Mortgage rates and the 10-year Treasury yield dropped this past week, offering homebuyers brief relief after two months of steady increases. The decline followed a wave of economic data that drove cautious investors into the safety of the bond market. The latest Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey® released Thursday shows the average 30-year fixed-rate…

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Although mortgage rates recently hit a three-year high, they’ve eased slightly recently. For newlyweds, the question is whether now is the right time for spending on a home. The Knot’s 2026 Real Weddings Study, which surveyed 10,474 U.S. couples married in 2025, found that weddings cost an average of $34,200 nationally. With wedding expenses potentially…

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Do you record all your back and forths with clients? If not, you may want to reconsider, as they can provide key points upon later review, especially when there is not full clarity on some specifics. More urgently, they can help avoid issues ranging from simple disagreements about what was said or, even potentially significant…

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Crye-Leike Real Estate Services celebrated its 50th anniversary during its annual conference, held Oct. 13-15. The Golden Jubilee Conference featured three days of education, networking and celebrations honoring the company’s 50 years in business with more than more than 600 Crye-Leike agents from seven states. According to a release, the conference began Tuesday with attendee…

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Real Estate Data Technologies, LLC (reData) announced that NTREIS has entered into an agreement for the reData Export software platform. NTREIS—an MLS covering Texas and Louisiana—serves more than 53,000 real estate professionals and will implement the reData Platform to provide a controlled access point for MLS data. According to a release, reData Export aims to…

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Above, left to right: Matthew Leone, Ashley Brennan and Lauren Henss Brown Harris Stevens and FirstTeam recently launched their first bicoastal networking event by hosting the third annual Luxury Real Estate and Design Summit in partnership with Luxury Marketer. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Matthew Leone, Chief Marketing Officer of Brown Harris…

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Above, Mark McLaughlin, left, and Philip White Sotheby’s International Realty (SIR) announced on Oct. 22 that Mark McLaughlin has been appointed the brand’s president and CEO, effective Nov. 1. Philip White, who has led the company through two decades, will become executive chairman, with a focus on the brand’s continued expansion.  White, who first joined…

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Above: Alex Vidal. Photo by AJ Canaria. Shortly after REMAX President Alex Vidal joined the brokerage after three years at ERA Real Estate, Compass—which now owns ERA—filed a lawsuit against Vidal for allegedly violating a non-compete agreement. Filed in Texas on Sept. 19, the case was recently moved to the Delaware Court of Chancery.  The…

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Leading economic indicators in the month of September stayed essentially “flat,” according to an Oct. 22 press release from business research firm The Conference Board.  The Leading Economic Index (LEI), a measure of where the economy is headed based on 10 component indicators, remained at 99.6 (assuming a 100-point baseline equivalent to 2016 economic conditions)…

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After three years, a closely watched lawsuit centered on alleged sex trafficking and assaults at eXp events reached a settlement, just a few days after the trial began. The lawsuit, filed by eXp agent Anya Roberts against two former eXp recruiters—David Golden and Michael Bjorkman—reached a confidential settlement, according to court filings, two days into…

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