by Dani Vanderboegh | Apr 25, 2025 | Industry, News Feed
Turn up the volume on your real estate success at Inman On Tour: Nashville! Connect with industry trailblazers and top-tier speakers to gain powerful insights, cutting-edge strategies, and invaluable connections. Elevate your business and achieve your boldest goals — all with Music City magic. Register now.
Every Friday, Inman Service Editor Dani Vanderboegh rounds up the most popular, most read, most critical stories of the week to give you a quick catchup on the big headlines you might have missed in the hustle and bustle of the workweek. Here’s this week’s Top 5 as chosen by our readers.
P.S. Don’t miss The Download, our weekly column that breaks down one of the week’s top stories and equips you with what you’ll need to meet next Monday head-on.
For-sale by owner on a desktop computer.
In most markets, the portal has resumed displaying non-MLS listings alongside other properties in spite of NAR’s no-commingling rule, the policy behind a lawsuit between Zillow and REX in 2021.
A LinkedIn post by Errol Samuelson on Zillow’s private listings rule flared into a weekend skirmish that drew nearly 300 comments from executives like Robert Reffkin, Glenn Sanford and Leo Pareja.
What if the fastest way to break through your biggest blocks was asking AI to call you out? Real’s Drew Thompson explains how.
Josh Appel on Unsplash
The purchase price is a fraction of what Austin Board of Realtors’ Unlock MLS, First MLS, Miami Realtors’ MLS and Heartland MLS paid to buy the company 3.5 years ago.
State regulators are scrutinzing Realtor practices and mandating consumer-friendly, fiduciary-level professional behavior, Summer Goralik writes.
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This post was originally published on this site
by Dani Vanderboegh | Apr 25, 2025 | Industry, News Feed
Turn up the volume on your real estate success at Inman On Tour: Nashville! Connect with industry trailblazers and top-tier speakers to gain powerful insights, cutting-edge strategies, and invaluable connections. Elevate your business and achieve your boldest goals — all with Music City magic. Register now.
Every Friday, Inman Service Editor Dani Vanderboegh rounds up the most popular, most read, most critical stories of the week to give you a quick catchup on the big headlines you might have missed in the hustle and bustle of the workweek. Here’s this week’s Top 5 as chosen by our readers.
P.S. Don’t miss The Download, our weekly column that breaks down one of the week’s top stories and equips you with what you’ll need to meet next Monday head-on.
For-sale by owner on a desktop computer.
In most markets, the portal has resumed displaying non-MLS listings alongside other properties in spite of NAR’s no-commingling rule, the policy behind a lawsuit between Zillow and REX in 2021.
A LinkedIn post by Errol Samuelson on Zillow’s private listings rule flared into a weekend skirmish that drew nearly 300 comments from executives like Robert Reffkin, Glenn Sanford and Leo Pareja.
What if the fastest way to break through your biggest blocks was asking AI to call you out? Real’s Drew Thompson explains how.
Josh Appel on Unsplash
The purchase price is a fraction of what Austin Board of Realtors’ Unlock MLS, First MLS, Miami Realtors’ MLS and Heartland MLS paid to buy the company 3.5 years ago.
State regulators are scrutinzing Realtor practices and mandating consumer-friendly, fiduciary-level professional behavior, Summer Goralik writes.
Email Editorial
This post was originally published on this site
by Lindsey Harn | Apr 25, 2025 | Industry, News Feed
For divorcing couples trying to sell their home in today’s market, certified Divorce Real Estate Expert Lindsey Harn writes, the right agent can make all the difference between chaos and clarity, conflict and closure.
Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of 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!
No one plans for their marriage to end, and no one expects their home sale to get caught in the crossfire. But for divorcing couples, real estate listings can be a battleground.
The real estate market is constantly shifting, and not everyone feels it the same. For divorcing couples, selling the family home can be one of the most difficult and exhausting parts of the entire process.
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In today’s market, buyers are seeking move-in-ready homes and quick turnarounds, making divorce listings less desirable. The condition, timing and success of a real estate listing are extremely important, and without guidance from an expert, clients may miss opportunities and the best possible outcome.
The challenges in a divorce listing
Selling a home is rarely simple, but when a divorce is involved, it can complicate things further. Oftentimes, divorce listings are weighed down by emotions, financial constraints and conflicting partners. As agents, it’s important to recognize how these challenges affect not only the transaction but the people involved.
Deferred maintenance
When going through a divorce, it is easy for the home to become an afterthought. With emotional exhaustion, legal fees and the mental strain of it all, upkeep can easily fall through the cracks, resulting in peeling paint, leaky faucets, outdated fixtures, stained carpets and overgrown landscaping.
What sellers don’t realize is that those “small cosmetic flaws” are huge red flags to potential buyers. Buyers are evaluating the aesthetics and the care history of the home. These signs of deferred maintenance can send a message that the home is neglected, raising concerns about hidden issues and future expenses. These signs of neglect can drive buyers away before they ever walk through the door.
Repairs and staging
During a divorce, renovations and minor updates like painting a wall, swapping hardware, or decluttering become a conflict and can seem downright impossible. While a well-staged home sells faster and for a higher price, couples who can’t align on a plan or don’t have the emotional capacity to execute one can ultimately delay and impact the sale of the home.
When sellers miss their window to make the home move-in ready, listings can start to stagnate and receive significantly lower offers.
Mismatched goals
Perhaps the biggest challenge lies in navigating both perspectives. One spouse may be eager to move on and list immediately, while the other is still emotionally attached or resistant to selling at all.
Sometimes both parties want to sell, but disagree on timing, pricing or what a “fair deal” looks like. This creates friction that seeps into every decision, ultimately creating uncertainty for potential buyers, who can sense hesitation or conflict and may be wary of stepping into a complicated situation.
This can result in reduced buyer confidence, weaker offers and an uphill battle to get the home sold at its true value.
How real estate experts can help
Real estate agents act as both guides and neutral third-party mediators to help guide their clients through the process. Divorce listings require emotional understanding, market expertise and conflict. Guiding both parties toward their shared goal: a successful sale that serves everyone’s best interest.
Here are a few ways to effectively support clients navigating a divorce-driven sale:
- Assessing the current condition and market value of the home
- Offering cost-effective renovations to boost curb appeal
- Connecting sellers with reliable contractors and resources
- Setting realistic expectations based on current market trends
- Managing timelines and help navigate emotional roadblocks
And above all, we lead with compassion and professionalism.
Real estate professionals know this isn’t just a transaction; it’s a turning point in people’s lives. That’s why we prioritize empathy just as much as expertise.
A path forward
No one goes into a marriage expecting it to end, and no one imagines that selling a home could be one of the hardest parts of the divorce. But with the right guidance, it doesn’t have to be.
Real estate professionals aren’t just here to list properties; we’re here to offer solutions during some of life’s most challenging transitions. For divorcing couples trying to sell their home in today’s market, the right agent can make all the difference between chaos and clarity, conflict and closure.
Lindsey Harn is an agent with Christie’s International Real Estate Sereno and a certified Divorce Real Estate Expert. Connect with her on Instagram and Linkedin.
This post was originally published on this site
by Rachael Hite | Apr 25, 2025 | Industry, News Feed
Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of 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!
Tool Kit is a recurring column on Inman that pulls together resources for agents who want to dive deeper on specific subjects or team leaders and brokers looking for educational content on timely topics for trainings.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2023 that almost 40 percent of Americans 18 or older are “single,” which means that there is a chance that if you are in the real estate business, you are trying to figure out how to make a single unpredictable income work in an economy that demands at least two incomes to live “comfortably” by social norms.
Throw in tariffs, high interest rates and an unpredictable new presidential administration. If you find yourself on this side of the fence, you are probably about to hit the panic button.
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In this Tool Kit, we are going to explore what it means to be single and a single parent trying to make things work via a commission-heavy income and offer sanity-saving tips and, most of all, tips to streamline your budget into ramen mode so that you can ride out the hard times and still be ready to level up if lady luck decides to rain her favors down upon you.
Single parents have significant problems
The U.S. Census Bureau also reported in 2022 that single parents head many American households. You may feel “singled” out while grinding out parenting, working and keeping your head above water, but you are not alone.
- Total one-parent households: 10.9 million one-parent family groups with children under 18
- Single mothers: 80 percent were headed by a mother.
- Single fathers: 20 percent were headed by a father.
- Children in single-parent households: 24 million children live with a single parent, mostly single moms.
Many are trying to stretch their income to support more than themselves. Strategy is essential for survival, and strategy calls for predictability. Single parents working in the housing industry know that they need to embrace financial education to know where their next deals and meals are coming from for their family.
Single most prominent problem for Americans? Income
Bankrate broke down updated stats about paycheck income from 2024 in February, showing very little progress from 2023, but with the recent developments in our economy, these numbers will likely increase in 2025.
In other words, the gap will increase for more households earning under $100,000 a year. This means that even though adults in the household are employed, they have little to no money left after paying bills from their paycheck and will need another paycheck to survive.
- More than 1 in 3 workers (34 percent) lives paycheck to paycheck.
- Nearly 6 in 10 Americans (59 percent) do not have enough emergency savings. That’s up from 2023, according to Bankrate’s 2024 Annual Emergency Savings Report.
- The average household needs to earn over $186,000 to live comfortably and without financial strain.
- The latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that the national median household income is $74,580.
Singles, in general, struggle with housing
If you or your clients are single, they encounter many financial hurdles and struggle to afford housing and rentals. In February, Redfin released data showing that nearly 70 percent of single, divorced or separated people struggle to afford their regular rent or mortgage payments. It’s also just slightly ironic that many single people working in the real estate industry are likely unable to purchase homes because of income restrictions.
Compared to 52 percent of married people, more than three-quarters, 76 percent, of respondents who live with their partner but aren’t married struggle with housing payments. This makes them the group most likely to struggle with establishing housing and even more impossible to save to level up.
So what’s a single but fabulous real estate agent to do to find any light at the end of the tunnel of a down or depressed market? You have to get comfortable with getting uncomfortable and with outside-of-the-box thinking.
The pep talk
First, take a deep breath and know you are smart, savvy and resourceful, or you wouldn’t have attempted this career. Second, stop listening to any coach, guru, cold plunger, etc., who is telling you that you cannot have other sources of income or people will not take you seriously.
The current system is set up not to support you but to bog you down with nonsense so you can’t even hear yourself think. Get a steady full-time or part-time job to supplement your income, have access to insurance and ensure that you don’t set yourself up for bankruptcy instead of success.
Remember that your household has nothing to do with the rest of the world, but it has everything to do with the happiness, health and well-being of you and those for whom you are responsible.
As an elder millennial who has already weathered several unprecedented times, I can tell you that the scarcity mindset will change how you sell, how you talk to customers, and how you view and interact with your leadership.
In this situation, you cannot be a team player first; you need to put your oxygen mask on first, and when you are out of survival mode, you can jump into the “team” mindset. You need to be sure that every hour that you spend investing in work has an appropriate return, and no freebies can fit into your schedule.
Bare bones survival articles to get lean and mean:
There is still time in 2025 to save your business
I know the recession talk is scary, especially since you are already very tight on funds. When I talk about my experience as a newly minted agent in 2007, I always say that learning to sell in a down market was the best real estate training I ever received.
While difficult and humbling, it made me a better sales professional than many of my peers who had been selling for 20-plus years. Look for cheap or free marketing opportunities on social media, and use your phone to craft simple and effective marketing.
Get a good tripod and a decent mic, and have at it. There are so many cheap and affordable tools to help you push your business forward; you do not need expensive platforms to help you stay organized. If you have a phone, you have a way to do business.
If you cannot afford a Mac, I recommend something pretty radical, but it will serve you well — an affordable gaming PC option. These are built to be workhorses and to withstand anything you throw at them.
While not sexy, it will help you power up your business quickly and will last you through the next couple of years when electronics may be more expensive. This is one of my favorites; it has taken more abuse than you can imagine.
Cut the junk, and streamline your business
Franchise fees, branded swag, leads vendors that don’t perform, and luxury coaching services are for when markets are good and you have time and energy to actually use those services to learn or grow your career.
Selling while single means you must ensure your emergency fund is plush in case three closings fall apart at once and still pay for the kiddo’s dental expenses. This means that you need to examine every dollar and ensure it works just as hard as you do to earn it.
Choose a brokerage or team with affordable or low fees. You are the brand. If you will spend cash on branding, invest in your brand, not generic brokerage marketing.
You must know the market like the back of your hand; you need to bring the market to your clients. Preview listings every chance you get. It’s great networking, and it is the fastest way to learn about a neighborhood and how to do CMA adjustments.
Strategically network. You don’t talk with every agent; you network with the top agents in your area. Typically, it is a pool of about 30 to 40 folks. They should be in your CRM just as much as your prospects and clients.
- Once you figure out where to land, these checklists will ensure that your business budget does not keep you up at night.
- I’m all for healthy dieting, but your business budget may still need to lose some fluff to get you through this summer. Try my 30-day detox to see how low you can go.
- Don’t get it twisted. Your situation may not be as bad as it seems, or it could be worse because you do not have the data. Try this audit to ensure you have a handle on your current business footprint.
Caregiving and time management
Childcare or caregiving tasks for seniors will be your biggest hurdle because the real estate business happens around the clock, and finding affordable care is like discovering a needle in a haystack. My son is getting ready to graduate high school, and I’m still making payments on a line of credit I took out to finance summer camps, dental bills and after-school care camps that I stacked up years ago trying to make things work.
The price of quality child care and summer camps is very high and disproportionate to the cost of living in the United States. You will likely have to go into debt to make it work, but it can happen. Don’t beat yourself up over it. There will never be enough of you to go around, and you will always be tired, but it will get better.
Try to find other parent agents (even loan officers or title friends) who are in the same boat and, as Dwight Schrute said, “Form an alliance” to help with childcare. If you have a village willing to help, lean into them.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help, and don’t be so proud to prove a point that you can do it all that you harm yourself. There is no award for the most burnt-out, exhausted parent on the planet; you just end up with physical and mental health issues.
For example, set up a showing schedule and a tag team to accomplish it. You show homes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and your alliance watches the kiddos. Then, you make yourself available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays to return the favor.
Your most valuable asset will be time. Here are three fantastic resources for managing your time and sanity against a hectic and demanding real estate career.
Steak and spaghetti
Vacations are out; staycations are in. Try not to eat as much meat, try not to purchase prepackaged drinks, and don’t be afraid to check out coupons and no-name brands to see if you can substitute or discover a new thing to love.
Give up drinking and smoking; it’s killing you, and it’s killing your budget.
The three P’s will keep you and yours full: pasta, peanut butter and potatoes. Frozen veggies and fruit are more affordable and last longer if you buy in bulk. Dairy items can get expensive, so buy them in bulk or at discount stores. Look for meals with dairy alternatives to help save on expenses.
Bulk buy essentials when you can, if there are sales, and try to ditch disposables if you have some help with the dishes. If you don’t have help with the dishes and can afford paper plates, it will save your sanity some days when you are tired.
Pack a cooler and extra clothes in your car. Get a car that can handle high mileage. Parts and tires are affordable. Please keep it clean and well-maintained. Flashy, temperamental cars will bust your current and future budget in a heartbeat.
Eating out is a treat; look for free and affordable local entertainment options, and make marketing content out of it when you go. Change your attitude to “We have food at home or in the car cooler,” and move on. When you struggle to keep the lights on, you eat for fuel and health. Keep utilities as low as possible.
Do an energy audit on your residence to ensure there are no vampires. YouTube will teach you how to do almost any home repair or maintenance task and has many ideas for free and affordable entertainment with kids and family. Don’t forget your public library; they are a wealth of entertainment and fun.
Don’t be afraid to go live with family or take on roommates to save money. There is no shame in this; if it helps you put some money aside and take some pressure off you so that you don’t have to work three jobs, it’s well worth the compromise.
Survival mode activated
I’m not going to sugarcoat this. It’s tough, and you will often feel very isolated because if someone has never gone through this, they cannot relate to you.
Your broker or manager may not understand, and you need to find one who does. They cannot train you like they train other agents. Your needs are different. Don’t let anyone make you feel less because you cannot go full-time or stay full-time. That’s just their privilege speaking, and they do not have to live your life.
Selling single will make you one of the best agents in the business if you can hang with it. Take good care of yourself. Prioritize your budget and savings first, and remember: Recessions and downturns don’t last forever, but your heart and passion for living life will.
In other words, don’t let this economy get you down; resist, and you will be standing and know when to level up when things turn right.
Rachael Hite is a seasoned housing counselor and thought leader in the real estate industry. Connect with her on Instagram and LinkedIn.
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by Craig C. Rowe | Apr 25, 2025 | Industry, News Feed
Technology columnist Craig Rowe reviews pre-sale renovation solution HouseAmp on behalf of Inman. The software sharply consolidates the tasks and delivers the transparency required to ensure a smooth, timely and valuable home construction project.
Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of 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!
HouseAmp is a real estate fintech focused on pre-sale improvements.
Platforms: Web; mobile-first
Ideal for: Lenders; builders; agents; homeowners
Top selling points:
• Consolidation of deal processes
• Emphasis on transparency
• Keeps consumer involved
• Web-driven lending workflow
• Vendor selection freedom
Top concern(s):
Adoption and sales. Few lenders will admit they can’t streamline or serve a seller for a home improvement loan, and many agents have service providers in their network. Like many other well-executed systems, HouseAmp’s biggest hurdle is the shortsightedness of the industry it’s aiming to improve.
What you should know
I’m not sure HouseAmp knows what it is actually providing the market. And I mean this in a good way.
HouseAmp is, on paper, a collaborative silo for agents and sellers to work with lenders and contractors to pitch and finance presale home improvements. It’s a vertical experience, meaning every party works in the same interface, communicating clearly from initial loan application — based on home equity — to project bidding and milestone tracking.
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Sellers and their agents can also invite their own vendors to the system; it doesn’t rely on some special list of HouseAmp-approved service providers.
HouseAmp succeeds in providing transparency with enterprise-level security, e-signing and notarization, funding oversight, contractor invoicing and essentially, an always-on funnel to collect the documents, emails, notes and every other loose marble that wants to roll off the proverbial game table that is a home improvement project. It also doesn’t limit project scope; it can be as small or large as needed in each of the 43 states in which it operates.
While HouseAmp’s team was showing me what they built, I was seeing something very different. Instead of a collaborative home improvement financing solution, I was distracted by the prospect of seeing something bigger: a platform for modernizing the home transaction that finally solves the largest source of friction — lending. Bolt on a home search front end, and we could be on the cusp of something that would excite me for the first time in ages.
It’s my job to offer my opinion on what I see, not what I hope for in a product. But my take is largely a reflection of how nonchalantly HouseAmp solves the consumer lending problem real estate perpetually faces. It works so effortlessly.
Know that I’ll forever be cynical about working with home contractors in an app environment. Even the most tech-forward general contractors out there remain burdened by countless tactile hurdles.
Granted, HouseAmp doesn’t get too deep into that thicket; it’s not trying to manage materials bidding or overtime hours. The software’s involvement remains high-level and above the fray of worksite tumult. They do have an approach that could tackle my skepticism.
“We’ve established partnerships with turnkey providers such as Renovation Sells, BOSSCAT, and ReUp, along with other service professionals in staging, moving and related industries,” HouseAmp’s Molly Priest told me. She’s the director of marketing. “Through these partnerships, service providers gain access to customized marketing materials, webinars, training sessions, and additional resources designed to make using and promoting HouseAmp as simple and seamless as possible.”
The other value-add for contractors is guaranteed payment, a benefit of the vertical services model. Vendor fees are paid from the loan facilitated and dispersed directly through HouseAmp.
Every stakeholder has a place to work inside HouseAmp that presents features, menus and content in likable, familiar terms and visuals. The consumer shouldn’t worry about logging in and, in fact, will likely always feel like the system’s emotional center, as if the others using the software are there for them.
This isn’t an easy vibe to build into a fintech system developed to address a niche industry premise. I could be wrong about that “niche” comment, too, as it appears more buyers than ever are expecting homes to be turnkey at move-in, according to a Zillow trends piece published in February.
Maybe HouseAmp can repair my cynicism about web-based home improvement solutions, since they’re not trying to manage subs or worksite operations. It’s this feature and its adept, headache-free lending integration that, in my opinion, places it atop the pre-sale renovation category and makes me hopeful for a future where the homebuying and selling experience could maybe, possibly, hopefully change for the better.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
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by Richelle Hammiel | Apr 24, 2025 | Industry, News Feed
As of April 20, home-sale prices fell across 11 U.S. metro areas, marking the first time this many markets have seen year-over-year declines since September 2023, data released Thursday by Redfin found.
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!
As of April 20, home-sale prices fell across 11 U.S. metro areas, marking the first time this many markets have seen year-over-year declines since September 2023, data released Thursday by Redfin found.
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The steepest price drops were seen in San Antonio (-3.7 percent); Oakland, California (-3.5 percent); Jacksonville, Florida (-2.2 percent); and Phoenix (-2.0 percent). Meanwhile, nationwide, the median home-sale price rose just 2.1 percent year-over-year — the slowest pace of growth since July 2023.
Redfin analysis of MLS data
Redfin agents point to ongoing economic uncertainty as a cooling factor. High housing costs, elevated mortgage rates and concerns about a potential recession are making both buyers and sellers more hesitant.
Chen Zhao | Economic Research Lead
“There are always people who need to buy homes or sell homes, no matter what’s going on in the world,” Redfin’s Economic Research Lead Chen Zhao said in a statement. “But with so much uncertainty in the economy, now is a time for those buyers and sellers to be more strategic than ever.”
While prices may be slipping in some metros, that hasn’t exactly translated into faster sales. Homes are sitting on the market for an average of 40 days — up five days compared to a year ago.
And though new listings are up 9.6 percent year over year, much of the current market activity is being driven by sellers, while buyer activity is clearly slowing.
Redfin reports that mortgage-purchase applications are declining, home tours are down, per home touring tech company ShowingTime, and pending home sales have dropped 0.3 percent nationwide.
The biggest slowdowns in pending sales occurred in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Florida; and Las Vegas.
Adding to the strain, mortgage rates continue to climb. The average weekly mortgage rate jumped to 6.83 percent from 6.62 percent the week before, putting the typical U.S. monthly housing payment at $2,848 — $8 short of the all-time high. These rate hikes are also fueled by fears of recession, driven in party by new tariffs and economic instability.
Experts say that in today’s shifting market, strategy is everything.
“My advice to sellers is to price your home fairly for the shifting market; you may need to price lower than your initial instinct to sell quickly and avoid giving concessions,” Zhao said. “On the flip side, buyers should negotiate on price and terms and shop around even more than usual for the best mortgage rates.”
Email Richelle Hammiel
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