One Year Later, Have New Policies Around Commissions Affected Your Bottom Line?

Just under 12 months ago, compensation offers were largely removed from the MLS, and all buyer agents were required to sign a contract before touring homes. As the industry adapts, RISMedia is excited to announce that we have once again teamed up with a leading market research firm to dive deep into real estate compensation,… …more

Adapting Your Marketing to Match YouTube’s New Policies

Editor’s Note: Social Skills is a bi-monthly feature in RISMedia’s Daily News focused on social media and digital marketing tips, trends and solutions for agents and brokers. YouTube has long been a powerful platform for social media marketing, something many real estate agents have grown to take advantage of. Not only does it help market… …more

Former Flagstar Employee Alleges Retaliation, Potential Money Laundering in Lawsuit Against Company, Ex-CEO

A former chief compliance officer with Flagstar Financial alleges he was fired for investigating money laundering and reporting compliance violations involving the bank’s former CEO who served in the post for less than two months, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week. Ross Marrazzo, enterprise chief compliance officer at New York Community Bancorp (NYCB),… …more

Offerpad Touts Success of New Programs, Cash Infusion in Q2 2025

The iBuyer company Offerpad struck an optimistic tone during its Q2, 2025 earnings call. Offerpad CEO Brian Bair described a July capital raise of $21 million, which brought the company’s liquidity to more than $55 million, as a “strong endorsement of our model” as he and Offerpad leadership stressed careful management and asset-light services.  During… …more

Suburbs for the Win in 2025’s ‘Hottest Zip Codes’

As the Federal Reserve maintains interest rates and the housing market continues to adapt, all buyers want to do is find the perfect home—for both their families and wallets. Summer is winding down and the traditional busy season for buying homes is coming to a close. Consumer demands are constantly changing, and Realtor.com®’s latest Hottest… …more

New Report Shows Home Prices Dropping, but Only for Some Buyers

Realtor.com’s July Monthly Housing Trends Report reflects a market that’s beginning to favor the buyer, where inventory is high and listing prices are dropping—but only in specific regions.  On a national level, the median listing price for homes has increased 0.5% in the past year—a far cry from recent years. The number of active listings… …more

James Dwiggins Bullish on New Business, and the Industry as Well

James Dwiggins has always been something of a visionary, seeing opportunities where others didn’t. From his early 20s he’s pioneered various real estate ventures: virtual tours, website development, franchising, mortgage and tech startups. His family’s deep roots in the industry have given him a unique perspective, and his appetite for learning and analysis fueled his… …more

Newsmakers Spotlight: David Harris on Evolving From Rising Star to Multi-Market Success

From becoming a “rising star” in Connecticut to building a thriving real estate career in New York City’s luxury market, Coldwell Banker Warburg agent David Harris‘s journey exemplifies the importance of challenging yourself and being persistent.  Recognized as one of the 2025 Real Estate Newsmakers in the Luminaries category, RISMedia caught up with Harris to… …more

Real Estate Teams Need Better Tech

Real estate technology continues to advance, giving professionals the ability to scale. But time and time again we see one industry segment get left behind: teams. Solo agents unlock autonomy and freedom when they leverage the right tech, but teams often can’t fully benefit from those same platforms. Teams need specialized technology.  Why team-focused tools… …more

COURT REPORT: CoStar Sues Zillow; LGBTQ+ Alliance Wins Court Battle for Accounts

Editor’s note: The COURT REPORT is RISMedia’s weekly look at current and upcoming lawsuits, investigations and other legal developments around real estate. CoStar sues Zillow over copyright infringement CoStar Group, on July 30, sued Zillow over alleged “widespread and systematic” copyright infringement of rental listing photos.  “Zillow’s theft of tens of thousands of CoStar Group’s… …more

Study: Regulations of Airbnbs Can Improve Affordability, Boost Market

Over the past decade or so, various cities throughout the United States have developed legislation or policies geared toward regulating short-term rentals, a market which is dominated by San Francisco-based tech company Airbnb. Recently an appeals court in Dallas, Texas, rejected the city’s 2023 ordinance to ban most short-term rentals located in single family zones.… …more

Mortgage Lock-In Effect Is Still Here, Confirms Data and Brokers

The latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey® from Freddie Mac found the 30-year mortgage rate is averaging 6.72%. For most prospective homebuyers, that rate is far too high to enter the market, according to the latest findings in Bankrate’s 2025 Mortgage Rates Sentiment Survey. “The spring 2025 home-buying season turned out to be historically slow, and… …more

eXp Focuses on Growing High-Productivity Agents Amid Difficult Market Environment

While eXp’s agent count decreased by 5% year-over-year in the second quarter (totalling 82,704), the company is highlighting its first sequential quarter-over-quarter growth in agent count since 2024. “This is a great indication that our strategies and programs we’ve created to attract and retain agents are working,” said CEO Leo Pareja during the call with… …more

Mortgage Mix: Rocket Details Redfin Integration; Judge Orders Fair Housing Funds Released

Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s biweekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it every other Friday afternoon. -Rocket Companies, coming off an acquisition spree this year, announced strong earnings for Q2 on July 31, with executives providing a trickle of details on how the company will utilize consumer portal Redfin in… …more

Consumer Sentiment Up for the Second Straight Month, but Not by Much

The consumer sentiment index indicated a second consecutive month in the rise of consumer sentiment, per the University of Michigan’s closely watched survey of consumers. Consumer sentiment rose 1.6% in July from 60.7 in June to 61.7—the second consecutive month of increases, according to the latest report. Year-over-year, consumer sentiment was down 7.1% from 66.4… …more

The Greatest Real Estate Software in History

Above: Gary Ashton, Justin Havre, Morgan Carey and Ken Pozek What would you get if you brought together Muhammad Ali, Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan on the same starting lineup? You’d get history in the making. And in the world of real estate technology, that’s exactly what Real Estate Webmasters (REW) has set out to… …more

July Jobs Report Unimpressive; Unemployment Up Slightly

In an August 1 report on job growth from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. employers added 73,000 jobs in July, with the unemployment rate up slightly at 4.2%. Economists had predicted 100,000-plus jobs would be gained following 19,000 jobs added in May and 14,000 in June—both those numbers based on sharp downward revisions… …more

Another MLS-Access Lawsuit Dismissed as Federal Judge Affirms Realtor® Membership Requirements

Yet another lawsuit filed by a broker against the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) and local associations has been dismissed, the second time in less than two weeks that a federal judge has ruled that brokers suing over Realtor® membership requirements and MLS access failed to set forth valid claims of antitrust violations. Judge Joseph… …more

Rocket Reports Strong Q2 Results; Touts AI Results and Redfin Acquisition

Rocket Companies—which recently acquired Redfin and is currently undergoing the acquisition of Mr. Cooper—continued to see high earnings results during its second quarter, as noted during its earning call July 31. Rocket CEO Varun Krishna noted that he believes they are “building a foundation for infinite capacity at Rocket, where our growth is supercharged by… …more

RE/MAX Welcomes Top Hawaii Brokerage and 170 Agents Into Network

Above: RE/MAX Hawaii Leaders Myron and Ambur Kiriu  RE/MAX® has announced it will be welcoming Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Advantage Realty, led by industry powerhouse Myron Kiriu, into the RE/MAX network. The conversion, effective August 1, brings six offices and 170 high-performing agents under the RE/MAX Hawaii banner. RE/MAX Hawaii states that it’s… …more