Go For Believers, Not Followers This Year
Using social media to connect with prospects and borrowers may seem tricky at times, especially when the real estate market is less than ideal. While sharing your expertise online is important, you may need to put a new spin on your social media. Here's why.
Over the past 25 years, social media has seen some major changes. Networking and relationship-building were popular marketing strategies in the early 2000s. This was eventually replaced by highly visible social media profiles.
However, one of the most important things you can do this year is to concentrate on building trust. Create social media that's genuine and includes real-life experiences. Share your values with others. Be transparent, so people can see and trust the person behind the head shot.
Since it's difficult to predict where our economy is headed, major transactions such as buying or selling a home may be especially challenging. This means that your greatest advantage isn't being seen; it's being trusted with one of life's biggest purchase decisions.1
More Buyers Are Buying, Even with Higher Rates
Mortgage rates rose for the third straight week last week, hitting the highest level since January. However, this didn't deter some determined buyers.
Mortgage purchase applications rose 2% compared with the previous week, and were 18% percent higher than the same week one year ago.
"Purchase applications were up over the week and continue to run ahead of last year's pace as increased housing inventory in many markets has been supporting some transaction volume, despite the economic uncertainty," said Joel Kan, an MBA economist.2
Fannie Mae Fires Up Crystal Ball
According to the Fannie Mae Home Price Index (HPI), this year will see home price growth of 4.1%, compared to growth last year of 5.3%. The HPI predictions for 2026 describe further cooling of house prices, with only an average 2.0% rise.
These revisions are because Fannie Mae expects mortgage rates to trend lower. The company forecasts rates will end 2025 at 6.1% and 2026 at 5.8%, which is down slightly from Fannie's previous forecast of 6.2% and 6.0%, respectively.
Other Fannie predictions:
- The gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be 0.7% for 2025 and 2.0% for 2026 (on a Q4 to Q4 basis). This is up from the prior HPI forecast figures of 0.5% and 1.9%, respectively.
- The Consumer Price Index (CPI) will rise by 3.5% Q4/Q4 this year.
- Core CPI, which doesn't include food and energy prices, is expected to rise 3.8% Q4/Q4 in 2025. A smaller, 2.6% increase is predicted for 2026.3
More Home Sales Are Falling Through. Could This Help Buyers?
T.S. Eliot began one of his poems with the observation that "April is the cruelest month." Agents and sellers found this highly relatable, especially as one in seven home-purchase agreements fell through last month.
Roughly 56,000 U.S. home-purchase agreements were canceled in April, equal to 14.3% of homes that went under contract that month. That's up from 13.5% a year earlier and is the highest April share in records dating back to 2017, with the exception of Covid-related losses during April 2020.
Atlanta led the nation in canceled deals, with one in five (20%) pending home sales falling through. It was followed by Orlando, FL (19.4%), Tampa, FL (19.1%), Riverside, CA (19.1%) and Miami, FL (18.9%).
While these are bleak numbers, don't forget that a failed contract may offer an opportunity for your outbid buyers to get in the backup-offer position and even ask for concessions. When a sale doesn't go through, some sellers begin to suspect that there might be something wrong with their home, even if that's not the case.4
Bluesky Introduces Livestream Links
While livestreams won't be hosted on Bluesky, users will see when someone is live, and jump directly to YouTube, Twitch, or another platform to watch.
Here's how it works.
- When a creator or brand in the test group adds a livestream link to their profile, Bluesky will display a red border around their profile picture and a 'Live' callout just below.
- Click the profile pic, and you'll be taken straight to their live content — whether it's a game, a news stream, or a Q&A on Twitch.
Sources: 1entrepreneur.com, 2cnbc.com, 3nationalmortgageprofessional.com, 4redfin.com, 5buffer.com
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