Improving Your Business

Stories, articles and advice aimed at improving your business

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Redfin sets pricing for planned IPO

The online real estate brokerage Redfin announced the terms for its IPO, with shares expected to go on sale later this month or early August. Redfin plans to sell 9.23 million shares in the $12 to $14 per share

Sellers: Stage your living room to help decrease a home’s market time

Taking the time to stage a home can make a significant difference in how long that home stays on sale, according to the National Association of Realtors’ 2017 Profile of Home Staging report. The report found that 62 percent

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Is Amazon getting into the real estate business?

Zillow has been called the Amazon of the real estate industry – disrupting and revolutionizing the way that homes are bought and sold across the country. However, Amazon may be looking to become the Amazon of the real estate

Potential homebuyers could crowdfund their future homes

Fundrise, a Washington D.C. managing company, created a way for prospective homebuyers to crowdfund their future homes. Public investors buy shares in an “eFund,” a limited liability company that develops housing in the city. Investors must make a minimum

Tesla announces new residential solar products set to hit the market by the end of 2017

  Tesla announced their new solar panels on their website last weekend, offering an alternative option from their solar roof tiles released last fall, which Tesla will begin taking orders for this month. The panels are expected to have an install

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A fresh look at real estate tech: 6 agent and brokerage habits

  For today’s real estate agent, technology is indispensable in getting the job done quickly and efficiently. According to NAR’s recent 2017 Real Estate in a Digital Age report, agents and brokerage firms rely on a variety of tools

3 luxury buyer types you should know

Luxury Portfolio International’s recent white paper, “The Affluent Homebuyer: a quest for meaning,” breaks down the new mindset of today’s luxury buyer. The report’s authors assert that traditional trappings of luxury are quickly becoming old and outdated, and today’s

4 Real Estate Tech Startups Agents Need to Watch

Within the family of sites like Zillow and Redfin, there have been a plethora of tech startups emerging from the woodwork over the past couple of years in endless pursuit of streamlining the home buying and selling process. Here are a

Jackie Leavenworth’s 3 words to avoid when pricing properties

Pricing a home is one of the most challenging tasks for real estate professionals. We’ve all made mistakes, and hopefully learned from each of them. Personally, I learned that the words and phrases I use have a huge impact

Million Dollar Listing star gives investors Airbnb advice

Is scooping up properties to list on Airbnb a good investment strategy? What do agents need to know before their clients buy properties as Airbnb investments? Real estate expert Samantha DeBianchi, founder of DeBianchi Real Estate in South Florida and

Chicagoans are overvaluing their homes

There is a disconnect between homeowners and appraisers in Chicago, according to Quick Loans’ latest National Home Price Perception Index (HPPI). The good news is the disconnect is slight. In February, homeowner opinion in Chicago placed the average home price

Four ways builders are beating the labor shortage

In the five years following the peak of the housing bubble – so from 2006 to 2011 – the United States’ construction industry lost 2.3 million laborers. By 2013, 60 percent had already found new careers in other industries – which meant

Two signs that Chicago’s housing market is in for a correction

The most consequential question facing the housing industry today is: Are we approaching a correction? National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in January that 2016 was the market’s best year since the Great Recession. He thanked job

The 7 characteristics of 2017’s Silent Generation buyers that agents need to know

Understanding buyers is going to be especially important this year – interest rates and prices are rising, inventory shortages remain commonplace throughout the U.S., and our housing market is now operating under a president promising a broad spectrum of

How agents can deal with 4 common client misconceptions

There are many misconceptions our clients have, and it is our job to assist them, using our expertise and knowledge to not only help them understand the market, but to also position them for a successful real estate transaction. We should

How a better night’s sleep can boost an agent’s business

The benefits of a good night’s rest are well known, but a new study finds it can literally translate to more money in your pocket. The research, conducted by Matthew Gibson of Williams College and Jeffrey Shrader of the University

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