A rebrand isn’t about changing who you are but clarifying what you stand for. HomeSmart’s evolution shows how aligning identity, culture and purpose can strengthen relationships and create momentum for future growth.
Season 5 of “Stranger Things” delivers a surprising roadmap for today’s real estate market. As conditions flip and competition tightens, the show’s focus on identity, trust and hyperlocal expertise mirrors exactly what helps agents stay visible when everything else feels a little Upside Down.
Now that real estate’s largest trade group has lifted its national policy that ties MLS access to Realtor membership, local groups are beginning to weigh in.
The right pricing strategy gets your seller client to the closing table faster and helps them achieve their real estate goals, Luke Babich writes.
Last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and 14 other trade groups representing insurance companies, lenders and other financial institutions urged Congress to approve a long-term reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
In a letter to congressional leaders dated Dec. 2, the organizations said that millions of U.S. homeowners depend on the federally backed program for protection against floods, which are the nation’s most common and costly natural disaster.
The other organizations that signed the letter include the American Land Title Association (ALTA), the National Flood Association and the American Bankers Association, among others.
“As stakeholders representing real estate, insurance, lending, and state and local governments, we urge Congress to act decisively to ensure stability and certainty for the millions of Americans who rely on this vital program to protect their families and properties from flooding,” the groups wrote.
The NFIP has been extended 34 times through short-term measures since 2017, with lawmakers unable to agree on broader reforms.
During the recent government shutdown, NFIP lapsed, which halted new policies and renewals for more than a month — its longest interruption in nearly a decade.
Previous HousingWire coverage estimated that the lapse could have derailed 1,400 home sales every day of the shutdown.
NFIP’s current authorization expires Jan. 30, 2026.
“The unavailability of the NFIP for any period of time is highly disruptive to the mortgage and commercial lending processes, to the availability of financial and technical assistance to homeowners of repetitive loss properties, and to NFIP policyholders attempting to renew their expiring policies,” the letter stated.
The MBA said it will continue working with coalition partners to push for a long-term reauthorization that provides stability and extends the program well beyond the current fiscal year.
The average buyer’s agent commission was 2.42 percent during the third quarter, which is still below averages from 2023, but higher than rates following the announcement about industry practice changes after the NAR settlement.
The three-bedroom house at 8 Oxford St, Belmont, sold for $860,000.
A young couple moving in from the coast has outlasted the noise of Geelong’s bubbling property market by paying a $75,000 premium for a move-in ready Belmont home.
The three-bedroom house at 8 Oxford St sold for $860,000 at the weeknight auction that underscored the potential for the growing interest in the affordable brackets in the property market.
Buxton Highton agent David Gray brought forward the auction as multiple groups clambered to make early offers for the 569sq m property.
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The property was due to go to auction this weekend.
The early interest also sparked a quick rethink on the price guide, which Mr Gray increased from $650,000 to $700,000, to a single price of $785,000.
Mr Gray said three parties participated in the weeknight auction, with a buyers advocate pushing the eventual buyers $75,000 above the reserve price.
High ceilings, decorative cornice and picture rails feature in the home.
The rooms have polished timber floorboards.
“It was not a tricky campaign, just a really interesting one and probably speaks to the market particularly in that $600,000 to $800,000 bracket, more so in this suburbs like Belmont, Highton, Grovedale and probably across town in Herne Hill and Hamlyn Heights,” he said.
“We had some pretty good interest from four or five people, with a couple of people making offers and someone expressed interested towards that mid-to-high $700,000 range.”
Mr Gray said the midweek auction still gave bidders time to organise building checks and due diligence.
“Five bidders showed up on the day and three got involved, hence the $860,000 price point.”
Mr Gray said there was a couple of advocates in the crowd, reflecting the move of interstate property investors to the region, but the Torquay couple also already missed out on another home and were keen to purchase.
The small galley kitchen.
A covered veranda looks back to the deep back yard.
“They’ll look to move in and make some changes over time,” he said.
The property is in a sought-after pocket in Belmont, south of Roslyn Rd at the top end of the High St shopping centre.
The original house is presented ready to move in, with neutral interiors, polished timber floors and ornate cornice and picture rails.
The deep block offers new owners the opportunity to potentially extend down the track.
The property was last sold in 2001 for $116,500.
Belmont’s $690,000 median house price has risen 4.7 per cent in the past three months to sit at the same level it was this time last year, according to PropTrack.
The post Belmont home sells for $75,000 premium in weeknight auction appeared first on realestate.com.au.
First-home buyers are facing a grim reality with access to housing dwindling in almost every Aussie capital city.
Victorian first-home buyers’ chances of getting a foot on the property ladder have been slashed by a third in five years, with just one in 10 homes now in their reach.
New analysis by KPMG shows that the state remains the nation’s second most unaffordable for would-be homebuyers, with only young Sydneysiders worse off, and about 12 per cent of homes nationwide in the grasp of would-be first-home buyers.
It is believed many are now turning to riskier housing purchases that could put their health and safety at risk through increased exposure to bushfire, floods, power lines and asbestos and other building issues, as they look to keep the great Australian home dream alive.
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The data, which tracks the number of homes sold in price brackets within reach of a household earning $180,000 a year, shows just 10 per cent of all sales in the 2024-2025 financial year would have been an option for Victorians looking to break into the housing market.
In the 2019-2020 financial year that figure was 15 per cent, even with a lower $150,000 income used to test the historic data.
Around the country, just 5 per cent of homes sold in NSW in the past year were within reach, about where it was five years ago as a certain percentage of homes are apartments on busy roads and in similarly undesirable locations where first-home buyers can afford to purchase, but where home value growth is just a fraction of what happens for more desirable homes.
KPMG analysis of ABS new home approvals shows the majority are being green lit beyond the buying capacity of first-home buyers at north of $800,000.
First-home buyers could access about 15 per cent of properties in Queensland compared to 60 per cent of the market with a $150,000 budget half a decade ago.
There were also massive declines in overall affordability for both South Australia and Western Australia, where 25 per cent of homes are within reach today, down from 75 per cent and 60 per cent respectively five years prior.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows median home prices rose in New South Wales by close to 40 per cent in the five-year timeline. In Victoria they’re up 20 per cent, Queensland and South Australia both gained about 80 per cent and Western Australian prices have risen near 75 per cent.
While metropolitan areas account for 80 per cent of population in most states, the data also reflects a 50-50 split between Brisbane and regional Queensland with high numbers of first-home buyers also pursuing areas from the Gold Coast to Townsville and Cairns.
That broad rise was likely to impact other states in the future as buyers once priced out of Victoria or NSW might have looked to Queensland for a sea-change — but would now struggle to afford it.
KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley says town planners have a role to play in delivering more affordable housing, not just more housing.
KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said the situation had “changed dramatically” in just five years and “we’re just running out of places where there is more affordable housing”.
“Median home prices continue to soar, but average first-home buyers aren’t targeting median priced homes,” Mr Rawnsley said.
“Instead, they’re seeking more affordable options, focusing on regional markets or competing for a shrinking pool of apartments and greenfield homes in major cities.”
The economist added that others would also be buying something older, or on a busy road and a bit run down “to keep themselves in the game”.
“And you might also have a couple who would love to have a home and have two kids, but they can only afford a two-bedroom apartment — and as a result they are having a smaller family than they might like to,” Mr Rawnsley said.
This poses a challenge for the nation as it not only needs to build enough homes to house Australians, but also with enough bedrooms to suit their needs and in the $600,000-$800,000 price bracket — which is difficult in many suburban in-fill housing projects.
First-home buyers are facing challenging conditions across the country, but especially in Sydney and Melbourne.
Despite this, ABS approvals data shows the vast majority of approvals coming through for new homes are for those priced above $800,000.
“The planning system doesn’t really think about the cost of homes, it’s just saying 10 storeys here and five here, and it doesn’t really think about what it costs the buyer at the end,” Mr Rawnsley said.
“There needs to be more thought about the sticker price at the end, so more people have a chance to get into home ownership.”
Real Estate Institute of Australia president Jacob Caine said the 12 per cent figure nationwide “strongly suggests that there aren’t enough affordable homes compared with the number of first-home buyers looking to purchase them”.
Mr Caine said that wasn’t just having ramifications for young homebuyers, but also for employers whose staff were having to commute longer distances or live in homes that might not best suit their needs.
He added that buying affordable could be a “double-edged sword” as it might help a purchaser step up the property ladder over time if done well, but could also be an impediment if the local area was compromised by having poor amenities.
Housing affordability in the harbour city has hit a point where it can’t really get much worse, according to KPMG analysis.
Mr Caine said there could also be health and safety risks for young buyers.
“Whether that’s poor construction quality or riskier materials like asbestos, or whether the condition of the property is so poor that it demands renovation or reconstruction,” Mr Caine said.
“And, generally, those properties are less energy efficient and they are more costly and the can produce worse health outcomes for those owners. Factor all this in together and the disadvantage can be compounding.”
Property Home Base buyer’s agent Julie DeBondt-Barker has worked closely with hundreds of first-home buyers and said it wasn’t uncommon for them to be forced into areas they don’t really want to live in.
Ms DeBondt-Barker added that 85 per cent would not consider a renovation and many looked at homes with issues that mean while they are buying it for less — it will also sell for less in the future.
The buyer’s agent said she was having to tell some she couldn’t be part of them purchasing properties in particularly compromised locations such as being beneath power lines or near river banks in low-lying areas.
Melbourne is the nation’s second least affordable city for first-home buyers, according to the KPMG report.
“And if you are in some bushfire areas you will have higher insurance, and they need to make the decision with their eyes wide open,” she said.
The research settled on $180,000 as its income figure based on research by the Australian Bureau of Statistics tracking the purchase price of homes by first-home buyers, which in 2020 was around $560,000 and today would be $760,000. By using this figure, above typical wages, they better capture buyers supported by the bank of mum and dad.
The data’s timeline precedes the expansion of the federal government’s First Home Guarantee, which now allows for first-home buyers to purchase homes with a 5 per cent deposit up to a certain price cap in each capital city and state. It is also from before the commencement of the federal government’s Help To Buy scheme where first-home buyers co-purchase a property alongside the Australian tax payer.
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The post Home dream fades, data reveals first-home buyer options collapse appeared first on realestate.com.au.
Since the implementation of mandatory buyer broker agreements via the business practice changes outlined in the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement, many have wondered what happens if a buyer breaches a contract.
Jeff Lichtenstein, the broker-owner of Florida-based Echo Fine Properties, found out when his firm entered into arbitration with a buyer after they bought a property with the help of another brokerage, despite signing an exclusive agreement with Echo Fine Properties.
Since August 17, 2024, when the business practice changes went into effect, Lichtenstein said his firm has completed 381 buy side transactions, and they have ultimately looked into three contracts for issues.
“For the brokerage community, if the Buyers Broker Agreement (BBA) is written up and executed properly and the Buyer purchases, it means we will get compensated for the work we have done. That is reassuring on our end and a sigh of relief as most every other profession gets paid as they do their job and with health and 401k benefits,” Lichtenstein wrote in an email. “Our pay structure is by choice, and we get out of it what we put into it. But, getting compensated is something we expect at the end of a deal.”
According to Lichtenstein, at the end of 2024, he and his team were alerted by a mortgage broker that a buyer the mortgage professional knew was working with Echo Fine Properties had just presented another offer with a different buyer’s broker. He said they immediately notified the buyer of the issue; however, the buyer ignored the communication, resulting in Echo filing for arbitration after the transaction had closed.
Buyer signed an amended buyer broker agreement
During the discovery related to the arbitration, Lichtenstein said his firm found that the day after they had alerted the buyer to the issue, one of the buyers signed an amended buyer broker agreement, swapping out the name of the original buyer for that of his mother. Three weeks later, another amendment to the contract saw things reversed with the mother’s name swapped for that of the original buyer.
Through arbitration, the arbitrator concluded that the buyer broker agreement used by Echo Fine Properties is unambiguous, and its terms were clearly stated. Additionally, the arbitrator found testimony from the buyer that he did not read the agreement before signing it, that the 180-day protection period for the agreement is “excessive,” and that the agent from Echo Fine Properties provided little to no benefit or help were unpersuasive.
Due to the arbitrator’s findings, the buyer was found to have breached his contract by entering into a purchase agreement without the involvement of his Echo Fine Properties agent and subsequently refusing to pay the commission Echo Fine Properties was entitled to based on the buyer broker agreement. As a result, the arbitrator awarded the brokerage $24,000 due to the breached contract. This sum represented the 3% commission agreed upon in the buyer broker contract on the purchase of the $800,000 property.
Lichtenstein noted that even if only 1% of transactions have an issue, in a year with just 4 million existing home sales, that could potentially mean 40,000 arbitration cases a year, involving a purchaser owing a commission to a brokerage.
“We have no desire for this, but collections is appearing to be a new category for brokerage houses as a result of the BBA,” Lichtenstein wrote. “For purchasers, if you’ve committed to a Realtor, then don’t try to pull a fast one. Understand how much work is involved. The brokerage community takes a client on with no guarantee of being paid unless one buys a home. Agents put in a tremendous amount of time and their knowledge and that work is what educates a client and helps to get a deal over the finish line.”
Late last month, federal banking regulators proposed lowering the Community Bank Leverage Ratio (CBLR) for qualifying community banks and bank holding companies from 9% to 8% while extending the timeframe for certain banks to remain in the program.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) said the changes align the CBLR framework with the threshold established in the 2018 Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act.
The proposal, outlined in the Federal Register, would also extend from two to four quarters the period that banks can remain in the CBLR framework without meeting all qualifying criteria. Comments on the proposed rule are due Jan. 30, 2026.
In its latest advocacy update, released on Monday, the Mortgage Bankers Association noted that it has long supported the CBLR, arguing that it provides regulatory relief for banks that opt in by removing the need to calculate and report risk-based capital ratios.
MBA wrote in a comment letter in October that the ratio should be lowered to 8%, and that banks should have a longer grace period to regain compliance or exit the framework.
Adopted in 2019, the CBLR allows banks that opt in to avoid calculating and reporting more complex risk-based capital ratios.
The agencies said in the Federal Register announcement that the proposed adjustments “provide community banks with enhanced options to manage their regulatory obligations while maintaining their ability to serve their communities.”
JKDS is a licensed New York State real estate brokerage firm. #10351200205