Virtual home staging gains popularity Artificial intelligence technology for virtual home staging is gaining popularity with real estate professionals. Benefits include the potential to increase offers. Full Story: The Negotiator (UK) (1/23)
Turn around the fortunes of a lagging salesperson by seeking to understand their challenges, providing clear expectations and coaching and giving them the autonomy they need to close deals, writes Susan McCullin. "Empowering your sales team can lead to more effective problem-solving and innovative sales strategies, McCulling writes. Full Story: The Center for Sales Strategy (1/17)
Connect, study to prepare for Gen Alpha's $5.5T market Generation Alpha will have $5.46 trillion of total buying power by 2029, McCrindle predicts, and even those brands and agencies that aren't addressing the demographic directly yet are taking steps to prepare. Razorfish President Dani Mariano says that researching Gen Alpha's motivations and building connections can establish firm ground for future marketing, without risking too much in the poorly-regulated world of advertising to children. Full Story: Ad Age (tiered subscription model) (1/23)
Real Estate Trends
Investors' acquisitions of single-family homes have slowed Multiple metrics showed a significant decline in investor purchases of single-family homes last year amid higher home prices and elevated interest rates, and analysts expect buying activity among institutional investors to remain limited in 2024. Some property owners, including Tricon Residential, which is being taken private by Blackstone, have shifted toward building homes or buying newly constructed homes. Full Story: The Wall Street Journal (1/23)
Residential conversions are steadily increasing There are 55,339 apartment units that are being carved out of office buildings this year, a significant increase from 2021's tally of 12,100 units, according to a RentCafe report. Conversion activity is being driven by demand for residential space as well as the mortgages that are coming due this year, according to the report. Full Story: Bisnow (free registration) (1/22)
Technology & Innovations
White House wants AI in the hands of small businesses On Friday, the White House discussed how to address making AI more accessible to small businesses when so much of the technology and information is held by Microsoft and OpenAI. The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission were in attendance, fighting for jurisdiction over a potential antitrust investigation. Full Story: PYMNTS (1/21)
Fair & Equitable Housing
Regulation drives up cost of affordable developments The Encuentro Square affordable housing development in Chicago is an example of how per-unit costs of such projects can exceed the cost of typical luxury apartments. The high costs are attributed to the complex federal tax credit system and stringent government standards for accessibility, sustainability and design, including efforts to achieve net zero carbon emissions. Full Story: Planetizen (1/24)
Legislation & Regulation
CFPB might weigh applying overdraft rule to smaller banks In the summary of its proposal to heighten regulation of large banks' overdraft services and limit overdraft fees, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it "plans to monitor the market's response to this rule before determining whether to alter the regulatory framework for financial institutions with assets less than or equal to $10 billion." Full Story: Consumer Finance Monitor (1/19)
Survey: Most U.S. banks see faster payments as a 'must' A survey of midsize banks and credit unions conducted by Volante Technologies shows 78% saying that improving the speed of payments is a "must" for their organizations. The number of respondents that expect to soon begin using the FedNow instant payments service is up 50% compared with a year earlier, while over one-fourth of respondents that expect to join The Clearing House Real-Time Payments network said they likely will do so within a year, the survey found. Full Story: FinTech (1/19)
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