Michael Crist

NOTE: 4 of this week’s 5 items are about Google and Google products. Sorry if it seems unbalanced, but they’ve been busy, and putting out things that deserve attention. Amazon’s Echo has been a hit since its introduction, and it’s taken more than a year for a challenger to enter the voice-controlled smart home assistant… Continue Reading Google’s Home Steps Into the Ring Against Amazon’s Echo; Microsoft App Takes on Color Blindness; More

NAR Research released this morning its final outlook for the commercial real estate sector in 2016. Despite global and domestic headwinds and the likelihood of higher interest rates in the near future, the forecast for office, retail, industrial and multi-family space can best be described as “mostly sunny.” The U.S. economy showed promising growth in… Continue Reading Recap: Fourth Quarter Commercial Forecast

Brandon Doyle By Brandon Doyle Many real estate agents and business owners manage a Facebook page as a way to connect with old, new, and potential clients. Though your page may have a significant number of fans, what you might not realize is that your social media posts may only be reaching 12 percent of… Continue Reading 5 Ways to Make Your Social Media Posts Shareable

Commercial sales transactions span the price spectrum, but tend to be measured and reported based on size. Commercial real estate (CRE) deals at the higher end—$2.5 million and above—comprise a large share of investment sales. Smaller commercial transactions tend to be obscured given their size. However, these smaller properties provide the types of commercial space… Continue Reading Investment Sales in Small Cap Markets Accelerate in Third Quarter of 2016

Bond Yields and Mortgage Rates are Moving Up This week has been an eventful one for bond markets. Just before the election, ten-year yields began to increase from the 1.8 percent yield they had held somewhat consistently in the second half of October. As of yesterday’s close, ten-year yields are now over 2.2 percent. Mortgage… Continue Reading How Recent Mortgage Rate Increases Affect Housing Affordability

Existing-home sales rose 3.2 percent in September from one month prior while new home sales increased 3.1 percent.  These headline figures are seasonally adjusted figures and are reported in the news.  However, for everyday practitioners, simple raw counts of home sales are often more meaningful than the seasonally adjusted figures.  The raw count determines income… Continue Reading Raw Count of Home Sales (September 2016)

Changing and improving technology influences nearly every aspect of our lives, so it makes sense that it also affects the way homeowners and their agents market and sell homes. So what are the tools consumers and their agents should be using when trying to sell their home? According to the National Association of REALTORS®, 95… Continue Reading Story Ideas: The Importance of Technology in Selling Your Home

NAR members and Association staff can borrow up to six electronic books, digital audios and/or videos at no cost, through the Virtual Library eBooks Collection. Members can also borrow up to three books for 30 days from the Library Catalog for a nominal fee of $10. Call Information Central at 800.874.6500 for assistance. 1+1=3: Changing… Continue Reading New eBooks – November 2016