year gainers in new listings.
These places included the greater Gulfport area in Mississippi; the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina; and the popular oceanside destination of Savannah, Georgia.
2. Seattle and the Pacific Northwest
The greater Seattle area boasts one of the strongest one-year bouncebacks in new listings of any major metro in the nation.
Perhaps particularly notable is the effect this has had on prices.
- In July, homes in Seattle actually spent 8 percent less time sitting on the market than they did the year before — often a sign of a market that is heating up.
- But in the past 12 months, the number of new listings that came online was nearly 16 percent higher than it was the year before.
- Perhaps partly as a result of this, Seattle saw a slight decline in median list price per square foot. It also saw a 91 percent year-over-year increase in the number of price cuts in July.
3. Texas border cities and nearby metros
Communities throughout the Lone Star State also saw significant jumps in new listings, aided by one of the most active homebuilding industries in the nation.
- Nowhere was this more apparent than in two Texas border communities — McAllen and Brownsville. Both have seen greater than 12 percent annual increases in new listings in the past year.
Brownsville in particular has seen a great deal of economic growth connected to the expansion of SpaceX operations in nearby Boca Chica.
But the effect is also being felt — although to a lesser extent — hundreds of miles away in the nearest big cities.
- San Antonio, Houston and College Station have all seen new-listing growth of at least 5 percent year-over-year.
- The metros further to the north — Dallas and Austin — saw positive trends in new listings as well.
Where new listings are stagnant
On the other side of the spectrum, Intel also found that many places have been left out entirely of the nation’s gradual recovery in new listings.
As a general rule, places with fewer new listings year-over-year were more likely to see fewer price cuts on listings, rising prices per square foot, and further deterioration in the negotiation position of buyers vs. their seller counterparts.
Here are some of the main communities where this effect stood out most.
1. Las Vegas
No other big city in the nation experienced a worse annual dropoff in the number of new listings than Las Vegas.
- The glistening entertainment destination saw a nearly 9 percent annual decline in new listings over the past 12 months.
- This appears to have helped pit more buyers against fewer sellers, driving up the price per square foot throughout the greater Las Vegas area despite relatively weak demand.
- Homes also spent 14 percent less time on the market in July than they did at the same point last year.
2. The Great Lakes states
Some of the most stagnant markets in terms of new inventory have been clustered in Midwest communities near the Great Lakes.
Detroit and Chicago stand out for having a particularly weak year in terms of new inventory, according to Realtor.com data. But smaller communities from Akron, Ohio, to Peoria, Illinois, stuck out as well.
In Detroit, the effect was particularly hard-felt.
- New listings in Detroit came in 7 percent lower over the past 12 months than in the preceding period, and buyers really felt the squeeze as a result.
- Price per square foot was 5 percent higher in July than at the same time last year. The number of price reductions was only up 26 percent year over year — about 20 points lower than in the typical big American city over that same period.
- And homes sold 2 percent faster in July than they did the year before.
3. New York metro area and Connecticut
Although the new-listing trends in the New York City area were less dramatic than those observed in some other parts of the country, the nation’s biggest population center remained noticeably out of step with the nation as a whole.
- 5 percent fewer new listings came online in the New York Metropolitan Area over the past 12 months than in the preceding period.
- Prices in the greater New York City area were 7 percent higher year-over-year in July on a per-square-foot basis, and the annual rise in price cuts there was 30 percentage points below that of a typical big U.S. city.
- Units were selling 7 percent faster in July than at the same time last year.
Email Daniel Houston
by Amanda Neely | Aug 26, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
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Two weeks ago, Zillow co-founder and co-executive chair Rich Barton surprised the industry when he announced he’d be stepping away from the CEO chair for the second time in 14 years, handing the reins to longtime executive and COO Jeremy Wacksman. He said Wacksman was the perfect choice to lead the company into a new era, focused on accelerating the creation of the industry’s first “one-click nirvana” for consumers and agents.
Jeremy Wacksman
“Zillow’s business is firing on all cylinders and performing well through a challenging real estate macro,” Barton said. “… Lloyd [Frink, Zillow Group’s executive chair] and I could not be more confident in Jeremy as CEO, in the caliber of the broader team and in Zillow’s bright future.”
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A week into his new role, Wacksman sat down with Inman to talk about what it means to be CEO, the value of portals in a post-settlement world, the benefits of artificial intelligence, and the opportunities and challenges that have come with the latest round of movements in the portal wars.
Inman: Thanks for taking the time to talk today. You’ve been with Zillow since 2009, and have cycled through a few key positions. What does it feel like to have Rich [Barton] pass the CEO baton to you? What parts of his approach would you like to continue? And what would you like to do differently?
Wacksman: I’ve been here 15 years this fall so I’ve seen a lot and worn a lot of hats, as you said. I’ve been really grateful and thankful to be able to work with Rich and [Zillow co-founder] Lloyd [Frink] and learn from them. I’m also grateful to have them still engaged in the business and as a resource to support me and the broader leadership team.
With your question on lessons learned, I’ve worked on a lot of parts of business. I came here to work on product and marketing. I worked on the early mobile apps and helping evolve Zillow from a desktop search engine to a mobile-first company. I’ve worn many, many hats since then. I worked for a long time on building the brand and the audience that many of your readers know and love. And even three years ago, as I started to get more involved in operationalizing the business around our housing super app strategy, I’ve been closely involved in connecting our consumer and agent businesses together.
The thing I’ve learned from Rich and the team is just this relentless focus on both the consumer, but also on innovation and innovating for the consumer and the real estate professional. We all have this dream of this housing super app that can get the transaction done more easily. It can be on your phone. It can be done over coffee, as [Inman founder] Brad Inman likes to talk about.
What I’ve learned is that we do the technology and build the technology for consumers, but also for our agents and the industry at large. [It] is a strategy that we’ve seen play out over the last two decades as a company. It’s the culture and DNA around that innovation and around that consumer empowerment that I’ve learned, and I’m excited to help champion and move forward into our next decade as a company.
Rich shared a bit of what Zillow’s next decade will look like during his latest Inman Connect Las Vegas session, and the focus on bringing order to and digitizing the real estate transaction. Then in an interview with Real Estate News, he said the company isn’t in the business of selling leads, which I thought was an interesting comment, especially as much of the conversation about portals this year has been about evaluating the strength of a buy-side model vs a sell-side model in a post-settlement world.
What are your thoughts on that? How does Zillow plan to shift the way agents and consumers think about portals and the value they offer in the marketplace?
You’ve heard us talk about the [Zillow] Housing Super App, right? Our vision is that buyers and sellers can use their phones to tour houses, start financing conversations, get connected with great real estate agents [and] bring all that together in an all-in-one platform to the consumer. They can go take tours with great agents, they can get financing questions answered, they can connect with professionals and learn more about them, and ideally, ultimately, go all the way through to signing, and buy and sell through the app.
To do that — to enable that vision, of course — you have to build great software for consumers. But you [also] have to build great software and tools to empower the real estate agents and the professionals that they’re going to work with. And what Rich talked about at Inman a couple of weeks ago is that doesn’t just mean software for the subset of agents that are Premier Agents or working with Zillow consumers directly. That means great software for the industry at large.
We have invested billions of dollars building and acquiring technology, products and software solutions that we offer to the community at large, to brokers, to MLSs, and to all agents, because the goal is to help professionalize and modernize the transactions across the industry. That’s things like ShowingTime, a reservation management system for home showings, making it more delightful for sellers and seller’s agents to organize and schedule showings and making it more delightful for buyers to click a button and book a tour to go meet a great buyer’s agent.
That’s software like Zillow Showcase, which is this new 3D-powered, AI-powered virtual home tour that buyers love, engage with more deeply, spend more time with — and it helps seller’s agents and sellers showcase the home better and get the home sold more quickly and for more money. So those types of things are all required.
We have to get more software and more technology out there in the hands of all the great agents to help the buyers and sellers sell their homes in the more modern ecosystem that’s coming. That’s what Rich talked about. That’s a key to our strategy. When we talk about the housing super app, we all think about it as the consumer, the buyer and the seller, but what’s behind the glass, what’s behind the scenes is all this fantastic software powering the real estate professionals.
Zillow has removed friction from the home search, touring and listing process. But what are those remaining pain points you’d like to solve for agents and consumers?
The biggest opportunity that remains for all of us is helping consumers get more educated and empowered and helping professionals get more efficient. When we talk to our great agent partners, we constantly are reminded of how much time they spend not doing the work they love to do, right? Not consulting, not advising, not negotiating, but paperwork and lead management and routing and all the things that are back office tasks.
We recently acquired Follow Up Boss, an industry-leading CRM for agent teams, and we’ve been investing with them to help provide more ability for teams to organize and become more efficient so that they can spend more time with clients, and less time on the busy work. I give that example because when I think about what the next frontier of technology is, it’s generative [artificial intelligence].
And when I think about what generative AI is going to bring to our industry, I think it’s going to help agents, loan officers, practitioners [and] be a great co-pilot to help elevate them to do what they do best and take away the busy work, the data collection, the things that they have to do to get done in the transaction that you don’t want to be doing as a great professional. You want the software to do it for you.
I think that’s still one of the big untapped pieces of potential to make this digital transaction happen, and I think technology has been moving us in that direction for a while. Now generative AI really has the potential to help get us even more elevated as an industry.
AI has been a huge theme this year, and the rise of generative AI has been met with, I think, equal parts excitement and fear. What do you think Zillow’s role is in raising the industry’s IQ about generative AI and learning how to use it to their benefit?
Any time new technology or a new platform comes, it is very natural to get scared. And I’m here to say — and I think Zillow’s strong belief is — AI has the potential to elevate professionals and is not to be feared. It’s to be used.
And just think about the dawn of the internet and then the smartphone revolution. Every time, technology has been something that you could fear and be scared of, but if you turn around and look in the rearview mirror, all it’s done is help inform and empower users and start to make people’s jobs easier and start to help elevate the professional. And I think that’s what you’re going to see with generative AI.
Our role at Zillow is to help pioneer and innovate and experiment with that software on behalf of agents, and we’re doing that right now. We have great AI teams innovating and experimenting on ways to help turn agents into super agents and find ways to delight consumers by empowering agents to be smarter, faster and better at how they respond with and work with customers.
So, I think it is a natural reaction to be fearful of what’s coming. And especially with AI, there’s a lot of, “will AI be good or will AI be evil,” right? There’s “will AI take over the world?” We don’t believe that. We’ve seen so many technology revolutions and the ability for it to empower and make our lives better tends to win out over time.
So, I think it’s exactly the right question to ask. And agents who lean in and use these new AI power tools, they’re going to find it’s going to help them do what they do best. They’re going to find it’s going to help solve problems for them in ways that they hadn’t even thought it could.
What about consumers? How are they experiencing the tech revolution in real estate? What is it going to take to help them stay on the cutting edge of what’s happening in the industry, especially with the commission changes?
We have been focused on consumers since our founding, and what we found is technology will make a consumer more empowered. It will raise the bar for what a consumer expects software to be able to do. That typically makes the consumer a smarter shopper, and a smarter shopper is typically a more transaction-ready shopper, right? I think you should hope and expect [AI] means consumers are even more ready to work with you when they raise their hand or press the button to connect with you.
We’ve published our kind of beliefs for consumers that we’ve had for a long time around making sure consumers and professionals have access to real estate information [and] making sure consumers can choose independent representation.
We firmly believe that the majority of buyers and sellers will choose and need independent representation to help them get this transaction done, and the buyers and sellers should have transparency regarding agent fees and their right to negotiate them.
Thanks for taking the time to explain that, and I guess all this — the Zillow super app, building and acquiring tech, creating a more integrated transaction experience — all feeds into the portal wars. Zillow is at the head of the pack, and with that position, you guys haven’t really jumped into the drama that’s unfolded over the past year.
CoStar has certainly gained attention with ‘Your Listing, Your Lead,” and Redfin and Realtor.com are upping their value propositions with new products. What are your thoughts on this new wave of competition? What are the opportunities and challenges in battling for the attention and loyalty of agents and consumers alike?
The great thing about our strategy at Zillow is that it’s ours to control. And it’s unique to what we’re trying to do. We’re really the only ones working on modernizing the real estate industry digitally for consumers and for agents.
We’re very fortunate that we built this great brand over 20 years. Consumers trust us. We have two-thirds of all homebuyers on Zillow, and the majority of those folks come to us organically. They come to us because we build great products and services that engage them and cause them to want to use us and come back.
Now our opportunity is how can we help more of them start to take that transaction step, you know, get a financing question answered, schedule a tour, spend time on a virtual tour, make the right decision for picking the right agent, connect with a great professional to start a conversation about buying a home. That’s a really hard, complex problem that requires a lot of software, a lot of innovation, and it requires a great partner network.
There’s so much innovation left to do in the industry, to deliver on that vision that we’ve talked about. We’re techies. That’s what we get excited about — building this amazing software and these experiences for customers and for partners. And we know if we do that, we will grow the number of transactions we help those consumers do, and we’ll grow the number of transactions that our great agent partners do from the customers that they meet on Zillow.
We’re heading toward the end of 2024. What’s on your mind for Zillow in 2025? Where would you like the company to be in terms of your major goals?
We’re focused on bringing the housing super app to more consumers and more agents. That’s our focus. That requires our software, the consumers on Zillow, and great agent partners using our software.
We’re still very early in delivering that integrated vision we all know can be done through the phone. We have years and years of innovation left ahead. And so you should expect to see more innovation from us on behalf of the consumer and more great software that, hopefully, agents and teams and brokers and MLSs are excited to get in their hands and start using.
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by Amy Chorew | Aug 26, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
Right now, plenty of agents are asking themselves, “How can I make sure real estate consumers know the value I bring to a transaction?”
For many, the answer involves getting back to basics. One of the best things agents can do to bolster their business in today’s market conditions is lean into their experience. Consider it from the perspective of a homebuyer or seller: If an agent has worked through various market conditions — and brings impressive skills and credentials to the table — they’re likely a great choice.
As the industry adapts to change, experience carries more weight to discerning customers.
Here are three ways real estate pros can add to their experience — and make sure prospective clients realize the quality of agent they’re getting.
1. Align with a productive real estate community
A cornerstone way to ramp up your value is by aligning with a brokerage known for experienced, top-producing professionals. Being among other motivated, full-time agents impacts the energy and enthusiasm you bring to the job every day.
This growth-minded community can span beyond your brokerage, too. RE/MAX agents, for example, have easy access to a global network of experienced professionals — and they each benefit by leveraging the power of the brand, one with an unwavering reputation for being the home of trustworthy top producers.
Year after year, consumers have voted RE/MAX as the brand with the No. 1 Most Trusted Real Estate Agents in the USA* and Canada**.
Plus, through the power of association, when you align with a real estate network known for experienced, productive professionals, your credibility and local visibility both get an instant boost.
2. Gain experience through education
In the real estate industry, education is a never-ending journey. Now is a great time to brush up on foundational information, learn complementary skills, and add new certifications and designations to your repertoire.
Many RE/MAX agents take advantage of RE/MAX University (RU), the brand’s comprehensive digital learning hub. Through RU, real estate professionals of every experience level can find courses that pertain to their interests and add to their expertise.
The robust education catalog includes a plethora of timely opportunities for agents to provide exceptional service to homebuyers. Your certifications and designations help consumers build trust in your business, too.
To accommodate the perpetually busy schedules of real estate agents, the RU platform enables users to take courses at their own pace and track their progress along the way.
3. Showcase your skillset
If you specialize in niche facets of real estate, or have earned helpful industry credentials, it’s time to get loud and let consumers know. Assess your current marketing measures and identify ways to further elevate your knowledge, skills and years of experience through messaging.
It may be helpful to tailor marketing to the needs of today’s shoppers. A recent survey from RE/MAX that analyzed the homebuying trends of Gen Z and millennials found that 90 percent of respondents are interested in working with a real estate agent during a transaction.he top functions they’d be looking for in that agent are guidance through the process start-to-finish, negotiation and homebuying education.
Leveraging intel like this ensures your marketing efforts provide the value sought by local consumers, helping them feel informed and confident in their choices.
As you navigate the new real estate landscape, don’t forget to amplify your industry experience — it’s one key way to set yourself apart from the competition and help as many customers as possible.
*Voted most trusted Real Estate Agency brand by American Shoppers based on the BrandSpark American Trust Study, years 2022-2024 and 2019.
**Voted most trusted Real Estate Agency brand by Canadian shoppers based on the BrandSpark Canadian Trust Study, years 2021-2024, 2017 and 2019.
