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AI killed the real estate agent personal brand — now what?

Visibility used to win. Now it’s just noise. For the past 20 years, real estate agents have been told the same thing: build your personal brand. Post consistently. Shoot video. Be everywhere. The belief was simple — if people saw you often enough, they would eventually do business with you. And for a while, that […]

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Errol Samuelson: Zillow retools for AI-driven home search — and the agent stays central

Artificial intelligence is not only changing the way people search for and find information online, but it is also changing how they are searching for products and services, including their new home. Founded in 2006, Zillow has witnessed the housing industry develop from its early embrace of the internet to now entering the uncharted territory

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REMAX merger creates 400-agent firm in Arizona

REMAX Fine Properties and REMAX Solutions have merged to form a single brokerage operating across Arizona — combining more than 400 agents and 10 offices statewide. The unified company will operate under the REMAX Fine Properties name with offices in Avondale, Flagstaff Glendale, Munds Park, Peoria Pinetop, Scottsdale, Gilbert and Tucson. Jamie Wong will continue

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Rocktop Technologies forms Rocktop Digital, names Brett Benson CEO

Rocktop Technologies has launched Rocktop Digital, a new business focused on digitizing and tokenizing mortgage and private credit assets to modernize how the assets are financed, owned and traded, the company announced Wednesday. As part of the launch, Dallas-based Rocktop Technologies promoted Brett Benson, previously its co-president, to CEO of Rocktop Digital. The move formalizes

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The housing market is fragmenting as local trends diverge

The housing market update still looks relatively stable on the surface. Inventory rose to 723,460 single-family homes in the week ending April 3, while 34.44% of listings had price cuts and the weekly absorption rate came in at 10.49%. At the national level, the baseline is still holding. As HousingWire Lead Analyst Logan Mohtashami noted

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RenoFi hires Brandon Silvia to drive renovation lending growth

Philadelphia-based RenoFi announced Wednesday that it has hired Brandon Silvia as executive vice president and national production leader, moving to the renovation financing platform from top-10 U.S. mortgage lender Rate. Silvia will oversee all sales and production operations nationwide, with a mandate to scale volume, grow RenoFi’s originator network and boost adoption of its artificial

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How is the housing market weathering war-time economics?

War-time economics have, of course, sent gas prices skyrocketing, but have also pushed mortgage rates higher over the last five weeks, from a low of 5.99% to a high of 6.64%. Rates have fallen a bit recently, but higher rates have slowed some of the housing data down. In the past, mortgage rates above 7%

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Northwest MLS accuses Compass of deceptive ‘pocket listing’ scheme in counterclaim

Northwest Multiple Listing Service has filed counterclaims in federal court against Compass, alleging the brokerage’s “three-phase marketing program” is a deceptive scheme that hides listing data from the public and violates Washington’s Consumer Protection Act. In the filing, the Kirkland, Wash.-based MLS argues that Compass’ strategy of scaling so-called “pocket listings” creates a “two-tier” marketplace,

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Better bets on ChatGPT as the new front door for origination

Better.com says that its new integration with ChatGPT is more than a flashy plugin. According to CEO Vishal Garg, it’s a tool that could shift how mortgage technology is distributed and adopted across the industry. In early March, Better announced the conversational credit decision engine that allows lenders to run underwriting through ChatGPT using its

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