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Opinion

Darryl Davis: Why your pricing talk is not landing with real estate sellers anymore

Agent, Contributors, HWmember, Opinion, Real Estate, Real Estate Listings, Real Estate Marketing /

Here’s a truth that’s going to sting a little: if you’re still walking into listing appointments armed with the same pricing presentation you used in 2021 (or earlier!), you’re bringing a butter knife to a sword fight. The housing market has fundamentally shifted, and the agents who haven’t shifted with it are watching listings expire, […]

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We may finally be near the bottom of the mortgage market cycle

Contributors, HWmember, Mortgage, Mortgage Industry, Mortgage Rates, Opinion, Origination /

I started in mortgages in 2007 for a brokerage office in Salem, Oregon. Within my first year and a half, I was one of the top-producing loan officers in the office. At the same time, the world around me was coming apart.  I didn’t realize at the time that the industry I had just joined

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The cost of cheaper: Why lower score fees could raise mortgage costs

Contributors, Mortgage, Opinion, Origination /

The debate over FICO versus VantageScore has followed a familiar script: A headline price gets amplified into a savings narrative, that narrative becomes policy and then the secondary market quietly starts doing the math the advocates forgot to run. In a multi-trillion-dollar mortgage-backed security (MBS) market, the score fee is a rounding error. What is

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Why AI is still a subpar real estate agent replacement

Agent, Artificial Intelligence, Contributors, HWmember, Opinion, Real Estate, Real Estate Marketing /

I recently got a question from Real Estate Writer Michele Lerner for Florida Realtor magazine that cut right to the chase of this technological moment: Can AI replace real estate agents?⁣ Here’s my answer: Not yet. And maybe not ever, but not because I’m anti-tech. Quite the opposite. I’m an early adopter. I love tools

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The GPS for equity: Building the industry’s first true navigation infrastructure

Contributors, Home equity loans, HWmember, Mortgage, Mortgage Industry, Opinion, Technology /

As automation reshapes mortgage operations, the industry’s next challenge is to help borrowers navigate the complex decisions that shape their lives—not just to close the loan faster.   For the better part of a decade, the mortgage industry has been obsessed with a single metric:  speed. We have poured billions into “Sales Infrastructure”—digital applications and lead

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Home inspection trends reshaping the 2026 housing market

Contributors, Home inspections, home inspectors, HWmember, Opinion, Real Estate /

The home inspection industry is undergoing a quiet shift that directly impacts mortgage origination timelines, closing procedures, and lender risk assessment. As the owner of an inspection company, with over 3,000 inspections completed across Texas’s fastest-growing markets, I’m seeing trends that fundamentally reshape how lenders, agents, and buyers approach the inspection phase of the transaction.

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Building mortgage AI agents that compliance teams can trust

Artificial Intelligence, Contributors, HWmember, Mortgage, Opinion, Origination, Real Estate Technology, Technology /

The mortgage industry is no longer debating whether AI has a role to play. That part is over. The real conversation now is about what kind of AI can work inside a business where decisions must be documented, policies must be followed, and every workflow may eventually be reviewed by risk, audit, or compliance. That

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Age matters in home equity decisions

Contributors, Equity Residential, Home Equity, Home equity loans, HWmember, Mortgage, Opinion, Origination, Reverse /

A borrower’s age should shape every financing recommendation, yet it is often treated as a secondary detail when a senior wants, or needs, access to a portion of their equity. Consider that most mortgage advice is built on the assumptions that the borrower will continue working and has time and resources to recover from financial

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Self-care plans for real estate agent burnout

Agent, Contributors, HWmember, NextHome, Opinion, Real Estate, real estate agent, Real Estate Agents /

There is a special flavor of exhaustion that only independent contractors know. It is not the regular tired that comes from a long day. It is the deep-space fatigue of being your own boss, HR department, marketing team, IT help desk, billing office, custodian, and emotional support animal. You do not clock out. Then layer

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The appraisal gap in 2026

Appraisals, Appraisals and Valuations, Contributors, HWmember, Mortgage, Opinion, Real Estate, Valuation /

Real estate valuations have customarily leaned heavily on historical data as one of the most important factors used to determine the appraised value of homes. This data includes comparable transactions and cap rates from prior years, along with historical real estate market data. However, there are a few areas that the past-anchored valuation system fails

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