This week, our spotlight shines on Rishi Bakshi of Intero Real Estate Services East Bay in Fremont, California.

This week we travel down to Tampa, Florida, in search of the top real estate professionals in the region. As has been the process in past weeks, we rely on Google and Zillow ratings to isolate the agencies, then drill down to find out their digital and conventional marketing practices. Our methods continue to shift, but we’re homing in on ways consumers can quickly isolate and evaluate the professionals best capable of converting sales. We also found the same sad situation in Tampa, which we’ve run across in other medium-sized markets. With hundreds of agents to choose from, relatively few actually use all the available tools to service clients. Here’s this week’s list.

I almost missed Tampa, Florida’s most prolific agency. Were it not for the relative mediocrity of Andrew Duncan’s competitors, a slight flaw in my methodology would have left him off this list. You see, the 5-star/100 plus Google and Zillow criteria I established for previous lists do not cover all circumstances. The Duncan Duo team has one horrible review out of over 1,000, which takes their rating down to 4.8. So, it’s a good thing I went back to search Tampa agents for a superstar. Somehow, I knew there had to be a Tampa-St. Pete marketing hero out there.

Duncan has no peers in the realm of marketing, according to what I found. Facebook, Instagram, Inc. 500, almost 3,000 subscribers on a real estate Youtube channel, the guy needs a costume like Green Lantern. Seriously, in hundreds of reviews of real estate professionals nationwide, only a handful are as good. The only negative, I could find across this Tampa agent’s footprint is the fact his dentist made the man’s teeth too white. The smile from the guy will blind you even on Instagram. As you can tell from the share I use for his profile pic. If Duncan has one strike against him, it’s his ghastly ugly website, which does pass SEO with a score of 89/100. No seriously, this is the guy I’d get to sell my house in this region. I’m not alone in this assessment either. Duncan Duo has been the No. 1 Re/Max agent in Florida and the No. 8 team in the world, as well as having been endorsed by Barbara Corcoran (Shark Tank). Come on, the guy even has his own radio show.

Zillow has said its artificial intelligence-powered virtual home tours are now available nationwide on all listings, giving prospective home buyers and renters a better sense of a home before they step inside.

The free, AI-generated floor plan tool is known as “Zillow Surfing”, and is meant to save searchers valuable time while they’re looking through available listings.

The interactive floor plans by Zillow give shoppers an in-person perspective of properties for sale or rent. The technology, which is powered by Zillow tech but available to use for free on listings anywhere, acts as a dynamic guide to give shoppers digital insight and detail so they can more quickly and easily narrow their search to only the homes they love and want to see in person. Zillow uses machine learning to not only generate floor plans, but also imports each listing photo and places it on the floor plan, giving shoppers an in-person perspective of a home’s shape and flow that simply scrolling through static images can never do.

“Zillow surfing has always been about imagining all the possibilities a move could bring, and Zillow surfing 2.0 is bringing those possibilities to life in a much more interactive, realistic way,” said Josh Weisberg, vice president of Zillow’s Rich Media Experience team. “Now shoppers can act more quickly and confidently, whether they’re searching in their own neighborhood or hundreds or thousands of miles away. We’re pushing the boundaries of what home buyers and renters can expect when shopping for a home online.”

For buyers and renters, Zillow’s AI-generated floor plan means navigating more seamlessly and naturally through photos, a 3D Home tour and other listing information, getting a remarkably accurate sense of a home’s flow and space. An hour of teleporting through interactive floor plans on Zillow can replace an afternoon, or longer, of scheduling tours and driving around town to see homes in person.

Purchase loan activity has dropped in five of the last six weeks as some buyers remain wary, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Did you know that nearly half of Americans have adopted a new dog since the start of 2020? With all of these new pet dogs, the canine retreat industry has been booming! But what does it really take to start your own canine real estate retreat like Paw & Pints? Is it really that difficult?

If you are trying to start a canine retreat, you are probably aware of how profitable they can be. However, it takes a lot of time and research to find the land, managers, employees, and so much more. Keep on reading for some tips on how to develop a canine retreat!

Learn Everything About Pet Boarding

Dog boarding is simply the act of caring for pets while their owners are gone. Pet owners pay a specific cost to boarding facilities for an agreed-upon duration of time.

The idea is to create a secure and enjoyable environment for animals to stay in when pet owners have responsibilities or want their animals to be entertained and cared for.

Learn the canine terms related to pet boarding and examine additional terminology resources. This will ensure you are aware of the lexicon and can communicate effectively when your business opens its doors.

This week’s properties are a seven-bedroom in Roslyn, N.Y., and a five-bedroom in Stamford, Conn.

This weeks properties are in Park Slope, Turtle Bay and on the Upper West Side.

Are you in the market for car insurance? Even with websites that help with the car insurance quotes comparison process, it can still be quite confusing especially when you don’t know what to look for. Apart from the usual main components of liability and comprehensive insurance, there are various add-ons that insurance companies offer.

What is an add-on?
An add-on is extra protection offered by the insurance company on the driving without insurance penalty policy. These extra protections are not part of the legal minimum that your state requires. As such, you don’t need to have them. However, you may find some of them useful depending on your personal requirements and circumstances.

Add-ons to ditch
According to Consumer Reports, the cost of car insurance premiums has risen since 2013 by over 10 percent. According to reports, these rates will continue to rise by 5-10 percent in 2016.

Car insurance add-ons come at an extra cost, after all insurers need to make a profit. While some add-ons are beneficial, others simply aren’t worth the extra cost. If you want to reduce the cost of your car insurance premiums, you need to know which add-ons to consider and which to ditch. The following are car insurance add-ons that just aren’t worth it:

Rental car insurance
If you’re renting a car, you may be asked if you want rental car insurance. Check with your auto insurance or credit card. You may already be covered for this. Many consumers aren’t aware that they already have coverage and end up spending a lot of money on insurance that they don’t need.

If you already have comprehensive, collision or liability auto insurance coverage, then don’t pay more money for this add-on. You should also check with your credit card to find out what types of insurance they extend for rental cars.

Conscious leadership and proven playbooks are key to helping you retain great agents and support staff once you've brought them on board. Adam Hergenrother offers a systematic process for improved retention.

Those real estate agents who can provide accurate, up-to-date and meaningful market data — those who put in the work to become true local market experts — can become the "economist of choice" in their region, and as a result, become the agent of choice when buyers or sellers decide to make a move, writes mega team leader Carl Medford. Here's how to let the data lead.

Fannie Mae said in a monthly survey released this week that consumer’s confidence in the housing market is now at its lowest level since 2011, with both buyers and sellers increasingly pessimistic.

According to the survey, just 17% of respondents believe now is a good time to buy a home, down from 20% one month prior. However, the more telling statistic is that just 67% of sellers believe now is a good time to sell, down from 76% in June.

There are also far fewer consumers who think home prices will rise, with just 27% expressing optimism, down from 30% a month before.

Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index comprises six factors – buying conditions, selling conditions, home price outlook, mortgage rate outlook, job loss concern and changes in household income. Overall, the index was down two points to 62.8 at the end of July. It’s down 13 points from the same month one year earlier, having hit an all-time high of 93.7 in the summer of 2019, prior to the pandemic.

“Unfavorable mortgage rates have been increasingly cited by consumers as a top reason behind the growing perception that it’s a bad time to buy, as well as sell, a home,” said Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Doug Duncan.

Kentwood Advantage aims to provide more options to homesellers and homebuyers in Colorado, maximize their profits and find the best way to win offers, according to Kentwood.

Dvele has an array of home styles available from the 3,523-square-foot Trinity to the 888-square-foot Angora Modern Cottage. All customization for each floor plan is done via its web-based ordering system, which will be expanded by the most recent funding.

Founder and CEO Tim Heyl told employees in a letter Wednesday that the slowing market had made a sizable dent in the company's "buy with cash" product, according to a spokesperson.

In addition to his performance, the Redfin CEO said on the Inman Connect stage that the market correction is more significant than is widely appreciated, especially in hot western metro areas.

A steep drop in gas prices offset the rising costs of housing and food for many families. Prices were still up 8.5 percent year over year, says a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The former rivals are now bedfellows in a new partnership that seeks to use the power of Zillow's platform to feed Opendoor's sales funnel. Find out how Mike DelPrete sees this shift playing out and impacting the iBuyer market.

In an Aug. 8 video to agents sure to cause a stir, Altos Research founder and CEO Michael Simonsen posits that the worst the industry may face is a contraction, not a crash.

Zillow is branding around the idea of "Zillow Surfing," the consumer habit of using the site's extensive listing content as a time-killer and a way to scroll through what else is out there.

On the Western Cape, South Africa’s most active market, sales are booming, driven largely by European buyers seeking safe investments.