Are Brokers Responsible for Their Agents’ Safety?

The existing housing stock isn’t built to meet increasing consumer demand for greener living. So, if your buyers want a high-performance home, they’ll likely need to retrofit a property with energy-efficient features. That may sound like an expensive process, but there are financing options to help your customers reach their goals. Host Marki Lemons Ryhal speaks with two sustainable housing experts about the green financing avenues every agent should know. This episode is sponsored by the Center for REALTOR® Development.

Being an entrepreneur can be a lonely experience. You are solely responsible for everything that happens with your business, and that kind of pressure can feel heavy at times. Real estate professionals, who are small business owners, need a safe space to express themselves and find camaraderie around common challenges and goals. Taking care of your mental wellness is part of practicing safety. Host Tracey Hawkins speaks with two experts who are creating these spaces for real estate professionals.

Not everyone understands or recognizes the vital role that diversity, equity and inclusion plays in real estate. Some even see the DEI movement overall as unfairly hostile toward people who are perceived to be privileged. This is a misguided notion—but one that real estate pros must confront in their quest to support a freer, fairer real estate market. Host Marki Lemons Ryhal speaks with two real estate pros who are part of underrepresented groups and fight every day against biases and stereotypes.

When you’re explain to clients and prospects what you do and why your services are worth it, don’t leave safety out of the conversation. You can use your knowledge of how to protect customers, properties and transactions from physical and cyber harm as a point of differentiation and value. Help buyers and sellers understand why they’re safer in the hands of a well-trained real estate professional, and they could become clients for life. Host Tracey Hawkins talks to two practitioners who have different ways of infusing safety best practices into client consultations.

Real estate professionals consider their business plan their Bible, especially at the start of a new year. But chances are good that potential curveballs in the housing market may throw you off your goals as the year progresses. What’s important is how you respond and adjust your plan of action in these challenging moments. Host Marki Lemons Ryhal speaks with two practitioners who have advice for what to do when you realize you need to make changes to your business plan in order to stay on track.

Many real estate professionals strive to be authentic on social media, but where is the line in the sand? What you say about your clients, your listings and yourself could reveal valuable information to bad actors who may be looking online for an easy target. Host Tracey Hawkins speaks with two social media superstars in the real estate profession about the online boundaries they set to protect themselves and their clients' privacy. One of them says she knows of a sale contract that was canceled over a social media post.

Many real estate agents who are frustrated with their business amid a stalled housing market may be thinking it’s time for a change. They might be tempted to seek greener pastures at another brokerage where they think their growth will be better supported. Recorded at NAR NXT, The REALTOR® Experience, in Anaheim, Calif., host Marki Lemons Ryhal invites three brokers onstage in front of a live audience to discuss what they're doing to strengthen agent retention and keep talent from giving up in difficult moments and walking out the door. Their strategies include making sales meetings a can’t-miss event, boosting education and training programs and underscoring a close-knit company culture.

The real estate market is changing on a daily basis, and the housing data you’re looking at today may not be relevant tomorrow. So, how do you know which statistics to pay attention to, and how reliable can they be? Host Marki Lemons Ryhal goes behind the numbers with real estate pros Barb Betts and Mark T. Donnelly, both of whom have developed specific strategies around applying industry research to their business and sharing actionable data with their customers. They say the best data you can find lies within a tool you likely use every day.

When real estate professionals develop a comfortable work routine, it's easy to fall into patterns of practice that potentially could put you at greater risk. An agent with more than 20 years of experience and one who's been in the business just under a year talk about their impressions of safety in the industry.

Real estate professionals can honor military veterans by getting educated about how VA financing works. This knowledge will help agents bust pervasive myths that sometimes put military home buyers at a disadvantage in the transaction. Host Marki Lemons Ryhal discusses serving those who serve with two military experts who teach NAR’s Military Relocation Professional certification. Hear why they say military clients may require extra support in the homebuying process.