MLS cyberattack: A wake-up call for all leaders Two weeks after the cyberattack that took down 23 MLSs around the country, associations are manually recreating critical functions, and MLSs are battling uphill to find new ways to update and advertise listings. This is a crisis the real estate industry must take to heart. Full Story: REALTOR® Magazine (8/25)
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Best Practices in Sales & Marketing
Culture shift: Communicating with different employees Inter-company communications at a large organization can be tricky when your employees hail from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures, and even something as seemingly straightforward as asking for questions at the end of a meeting can hit cultural snafus, Inez Odom, vice president of professional development at Team Lewis, says. When your company has different audiences, a "one-size-fits-all approach isn't always the best way to go," says Amber Micala Arnold, a vice president at MikeWorldWide. Full Story: Ragan (8/21)
One meeting can cost a business hundreds or thousands of dollars, depending on participants' billing rates, writes Kyle Walters, an author and partner at an accounting firm. Walters explains how to replace various types of meetings with email or other communication, as well as how to pare down the number of people and amount of time when a meeting is necessary. Full Story: Accounting Today (8/24)
Mortgage rates surge to 7.23% Borrowing costs are the highest they've been in more than two decades—and rates may go higher over the next few weeks. Full Story: REALTOR® Magazine (8/25)
Homebuilders seeing benefits from high mortgage rates Recent reports show that new home sales have increased even though borrowing costs are also climbing. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the average rate on 30-year fixed mortgages hit 7.31% last week, the highest level since 2000. One reason for the trend is that current homeowners are reluctant to move, suppressing the supply of existing homes on the market. Full Story: The Wall Street Journal (8/23)
CEO: New York City office conversions could save tax base New York City's plan to convert vacant office buildings into residences could stave off a municipal financial crises by preventing tax revenues from dropping drastically, according to Willy Walker, CEO of Walker & Dunlop, a commercial real estate financing company. "In New York and Boston and some other metro areas, there are mayors and city councils that realize that their tax revenue is going to decline precipitously unless they do something to enable the conversion of these buildings into functioning real estate," Walker said. Full Story: Yahoo/Bloomberg (8/23)
Technology & Innovations
What goes into a strong policy on workers' tech use? Acceptable use policies, which define best practices for companies' computers and internet, strengthen cybersecurity and legal protections, technology editor Zac Amos writes. Effective AUPs are written clearly, list which workers must follow them, and communicate goals, permissions, restrictions and consequences, Amos explains. Full Story: AllBusiness (8/23)
Public-private partnership leads to affordable housing The Laureate development in Montgomery County, Md., represents a new trend in public housing: the property was developed by private companies but remains under the control of a government entity. Nearly a third of the units within the development have been reserved for affordable housing. Full Story: The New York Times (8/25)
Legislation & Regulation
Fed to focus on inflation, rates trajectory at Jackson Hole Federal Reserve officials are gathered in Jackson Hole, Wyo., for an annual symposium to assess an improved economic landscape compared with last year and to discuss next steps. Despite record interest-rate increases to curb inflation, the resilient economy has maintained a 3.5% unemployment rate, while core inflation hovers near double the Fed's 2% target. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker suggested that the Fed may not need to raise rates again this year. Full Story: The Wall Street Journal (8/24),Reuters (8/24),Bloomberg (8/24)
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The National Association of REALTORS® is America's largest trade association, representing more than 1.5 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. REALTOR® Magazine is the official magazine of NAR, bringing expert insight to real estate trends, tools, and business strategies.
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