Real Issues
Our monthly Real Issues feature is a deep-dive into the biggest issues facing the real estate industry today. Learn more about topics that go beyond the daily news reporting and explore the most important issues of the day.

Around the country, architects, cities and organizations are taking action to build more resilient homes and communities in the face of climate change.

Check out Chicago Agent’s most-read Real Issues features to learn from our expert sources and, overall, to consider 2022 in retrospect.

Investors helped resuscitate the economy during the Great Recession, but their taste for real estate didn’t stop there.

We checked in with Jack Miller, president and CEO of real estate consulting and analytics firm T3 Sixty, for his insight into how interest rates are affecting the market.

All bets are off in the world of new-construction home sales, where the relationship between builders and brokers often changes with the strength or weakness of the local market.

To earn a real estate license, future agents must attend a state-approved course. If they pass the class test, they must pass a state test. After that, they are a licensee — but becoming a successful agent is not so simple.

Agent commissions of the future could look much different than they do today, as a Department of Justice investigation into the issue of decoupling buyer and broker commissions continues, class-action lawsuits are advancing and associations and MLSs are adjusting their policies.

A neighborhood has many public assets that combine to determine its desirability to buyers. How do those assets affect home prices — and which ones have the biggest impact?

Real estate agents are developing more sophisticated ways to pass their business on to the next generation and creating ongoing revenue streams for themselves along the way.

Inventory shortages, supply chain disruptions and bidding wars that have pushed prices up to record levels are among the numerous factors that have exacerbated the affordable housing crisis that was already in full swing prior to the pandemic.

For the millions of Americans who move each year, climate risk should be a top consideration.

If ever there were a third rail of residential real estate, it would have to be the topic of crime. But how is it impacting the bottom line now?

Buy, merge or franchise — they’re growth strategies many brokerages are pursuing in an effort to grow their businesses in an increasingly competitive market. But what are the benefits of these approaches, and what are the hurdles?

It goes without saying that 2021 was full of real issues for the real estate industry. But it was also full of real solutions. Check out Chicago Agent’s most-read Real Issues features.

Aftershocks from the pandemic have rocked developers with new hurdles to breaking ground on residential properties. The main culprits: a shortage of skilled labor, skyrocketing costs of building materials and a disrupted supply chain.

Women agents outnumber men two to one, and they’re increasingly taking the reins as leaders.