More & More Articles

We get it. On top of the million other tasks on your to-do list, posting on Instagram probably seems like a pretty low priority.

However, data doesn’t lie. At 52%, social media reigns as the top lead-generation tech tool used by agents, followed by a CRM (31%) and MLS site (28%) according to a realtor.com survey.

On top of that, only 52% of agents in the U.S. use Instagram for their business. So, if you’re looking for a way to gain an edge over your competition, you just found a big one.

Plus, with 97% of all home buyers using the internet in their home search, you know that on top of checking the top real estate apps, they’re also checking our social media.

Prognostications from the pros vary when it comes to forecasting the housing market climate this summer, but many signs point to yes.

“The market will continue to see relatively strong demand from buyers and an elevated rate of home price growth, despite slowing notably from ultra-hot early spring 2022 conditions,” says Selma Hepp, deputy chief economist for CoreLogic in Irvine, California.

Ralph DiBugnara, the New York City–based president of Home Qualified, seconds those sentiments. “The summer market will stay mostly high because of an increased urgency to buy,” he says. “This urgency is spurred by fears of further rising rates and more homes coming to market, due to more sellers wanting to cash in on the equity they’ve gained over the last few years.”

To determine the Best Places to Live rankings, U.S. News looks at data on the country’s 150 most populous metro areas, including the cost of living, job market, crime rates, quality of education and more. The data is weighted based on responses from a survey of approximately 3,600 people throughout the U.S. to determine what matters most to them when picking their next places to live. Read on for the 25 Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2022.

Sharply higher mortgage rates have caused a sudden pullback in home sales, and now sellers are rushing to get in before the red-hot market cools off dramatically.

The supply of homes for sale jumped 9% last week compared with the same period a year ago, according to Realtor.com. That is the biggest annual gain the company has recorded since it began tracking the metric in 2017.

Real estate brokerage Redfin also reported that new listings rose nearly twice as fast in the four weeks ended May 15 as they did during the same period a year ago.

The brisk jump in rates, along with a sharp increase in home prices, has been pushing potential homebuyers out of the market. “Housing activity is slowing in the face of higher mortgage interest rates,” Matthew Pointon, senior property economist at Capital Economics, said in a report. “Mortgage applications for home purchase dropped to a two-year low in May, existing homes sales have declined in each of the three months to April and new home sales recorded their largest month-on-month decline in almost nine years.”

Mortgage applications decreased 6.5% from one week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. The group’s composite index, a measurement of mortgage loan application volume, is at its lowest level in 22 years. Its refinance index is 75% lower than a year ago.

That process can look quite differently depending on the transaction process, tools and software used by the real estate office.

For instance, an agent who prefers the traditional process may perform all tasks using manual and in-person methods, from showing the home in person, collecting paper checks for the earnest money and using ink signatures versus electronic signatures (eSignatures).

In contrast, an agent using virtual transaction processes might show the home using 3D tours, use a digital means of transferring the earnest money and share documents with a customer to eSign on a real estate transaction management software platform. Most agents use some hybrid of both.

Here’s the basic real estate transaction process start to finish with a few best practice tips to help you save time, reduce friction and work more efficiently:

When you pay off your mortgage, a portion of each monthly payment you make goes toward your loan’s principal, while a portion goes toward interest. It’s the interest portion you’re eligible to deduct on your taxes.

If you signed your mortgage on Dec. 16, 2017 or later, you can deduct interest on up to $750,000 of mortgage debt. If your mortgage was signed prior to that, you can deduct interest on up to $1 million of mortgage debt.

The reason for this discrepancy is that the tax code underwent a major overhaul in 2017, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Mortgages that were signed prior to the overhaul, however, were grandfathered into the old system where interest on mortgage debt of up to $1 million is eligible to be deducted.

You don’t have to worry about figuring out which portion of your monthly payments apply to mortgage interest versus principal. Your loan servicer will send you a tax form summarizing that information.