The last 18 months have been difficult for technical talent development in the United States. Due to pandemic-related constraints, on-site training became difficult or impossible. Meanwhile, well-known tech centres like the San Francisco Bay Area and the New York City metro area have had negative migration patterns. Engineers fleeing the region in quest of lower living costs elsewhere are a major cause of...
Get ready. Generation Z is preparing to enter the housing market over the next few years. Almost three-quarters of this cost-conscious generation, currently aged 18 to 25, would prefer to own a home rather than rent one, according to a recent Realtor.com® survey. That’s likely because it can be more financially beneficial to own and build wealth rather than deal with escalating rents each year—and...
New home sales unexpectedly fell in May as prices climb to record highs. Sales of new single-family homes fell 5.9% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 769,000, according to the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development. Last month’s reading was revised down by 46,000 to 817,000. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting an increase to 870,000 in May. New...
Gray skies don’t have to mean a drab indoor life. As winter plods along, you may wish you could just hibernate until spring — and that may be more true than ever this year. But there is, indeed, joy to be found in the quieter months of the year. While the trend may have come and gone in the U.S., the art of hygge, that feeling of being ultra-cozy and content, is just part of everyday life...
The numbers: Existing-home sales fell for the fourth consecutive month, as buyers continue to face major hurdles in the road to becoming homeowners. Existing-home sales fell 0.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.8 million in May, the National Association of Realtors reported. Compared with May 2020, home sales were up nearly nearly 45%, though the year-over-year comparisons are skewed by the...
They say money doesn't grow on trees, but over the last year it did. Lumber prices skyrocketed to historic highs during the coronavirus pandemic, fueled by a demand for new homes and a surge in renovations and DIY hobbyist projects by those of us on lockdown. Now those record wood prices are finally starting to crack, and more builders across the U.S. are able to reach for their toolboxes. Robert...
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the long-standing real estate process had to adjust: no in-person open houses, brokers' open houses, or house walk-throughs for prospective buyers, their agents, or the seller's agents. Innovation occurred as the wheels rotated. From virtual showings to closings, real estate technology has changed everything. "Real estate technology has transformed the industry,...
COVID has had a huge impact on the real estate market and has forever changed the way we do business. This transition, though disruptive and unsettling for some, has sparked unprecedented adoption of real estate technology. Agents, teams, and brokerages are rethinking the technology platform, software, and services they need to do business efficiently today. The urgent need for creativity and...
“If there is one thing that Amazon.com is about it’s an obsessive attention to the customer experience.” Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, gave a now-famous interview to CNBC over two decades ago in which he emphasized that Amazon would win by obsessing over the customer experience. Bezos understood that what matters most is how the end-user thinks, and this understanding has helped Amazon grow...
Tired of having your already cramped bedroom do double duty as a home office and at-home gym? It might be time to upsize. But while getting more space may seem enticing, upsizing can hold pitfalls for unwary home buyers. “It is important to be aware of these mistakes because upsizing can be expensive, but if you plan it well, do your research, and shop around, it doesn’t have to be,”...