Life Hack: Tips and Tricks to Help Small Businesses Navigate Tax Filing Season This time of year can bring chaos, headaches and unneeded stress for employers and businesses. That's right, it's tax form filing season.
Keeping track of the necessary year-end forms and staying up to date on new rules and regulations can be confusing and time-consuming....
2015-01-20
New Housing Counseling Trend Shows Positive Signs for Homebuyers Renewed interest in housing counseling is revealing that many are considering homeownership as a possibility for the first time. More than 73,000 people received housing counseling from National Foundation for Credit Counseling® (NFCC) member agencies during 2014, making it the...
2015-01-20
Bank Economists See Healthy U.S. Economic Growth Through 2015 The U.S. economy will grow nearly 3 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis this year compared to 2.5 percent last year, according to the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association.
The committee, which includes 15 chief economists from among the largest banks in...
Broker Strategies: How to Have the Best Year Ever “It’s all about our culture – and our training!”
So declared Nelson Zide, the jovial partner and senior executive vice president of ERA Key Realty, the mid-sized but mighty west-of-Boston company that in 2014 racked up the biggest year in the company’s...
2015-01-20
Foot Traffic Points to a Strong Start in 2015 For several years, NAR Research has tracked foot traffic as a means of predicting housing activity in subsequent months. This data provides valuable insights about future trends and points to a robust spring market.
SentriLock LLC., makers of the lock boxes that one-third of...
2015-01-20
U.S. Home Values Gain $1.7 Trillion in Value in 2014 The total value of all the homes in the United States is expected to end 2014 at $27.5 trillion, a 6.7 percent increase from last year and the third consecutive overall increase, according to Zillow. Homes lost $6.1 trillion in value between December 2006 and December 2011.
The...
2014-12-22
How do Americans View Midterm Election Outcome? A new year is on the horizon – and with it a new U.S. Congress, with Republican majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. In the weeks since the midterms the pundits have all provided their respective two cents as to the reasoning behind the election results...
2014-12-22
Consumer Spending Index Reaches an 11-Month High The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index (Index) reached its highest point in almost a year. The Index tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.
"The Deloitte Consumer Spending Index grew to reach the highest reading since November 2013," says...
2014-12-22
RFP Basics for Relocation Directors On occasion, real estate-based relocation departments may need to complete an RFP for corporate or RMC clients’ group moves, property management or other mobility industry service needs. Although these opportunities may not occur often, formalized Request for Proposal processes...
2014-12-22
Idea Exchange Council Seeks to Raise Caliber of Industry Two times per year, at NAR’s major meetings, the idea exchange council for brokers comes together to share broker challenges, ideas and solutions.
And the goal is always the same: to raise the caliber of the industry by sharing good ideas. Earlier this month, during the...
2014-12-22
Study: More People Drawn to Bright Lights, Big Cities According to a report recently published by a new think tank, City Laboratory, more young professionals are opting for the cities over the suburbs.
This has historically been the trend, but new data shows that this desire for urban real estate has skyrocketed in America’s...
2014-12-22
Factors for Improving Home Sales Nearly every factor generally associated with home sales has been turning for the better. We have more jobs, growing population, rising rents, additional inventory choices, record-high household net worth, and exceptionally low mortgage rates. On top of these trends, there is...
2014-12-22
Finish the Year Strong, Start the New Year Stronger
As many Power Brokers know, closing the fourth quarter strong is vital in order to prepare for a strong start in 2015. In a recent webinar entitled “Finish the Year Strong, Start the New Year Even Stronger,” hosted by RISMedia President & CEO...
2014-12-22
Power Teams: The Estridge Group Leads by the Golden Rule With 37 years of real estate prowess under her belt, Melinda Estridge, believes success is predicated on providing outstanding service that builds solid relationships. By forging these solid alliances, referrals and business come naturally so you’re not spending as much time...
How Company Events Help Create Positive Culture From grilling out to playing volleyball, hosting company events fuels the energy that helps build a positive culture. We believe that when agents and office colleagues socialize in and outside of the workplace, it helps them to connect with each other on a different level than just the...
2014-11-21
Climbing the Ladder at a Family Real Estate Business: The Rungs are No Closer Together If you think getting along with coworkers is hard, or if getting along with your family is a challenge, imagine if your coworkers were your brothers and sisters, and your boss was your mom. Or your dad. Or even your grandmother. While for some this sounds harrowing, for many...
2014-11-19
Playing to Win: Strategies for Building Prosperous Agent Teams Real estate professionals have weathered many storms and adapted accordingly, often by working harder and not necessarily smarter. For some agents, however, creating a team has been the answer to better serving today’s consumer while maintaining the ever-elusive work-life...
2014-11-18
Exercise Your Crisis Decision-Making Skills On July 19, 1989 United Flight 232 crash landed at the airport in Sioux City, Iowa killing 111 of the 296 people on board. Many of those who survived owe their lives to a coordinated interagency response by the county. The outcome might have been much different. The Sioux City airport...