by Matterport Editorial Team | Jul 31, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
The waterfront homes was first listed for $53 million in January and discounted to $39 million in April. The new owner will need to do extensive work since the interior has been stripped of all finishes.
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Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, has found a potential buyer for his half-finished Tadao Ando-designed home in Malibu, The Real Deal reported on Tuesday. The pending deal made it the priciest property under contract last week in LA County.
In January, Ye put the waterfront property on the market for $53 million with Jason Oppenheim of The Oppenheim Group. By April, the asking price was cut to $39 million.
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Whoever ends up taking ownership of the property will need to do extensive work on it since the home has been stripped of all its interior finishes, the listing description notes.
Spanning about 4,000 square feet inside the home, the property also includes about 1,500 square feet of outdoor decks. It includes four beds and five baths, and boasts ocean views from every room. The home was constructed out of concrete and steel reinforcement with AD100 architecture firm Marmol Radziner.
After Ye bought the property in 2021, he reportedly went on to tear out several of the home’s components in a renovation, like windows, doors and wiring, but was unable to see the project through to completion. The rapper was also sued by one contractor who was working on the home for alleged brutal working conditions that included working 16-hour workdays and sleeping on the floor near open insulation.
The property was the priciest home to go under contract between July 22 and July 28, according to the Eklund Weekly Luxury Report LA. The report tracks all signed contracts in the MLS listed above $4 million in LA County.
A total of 16 contracts were signed during the week that ended July 28, down from 19 the previous week.
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by Chris Pollinger | Jul 31, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
Jackie Soto led a panel at Inman Connect Las Vegas on Tuesday titled “Top Tips for Generating More Listings in a Crowded Market.”
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Moderator Jackie Soto started off a panel discussing listing lead generation by asking the crowd at Inman Connect Las Vegas on Tuesday how many people have been experiencing a tough market.
She then turned to a group of panelists including Gary Ashton, founder of The Ashton Real Estate Group of RE/MAX; Mahsheed Parsons, broker-owner of Mahsheed Real Estate; and Delinda Crampton, team leader of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, for insights and strategies.
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Each panelist said they’d endured their share of challenges in their role. Parsons specifically addressed the shift in speed within the market.
“I have a lot of listings, and a lot of them are not moving. Even though inventory is low, they’re not moving because we have so many sellers who want a price pretty high, because they see there is no inventory,” Parsons said.
“Everyone’s aiming pretty high. And then when you do that right now, at a time where you know interest rates are high, there’s a lot of uncertainty in the economy.”
Parsons has been operating her Las Vegas real estate brokerage for over 18 years and expanded to Southern California in 2020. Parson’s boutique brokerage consists of about six agents and serves a luxury clientele.
Crampton is also based out of Las Vegas and heads up a team of seven agents who sell everything “from condos to castles,” as she put it.
Expectations to sell are putting pressure on those in the market. Building relationships through feeder markets, building an online presence and developing a loyal clientele are traditional strategies Crampton leans on used to generate listings.
“You know, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, those are big feeder markets. And I go to lots of events like this, where I’m developing relationships with Realtors.” Crampton said.
“At one of the events, I became friends with the CEO of one of the two largest real estate companies in the Bay Area. And now when I go on listing appointments, I can talk about these relationships that I’ve got in California and the feeder markets, and how I can market directly to them and help sell their listings and have a source of buyers that some of the other agents don’t have, she said.”
Ashton has been leader of the No. one RE/MAX team in the world for approximately six years. His team is based out of Nashville, Tennessee, and includes more than 180 agents.
When Ashton became licensed back in 2021, SEO, pay-per-click and IDX helped him become one of the heavy hitters in the market, along with investing in himself.
“So it’s all investment in the business, in myself, and then continually reinvesting that back in the processes,” Ashton said. “And then, you know, it snowballs. After a while, you start to build that presence.”
Parsons invested early on in her career in geographic farming, and now regularly sends out postcards to over 3,000 homeowners, including luxury homeowners. She has used billboard advertising as well, but postcards are where she saw the most return on her marketing dollars.
Parsons said that she’s gotten some of her biggest listings from those postcard mailers, including an $8 million listing. “I mean, that’s not bad bank, but this is Vegas. Yeah, the return always pays off.”
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by OB Jacobi | Jul 31, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
Executives at Redfin and Zillow made the case at Inman Broker Connect that consumers would benefit from more universal standards of data sharing by MLSs. But the path to such a future is rocky, they said.
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In the cutthroat world of listing portal market share, it’s rare to see top-level executives at rival firms walking in lockstep.
However, that’s just what industry relations chiefs for Redfin and Zillow did on Tuesday, taking aim at what they described as a mountain of red tape by hundreds of MLSs across the country that has greatly limited what features their nationwide portals can offer to consumers.
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The comments from Joe Rath of Redfin and Matt Hendricks of Zillow came at Inman Broker Connect, taking place this week in Las Vegas. Sam DeBord of the Real Estate Standards Organization added his perspective as the CEO of an organization working to simplify how data is used and distributed by MLSs.
“Sometimes older rules look like the old tag on the mattress that said, ‘Do not remove this or go to jail,’” DeBord said. “We don’t sometimes know at a certain point why we’re still following a certain rule — for example, ordering the photos.”
At the core of the listing portals’ complaints is the fact that their data comes through contracts with hundreds of multiple listing services across the nation. Each MLS has unique and carefully crafted rules to protect its data and, in many cases, limit how it is used by third parties like listing portals.
“When we have to deal with 500-plus different feeds that all may have a different set of rules,” Hendricks said, “it makes it tough for me, for Joe, for anybody out there, to tailor that 500 ways over, or 300 ways over.”
Hendricks said that some of the MLS rules — such as requirements that exterior shots of the home be presented first for all listings — are a carryover from the days of paper records. Rules like these often make it impractical to customize the home search process to the preferences of the user, he argued.
Rath said Redfin has a host of news tools it knows it could roll out or existing tools it could improve on with the right nationwide data environment. The data exists, the tools are there, and the permissions are all that is missing.
“In some cases, we’re just trying to cut through the red tape to be able to do it ourselves,” Rath said.
Still, Rath said, the limitations are not a huge factor holding back listing portal traffic and revenue. User activity on listing portals is driven more by overall inventory trends, he said. The limitations placed on MLS data mainly hurt consumers, appraisers and others who might benefit from more universal access to the data, and better tools to make sense of it.
Both said they were looking to leadership from MLSs, real estate brokers and groups like DeBord’s RESO to help chart a path to more universal standards of real estate data.
“Think of it as this is a chance for us to evolve a whole set of rules as opposed to, let’s all lock down more than we already have,” Hendricks said.
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by Bernice Ross | Jul 31, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
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Continued economic growth in the face of cooling inflation may yet produce the “soft landing” that Fed policymakers have been shooting for, but the stark affordability crisis created by rising home prices and mortgage rates may continue to frustrate many would-be homebuyers for some time.
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That’s the view of a number of housing industry economists in a nutshell — including Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist on Zillow’s economic research team.
But unlike many economists, Divounguy — who earned his doctorate from England’s University of Southampton — has some advice for agents on how to bridge what he sees as the “big disconnect between buyers and sellers” in many markets.
Speaking to real estate agents and brokers attending Inman Real Estate Connect Las Vegas on Tuesday, Divounguy noted that first-time homebuyers “are essentially renters,” who saw their housing costs increase by about 33 percent during the pandemic while their wages lagged. He said about half of all renter households are cost-burdened by housing, meaning they’re spending 30 percent or more of their income on rent.
“Some of them are spending 50 percent of their income or more on rent, which doesn’t leave much for anything else, let alone saving for a down payment, right?” Divounguy said.
Contrast that with what happened to potential sellers, who thanks to rising home values are sitting on “near record home equity” and also saw their monthly payments decline in real terms during the pandemic, Divounguy noted.
One example of how bad the affordability situation has gotten is that in Los Angeles, a renter earning the median income could need to come up with a $780,000 down payment in order to buy a house with a monthly mortgage payment equal to 30 percent of their income.
“And so you have kind of a ‘haves and have not’ situation, where potential sellers are in a very comfortable position, whereas potential buyers are not,” Divounguy said. “I think agents have to begin to stress the magnitude of the affordability challenges that are out there.”
Agents can help would-be buyers by pointing them to affordability hacks like down payment assistance programs, or a “BuyAbility” search tool Zillow rolled out in May that shows how ups and downs in mortgage rates affect their options by filtering for homes that fit their budget.
The BuyAbility tool, “basically allows the agent or the potential first-time homebuyer to put in their credit score, and the tool will actually show you the likelihood that you can afford the payment on the home you’re looking at on the Zillow map,” Divounguy said.
“Zillow also has down payment assistance programs on every single listing,” he added. “That’s a great tool to use, especially in those markets where the down payment is really out of reach.”
When it comes to sellers, Divounguy said it will be up to agents to bring those with unrealistic expectations about what the market will bear back down to Earth.
“How many of us know of a seller, a prospect that wanted to list their home for tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars more than similar homes that were selling in the neighborhood, right?” he quizzed the audience. “I think working with sellers to help them appreciate the magnitude of the affordability challenge is going to be important, and there are great tools that agents should lean into.”
Agents should think of technology as their ally in working with sellers, “Right from pinning down the right list price to 3D home tours and virtual floor plans that will help you sell the home faster and deliver more value,” Divounguy said. “I think that’s really how we get the job done.”
Economists at Fannie Mae and the Mortgage Bankers Association predict national home price appreciation will cool by half next year, to around 3 percent by the final quarter of 2025. Zillow’s latest forecast envisions a more abrupt deceleration, with home prices rising by just 1 percent during the year ending in June 2025.
That means home prices are likely to come down in some markets where buyers don’t snap up homes as fast as they come on the market — a trend that’s already starting to emerge in a handful of Sunbelt markets.
Zillow data shows home prices continued to appreciate in 46 of the 50 largest metro areas in June, with San Jose, California (12 percent), Hartford, Connecticut (10.5 percent), San Diego (9.4 percent), Providence, Rhode Island (7.7 percent), and Los Angeles (7.6 percent) leading the way.
But Zillow reported home values were down from a year ago in June in four markets where supply exceeded demand: New Orleans (-6 percent), Austin, Texas (-4.6 percent), San Antonio, Texas (-2.7 percent), and Birmingham, Alabama (-0.6 percent).
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by Annette DeCicco | Jul 31, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
WASHINGTON (July 31, 2024) – Pending home sales in June ascended 4.8%, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. All four U.S. regions posted monthly gains in transactions. Year-over-year, the Northeast, Midwest and South registered declines, while the West increased.
The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI)* – a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings – grew to 74.3 in June. Year over year, pending transactions were down 2.6%. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.
“The rise in housing inventory is beginning to lead to more contract signings,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Multiple offers are less intense, and buyers are in a more favorable position.”
Pending Home Sales Regional Breakdown
The Northeast PHSI ascended 3.0% from last month to 65.5, a decline of 0.3% from June 2023. The Midwest index rose 4.7% to 73.7 in June, down 4.2% from one year ago.
The South PHSI increased 6.3% to 89.3 in June, dropping 3.9% from the prior year. The West index climbed 3.4% in June to 58.4, up 1.0% from June 2023.
“Even more inventory is expected to come onto the housing market in the upcoming months ahead of the normal, seasonal declines in the winter,” added Yun. “The Northeast’s small gain in contract signings is due to the ongoing housing shortage situation in that region, leading to stronger home price gains. It is a good time to list.”
About the National Association of REALTORS®
The National Association of REALTORS® is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.5 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. The term REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.
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*The Pending Home Sales Index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed, though the sale usually is finalized within one or two months of signing.
Pending contracts are good early indicators of upcoming sales closings. However, the amount of time between pending contracts and completed sales is not identical for all home sales. Variations in the length of the process from pending contract to closed sale can be caused by issues such as buyer difficulties with obtaining mortgage financing, home inspection problems, or appraisal issues.
The index is based on a sample that covers about 40% of multiple listing service data each month. In developing the model for the index, it was demonstrated that the level of monthly sales-contract activity parallels the level of closed existing-home sales in the following two months.
An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, which was the first year to be examined. By coincidence, the volume of existing-home sales in 2001 fell within the range of 5.0 to 5.5 million, which is considered normal for the current U.S. population.
NOTE: Existing-Home Sales for July will be released August 22. The next Pending Home Sales Index will be released August 22. All release times are 10 a.m. Eastern. View the NAR Statistical News Release Schedule.
by Christian Ashley Harris | Jul 30, 2024 | Industry, News Feed
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National Association of Realtors President Kevin Sears stepped on stage at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas Tuesday, looked out at the crowd of spectators — many of them NAR members — and sent a message of resilience in the face of industry-derailing commission lawsuits and scandals from within.
“I hope — at the end of the day, at the end of the two-year term — to be able to look back and say there was some stability and calm brought back into our organization and our industry,” Sears told a crowd of hundreds of onlookers in his first public appearance at an Inman Connect event.
His message to ICLV attendees came in response to a direct question about the very nature of his job at NAR, raised by moderator Clelia Warburg Peters, a managing partner with ERA Ventures, during a session entitled, “Okay, Seriously: What Now?”
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Sears’ aim was to offer transparency to members in the audience and share his accomplishments since being named president of the 1.5 million-member organization six months earlier. And he had to do it in front of an audience with strong or mixed opinions about how beneficial NAR has been for dues-paying members.
The tension was on display when Peters asked Sears to explain his job requirements.
“I’m asking that in part because I think a lot of people feel you haven’t done the job,” Peters said, prompting cheers and modest applause from the audience 2 minutes into the on-stage interview.
“The job is to be the voice for real estate,” Sears said in answer to Peters’ question. “I’ve been getting on the road and having conversations with members. God willing, I’ll be president for two years.”
“It’s been very tumultuous over the last 12 to 18 months,” he added.
Sears took the reins at the organization in surprise fashion in January after the abrupt and mysterious resignation of Tracy Kasper. Kasper had been in the top job of the nation’s largest trade organization for just four months when she resigned under threat of blackmail.
Sears was the third NAR president in a four-month span, as Kasper had assumed the office early following the resignation of former president Kenny Parcell.
During his tenure, Sears and members of leadership at NAR brokered an agreement to settle a wave of litigation that targeted the status quo of how Realtors get paid.
NAR must pay $418 million and the industry must make sweeping changes to settle the cases. In exchange, the group covered about 1 million of its members from liability in the existing and future lawsuits and provided a pathway for other brokerages and members to settle, as well.
It’s still not clear how NAR will pay the settlement, and Sears said there would be pain ahead for the organization. (“What I said to staff is, unfortunately this is going to hurt everyone, but we can’t cripple anyone,” Sears said.)
And that’s not the only force posing a threat to the organization, Realtors and the industry broadly.
The Department of Justice has been sending signals around the type of marketplace it wants to see moving forward. It has continued to push to reopen investigations into NAR policies.
Sears pointed out that Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter specifically asked to meet with him and other members of NAR leadership.
That’s when he began to earn applause lines of his own.
He said NAR will remain focused on its efforts around advocacy and education on behalf of the real estate industry. He took sole credit for the Department of Veterans Affairs changing its long-standing rule blocking veteran buyers from paying any compensation to a broker. (“Do not let somebody else, some other group, try to take credit for this,” Sears said. “This was done solely by the National Association of Realtors.”)
“I can tell you we are very, very effective in our advocacy,” Sears said. “
Sears took issue with statements by DOJ attorneys who want commissions to be “decoupled,” or completely separated between the seller and the buyer.
“But it’s expressly allowed by law in over 40 states. If they don’t like it they should do the hard work of going to state legislatures and change the law,” Sears said to applause from members in the room.
“Commissions have always been negotiable,” Sears said. “We’re going to continue to have the conversations with buyers and sellers about how we’re going to get compensated. We need to educate, especially the seller and consumer.”
Work with the DOJ will continue, and Sears said Realtors need to stay focused on the value and benefits they provide to consumers. That, he said, was the “common ground” that NAR and the DOJ have broadly agreed on.
“Their vision of what is good for the consumer might be a little different than ours, but so long as our focus is on the consumer, that’s going to be a helpful defense with the Department of Justice,” Sears said.
He sent a warning to any agents or brokerages that might find ways to operate in ways that aren’t in line with the settlement agreement, possibly referencing a wave of new startups that are offering brokers ways to market offers of compensation.
“Don’t get cute,” he said. “Don’t try and do an end-around when it comes to commissions, offers of compensation, that sort of stuff. Look at the letter of the settlement and the spirit of the settlement. Be consumer-centric and that will be your ultimate defense.”
“Unfortunately, I think the Department of Justice is going to be looking very closely,” Sears said. “I don’t want to see any of my members and any of my brokerages get caught in their crosshairs.”
The crowd gave Sears two more rounds of applause during his appearance, including once when Peters thanked him for getting on stage at Inman Connect and facing hundreds of members after a rough patch for the organization.
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