If you’ve been in the real estate business very long, chances are that you’ve either needed another agent to step in and show a home for you or you’ve been asked to help. In a recent survey, over 85% of agents said that they have either shown a home for a fellow agent or had one of their clients shown a home by another agent in the past 90 days.

Let’s take a quick stroll through the lead lifecycle. Remember, the most successful agents attract clients for life — not just quick wins.

Serving a diverse population of buyers and sellers requires more than a “one-size-fits-all” approach to successful communication. For agents serving the Hispanic market, language and cultural differences add another layer of complexity to conducting business.

Automation will elevate your operations and your offerings, so you can be less of a salesperson and more of a business leader. Here are four tasks to start automating now.

An architect lent his license to a New York City developer to approve buildings he didn’t design, according to an investigation by The New York Times.

Putting up a new office building is often a major challenge that requires a lot of constant attention. Even if you’re having the project entirely handled by a professional construction company – as you should – there are still some things you need to pay attention to yourself. Some of these points will require a significant investment in terms of time and effort. But if you skip them, you may end up having to pay even more down the road when something goes wrong.

Safety Standards

Safety standards aren’t optional. They’re controlled by legislation for a good reason. And yet, there are still various points that entirely come down to your personal choices. Choosing a good 2-hour fire-rated conduit in sensitive areas is a good example of this. It might cost you a bit more than regular versions, but it will make a huge difference if one day you end up needing the extra protection. There are various similar points that mostly come down to your choice. It’s important to take a careful look at your situation and figure out where it’s appropriate to spend more.

Don’t Overexpand

Building a new office is a great opportunity to expand and open up even more physical working spots. You may even be tempted to go beyond your original plans and expand the building a bit more. But be careful – in the end, you’re going to have to make use of all that space, whether you have the appropriate workforce or not. It can actually end up quite expensive to own a huge building that mostly gets unutilized. At that point, you may have to enter into agreements like renting out parts of the building or other similar points you may not be completely comfortable with.

This Is a Long-term Investment

Remember that you’re investing in the future of your company. In that context, it’s okay to spend a bit more on certain aspects of the building if it would mean improving its stability or other features in the long run. Be prepared to extend your budget a bit more beyond what you were originally planning.

There will be various points to align in this regard, so make sure that any compromises you make will not impact your construction project’s long-term viability. This is where it can be extremely useful to have the assistance of a professional construction management company, as it will be able to provide you with a lot of guidance in this regard.

The process of growing a thriving real estate business is systematic when the proper strategies are matched with consistent execution, says Jimmy Burgess. Identify the ideal strategies for you, go all in executing those strategies, and the success you’ve been searching for is inevitable.

Recent residential sales in New York City and the region.

Recent residential sales in New York City and the region.

Interest rates have reversed course, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rising to an average of 5.23% following three weeks of declines.

This week’s rate hikes were the result of increased economic activity and incoming inflation data, said Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater in an interview with RealtorMag

“The housing market is incredibly rate sensitive, so as mortgage rates increase suddenly, demand again is pulling back,” he said. “The material decline in purchase activity combined with the rising supply of homes for sale will cause a deceleration in price growth to more normal levels, providing some relief for buyers still interested in purchasing a home.”

The bad news is that things are likely to get worse for borrowers before they improve. The Federal Reserve is expected to meet in the coming week and most analysts predict it will once again raise its key benchmark rate.

The National Association of Realtors Senior Economist and Director of Forecasting, Nadia Evangelou, said in a blog post that investors have been concerned about inflation and the impact of the expected half-percentage point rate hike by the Federal Reserve next week. However, she said “the upcoming rate hike will likely have a smaller impact on mortgage rates this time.”

First-year agents are feeling the pinch in their pocketbooks now more than ever. Coach Darryl Davis offers some advice about how to make smart money moves that will push your business forward with low or no-cost ideas.

Tenants have a few tools at their disposal when a landlord or management company turns a blind eye. Here’s how to start the process.

Bond market investors wary that Fed will be forced to implement drastic 75-basis point rate hike in June or July.

In 2021, the O'Dare Boga Group netted nearly $300 million in sales volume. The team recently made the move from Premier Estate Properties.

Luxury deals are down 18 percent year over year, and buyers are more cautious than they've been in years, a sign the market is continuing to normalize, according to agents and a new Redfin report.

Louh has held several positions since joining the brokerage, launching her career as a listing agent before shifting into management roles including vice president of business development.

The median rent in Manhattan was $4,000 in May, a record attributed to people returning to New York City and high mortgage rates.

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.

California-based agent Mindy Ni alleges Compass failed to pay her commissions and misled her as to the terms of her independent contractor agreement in order to recruit her.

Buyers appear to be gaining more leverage in the housing market following years of almost total control being in the hands of sellers.

There are signs of a softer market emerging. Recent research by Redfin shows there are fewer people searching for “homes for sale” on Google than in previous weeks, while home viewing activity down slightly and mortgage purchase applications are down 14% compared to a year earlier. And even though it’s not that common, some sellers have reportedly been forced to drop their asking prices to sell their homes.

At the same time, home inventories are reportedly improving slights. According to data from realtor.com, active inventory last month rose by 8% compared to a year ago, the first time it has done so by that much in almost three years. That suggests homeowners who’ve been thinking about selling are now looking to do so before any slowdown in the market.

For now though, sellers still have the edge as competition for homes remains tight. Fifty-four percent of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks of being listed, Redfin reported recently. Thirty-nine percent of homes went under contract within one week of hitting the market.

Home prices are still high. The median national home price climbed to an all-time high in May, reaching $447,000, realtor.com reported.