Between fact-checkers and Yelpers, the Information Age is laden with a visual archive of how customers and clients perceive products, services, or even your organizational culture. Navigating how to keep your customers happy is already an insurmountable task some days, and now we must factor in their very public display of their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with you. In years past, you might have been able to overcome a bad review of your customer service department by simply reassuring your client that they were correct, or that you would remedy the situation in the future. That is certainly no longer the case, as every customer has their own digital megaphone in their front pocket or purse, just waiting in the wings to weaponize it at will.
I’m here to tell you that this is not a good or bad thing; it merely exists. Technological changes and access to information…
Posted On Tuesday, 08 August 2023 00:00 Written by
The significance of asking the right questions cannot be undervalued.  But how do you ask these three big questions if you don’t know what they are? Well, let me help you with those: 1. “Are you more focused on getting your next listing, or your next qualified borrower?” 2. “What are the activities associated with doing that and when do you do it?” 3. “Would you be willing to spend two hours one day a week for the next month working with me to generate that next listing or borrower?”   This will change the conversation completely! You find out a wealth of information that will help you determine if this person is the type of person you want to work with! Now, they may not have a preference or even a plan, but they MUST be willing to do the work if you are going to make the commitment to…
Posted On Monday, 07 August 2023 00:00 Written by
The median U.S. home-sale price is up 3.2% year over year, the biggest increase since November, and mortgage rates remain elevated The typical U.S. homebuyer’s monthly mortgage payment was $2,605 during the four weeks ending July 30, up 19% from a year earlier and down just $32 from early July’s all-time high. That’s according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. Housing payments remain historically high because mortgage rates remain elevated, with weekly average rates clocking in at 6.9% this week, and home prices are on the rise. The median home-sale price is up 3.2% year over year, the biggest increase since November. Home prices are increasing because of the mismatch between supply and demand. High mortgage rates have pushed many would-be sellers out of the market, with homeowners hanging onto their relatively low rates. The total number of homes for sale is down 19%,…
Posted On Sunday, 06 August 2023 06:57 Written by
  Foreign buyers purchased $53.3 billion worth of U.S. existing homes from April 2022 through March 2023, slipping 9.6% from the previous 12-month period, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors®. Foreign buyers purchased 84,600 properties, down 14.2% from the prior year and the fewest number of homes bought since 2009, when NAR began tracking this data. Overall, U.S. existing-home sales totaled 5.03 million in 2022, down 17.8% from 2021. “Sharply lower housing inventory in the U.S. and higher borrowing costs across the world have dented international buyers for two straight years,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “However, recovering international travel following the end of the pandemic will bring more foreign transactions in coming months and years.” NAR’s 2023 International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate report surveyed members about transactions with international clients who purchased and sold U.S. residential property from April 2022 through…
Posted On Wednesday, 02 August 2023 07:49 Written by
As an executive or leader in your organization, you’re managing many things: the company’s image, numerous projects, and a talented group of people.  But you’re also managing many other important things, including disruptions from both inside and outside of your industry, how others perceive your company as you manage or even leverage those disruptions, and several other things you may not even be aware of. For many people, these “other” things are just part of the job, how things have always been done, and the expected stressors of business.  But do they have to be that way?
Disruptions Are Distractions to Manage To start, executives and leaders at organizations must become better at managing disruptions. In today’s marketplace, change is coming at us fast, and it is only getting faster every day. One thing we know for sure is that most disruptions come from the outside in—external factors…
Posted On Tuesday, 01 August 2023 00:00 Written by
Could the rise in interest rates be over? The FED raised rates another 25bps and the markets are thinking this could be it. The next meeting is in September, so we will have a bunch of new data for the FED to digest before that meeting. We start that news with the ECB rate info, Jobless Claims, GDP numbers, and Pending Homes Sales today, with the PCE report tomorrow. If it all comes together, we might just see the long-awaited rally that we have been looking for. If not, we may need another CPI number to look good before that rally begins, but I still believe it’s not “IF”, but “WHEN” that rally happens. It won’t be as dramatic as you might think, but I believe it will be steady! The real keys are not just the information but how people react to that information. If we can just get…
Posted On Monday, 31 July 2023 00:00 Written by
A lack of homes for sale is pushing prices up. Inventory posted its biggest decline in 18 months as homeowners cling to relatively low mortgage rates. The typical U.S. home sold for roughly $382,000 during the four weeks ending July 23, up 2.6% from a year earlier, the biggest increase since November. That’s according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. Still, homebuyers are getting a bit of relief as mortgage rates inch down from the eight-month high hit a few weeks ago. The typical monthly mortgage payment is $2,599 at today’s average weekly rate, down $55 from the all-time high of $2,654 in early July. Today’s housing market is unusual because prices are increasing despite lukewarm demand. Redfin’s Homebuyer Demand Index—a measure of requests for tours and other homebuying services from Redfin agents—is down 3% from a year ago, and mortgage-purchase applications are down…
Posted On Friday, 28 July 2023 05:29 Written by
With mortgage applications off by more than 20% year over year, many are feeling the pain. Many had thought that we were going to see a much stronger mortgage bond market by now and rates would have been slowly heading into the 5% range. I was one of those people. I still believe that rates will head lower as the Fed begins to realize that they have gone far enough in raising rates, some think too far, but after they raise rates again next week, we might get enough information in that will convince them that this move higher should be their last. I hope so! The next meeting will be in September and the repayment process on student loans will tighten economic activity a good bit all on their own. We don’t need a recession. That is, if we ever get a “new” definition of what a recession is!…
Posted On Monday, 24 July 2023 00:00 Written by
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