Agent safety can be tough when your job requires you to perform independently. To avoid issues, agents should be proactive and take safety into their own hands. The first step to doing so is to understand that safety is your responsibility to yourself.

Do your best to guide them toward smart choices that will protect them financially, but at the end of the day, remember that you also must deliver a house they’ll love.

Continuing education must be completed by June 30th, however, if you wait until the last two weeks of June to complete your continuing education you risk having your license lapse as well. It takes the state time to process realtor renewals, if your renewal is not processed by July 10th your license will lapse.

The New York State Senate issued 25 subpoenas to real estate agents and companies as part of  a probe into housing discrimination. The housing issues were brought to light in Newsday's 'Long Island Divided' series. The Newsday investigation tested 93 real estate agents and 5,763 listings over the course of three years. They uncovered evidence of widespread unequal treatment by the agents. 

New York City's The Close is a company dedicated to providing marketing, lead generation, technology, and team building tips to Real Estate Agents. They recently attended the Inman Connect 2020 conference and shared their key takeaways from the event. Below is a short list of their findings, to learn more view the full article. 

The landmark 1968 Fair Housing law that sought to ban housing discrimination has uncovered a modern threat: the rapid adoption of new technologies for selling and renting homes. Despite decades of progress, there is still much work to be done. As the NFHA noted in its 2019 Fair Housing Trends Report, new ways of advertising homes and apartments using AI and advertising that uses demographic microtargeting to zero in on a certain audience, threaten to continue discrimination of the past by modern means.

Teaching someone something they didn’t previously know helps to build trust and a feeling for them that you are adding real value to the buying or selling experience.

Complete 90 hours of approved real estate coursework within 36 months of application, unless licensed continuously. All potential brokers in Michigan must complete an approved 90 Hour course. Real Estate Training Institute offers this course online in HD video so you can fit it into your busy schedule. The onscreen instructor, Gwyn Besner is available to answer any questions you have while taking the course.

Real Estate professionals across the U.S. are excited to finally see progress with the House approval of the USMCA. The USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement) will replace the current trade policy NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). The House of Representatives passed the revised trade agreement after last month when for the first time, the Canadian, Mexican and U.S Realtor Associations expressed joint, public support for specific policy. The associations represent more than 1.5 million Realtors throughout North America.

Surprisingly, the cities expected to have the most growth in 2020 are nowhere near the coastal large cities you may expect. Instead, home buyers are flocking to areas where they can get more for less. Growing cities in the midwest and southwest dominate growth. Here are the cities that are expected to show continued growth throughout the year.