The design trend of the moment includes — you guessed it — lots of pink, frills, vintage finds, florals, curvy furnishings and beds evocative of clouds. Barbie wouldn't have it any other way.

On this week's TRW: Find out what Byron Lazine and Nicole White have to say about the future of appraisals, incentive-based recruiting and this week's Left, Middle, Right.

Looking for a quick catch-up on the buzziest stories of the past seven days? Here's Inman Top 5, the most essential stories of the week, according to Inman readers.

There are a lot of ways to generate listings in any market for little investment (other than time). This list from author and coach Darryl Davis should make the thriftiest, most-budget conscious of you happy — whether you are brand new in this business or a seasoned and money-wise veteran. 

Wealthier clients who moved cities during the pandemic aren't itching to go back, even as home demand in their new markets is in decline, panelists said earlier this month at Luxury Connect.

Signed luxury contracts in Manhattan hit a new low during the week ending Aug. 21, according to a report from Olshan Realty Inc. Luxury agents say there are a number of reasons why.

The luxury real estate brokerages offices in Encino and Sunset Strip, both in Los Angeles, will close and merge into other nearby offices, according to a new report.

Home buying is getting harder, with mortgage rates on the rise again this week. This Thursday, they hit an average of 5.55%, according to data from Freddie Mac. Mortgage rates are now almost double what they were one year ago, and the latest data highlights the impact the increases are having on the cost of borrowing.

Freddie Mac clocked the average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage at 5.55% this week, up from 5.13% one week earlier and just 2.87% a year ago. Meanwhile, the average 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.85%, up from 4.55% a week ago and 2.17% one year before. As for the 5-year, hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage, this averages 4.36%, down from 4.39% last week but up from last year’s 2.42%.

Earlier this week, National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun proclaimed that the U.S. is now experiencing a “housing recession”, with existing home sales falling 20% from a year ago. At the same time, new contract signings have also fallen by 20%, suggesting that things will only get worse as the year progresses. Moreover, there’s been a significant downturn in new home sales, which fell by 30% annually in July.

In a blog post, NAR Senior Economist and Director of Forecasting Nadia Evangelou said buyers are being further hampered by strong home price growth, which are still up by double-digits compared to a year earlier. She wrote that a median-priced home now costs around $40,000 more than it did one year ago. However, while increased prices drive costs up, the rising rates do so even more. An increase of just one percentage point in mortgage rates has the same effect on mortgage payments as if home prices rose by 13 percentage points, Evangelou said.

The NAR said this week homes haven’t been this unaffordable since 1989. Increasing rates have made borrowing more expensive. In July, the typical monthly mortgage payment was almost $2,000 per month, up 54% from a year ago.

Judge refused to reconsider an order granting class certification in case where plaintiffs allege Anywhere allows agents to violate the law to grow its market share of listings.

Zumper's data shows that the idea of short-term rentals is bigger, and more critical, than vacation properties and the remote-working technology sector.

When it comes to your financial future, the only dumb question is the one you didn't ask. Let CFP Jordan Curnutt help you raise your financial IQ so that you can get a handle on your money.

Ever feel like your own worst enemy? Take a tip from Mama Ru, and see what a difference dealing with your inner saboteur makes in your life — and your business.

Many agents are still using dated or personal email addresses to correspond with their clients. Marketing expert Jeff Roth is ready to walk you through everything you need to know about setting up a new email address to help you build your career.

Don't get bogged down with reinventing the wheel when it comes to marketing and communication. Take advantage of these straightforward tech tools to simplify your routine.

 New Western, the largest national private marketplace for fix-and-flip residential investment properties, announced today that the company has made homeownership accessible for more Americans by growing U.S. housing inventory by 6,540 units to date in 2022. Without building a single home, New Western accomplished this increase thanks to its data, advanced knowledge of local markets, and its business model, which includes obtaining inventory from among the 16 million vacant homes across the United States as well as other off-market properties for less than $250,000 on average. As a result, homes that are purchased through New Western’s marketplace and later renovated sell for up to 31% less than new builds. 

New Western’s unprecedented growth in 2022 is driven by its rapid expansion into 10 new markets for a total of 50 locations nationwide. This includes its newest office in Washington, D.C., where New Western has set a goal to revitalize almost $1 billion in properties in that region over the next five years. New Western identified the District of Columbia and its surrounding cities as a strong opportunity for investors because of the need locally for a disruptive force in the residential real estate market: The median sale price of a single-family home in Washington, D.C., in July, was $1.153 million, and just 98 homes sold that month, down 19% from July 2021 from Redfin. With 81.8% of homes in the D.C. metro area alone built before 2002, New Western will help address the affordable housing crisis in the D.C. area by returning aged and distressed homes to the market.

“Our rapid growth continues to enable us to improve the quality of opportunity that New Western provides, especially as we launch into one of the largest metropolitan markets in the United States,” said Kurt Carlton, co-founder, and president of New Western. “D.C.-area home prices have been rising for 13 consecutive years. We are in a unique position to deliver much-needed inventory to this market and look forward to creating more affordable housing. I’d like to express my gratitude to all our employees for their hard work and commitment to deliver on this promise.” 

New Western’s model is growing residential housing inventory in the United States at a time when home ownership is increasingly out of reach for many Americans – due in part to low inventory and cost. Although housing inventory rose in May by 8%, that was the first monthly increase since June 2019. When compared to May 2020, active home listings have decreased by 48.5%, pushing prices up by record amounts in many cities from Realtor.com. 

“New Western offers substantial opportunity for sellers, buyers, and investors, as well as a positive impact in many neighborhoods. Their unique marketplace delivers value-add homes that would otherwise be unappealing to most residential homebuyers – something I really appreciate as a Chicago native,” said Joan Kaufmann-Stube, Managing Broker of Circled Squared Real Estate in New Lenox, Ill. “In addition to the great value New Western brings to the real estate ecosystem, one of the main reasons I recommend New Western’s marketplace to my investor clients is because their inventory is available on a first-come, first-served basis, eliminating bidding wars and increasing investor profitability.”

After nearly two decades, REcolorado has eliminated NAR's optional no-commingling rule, which is the subject of an antitrust lawsuit.

Sirosh spent more than four years at the brokerage. He most recently was in the news for selling hundreds of thousands of Compass shares.

With the huge rise in popularity of sustainable business practices, more consumers than ever are looking to spend their money with companies that not only claim to care about the environment, but also prove it through their actions. 

But with these increased expectations and culpability for businesses comes more distrust for global juggernauts who use huge volumes of energy on a daily basis. And in this gap of trust between a customer and a larger scale business is the opportunity for a smaller company to shine and promote themselves more effectively. 

It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, or whereabouts in the world you do business, an SME can captivate new customers and convert them into loyal returning consumers with just a little honesty and a lot of creative hustle! 

Here are just a few reasons why small businesses should promote their sustainability across their websites, social media channels, and more. 

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Juggling the demands of reality TV and a thriving real estate career requires top-notch assistance and taking advantage of lulls when they become available. Find out how "Selling Sunset" stars Jason Oppenheim and Mary Fitzgerald do it all in this exclusive ICLV sit-down with Kofi Nartey.

BrokerBay's solution for MLSs allows agents to publish digital twins of their listings within the MLS's home search experience, the 3D content for which is created by Matterport or iGuide, according to user preference.