Homeowners unlock federal energy-efficiency rebates, influencing market trends.

Making eye contact while giving a speech or presentation is critical to engaging your audience, writes Robin Stombler, author and president of Auburn Health Strategies. Stombler offers five strategies for developing the practice, including getting comfortable with looking yourself in the eye using a mirror and looking at one audience member per sentence during your presentation to avoid staring too long at a few people.

Adidas, Glossier, Liquid Death and more than nine other brands recently joined BeReal's new RealBrands feed, seeking connection to the 23 million to 25 million people who use the platform every day. BeReal keeps RealBrands and its celebrity equivalent, RealPeople, in a separate feed from the messages normal users post.

Mortgage rates edged up this week, prompting a pause among some would-be house hunters. But here's why they may not want to wait.

Interior designer Amanda Hamilton helps clients decide what stays and what goes inside their homes, including managing pieces that have monetary or sentimental value. The goal, she says, is to create a "unified vibe."

Global commercial real estate investments were down 37% year-over-year for the third quarter and totaled $647 billion for 2023, down 47% over 2022, according to CBRE, which attributes the significant drop to an economic slowdown, high interest rates and tight credit. "As central banks move start to cut interest rates and market conditions stabilize, we anticipate a recovery in investment activity in the second half of 2024," says Richard Barkham, CBRE global chief economist.

Real estate professional Erika Villegas has assembled hundreds of volunteers to provide meals and essentials to migrant families coming to the Windy City.

Judging others can become a positive exercise when leaders use it to expand compassion for themselves and those around them and as a tool to recognize things within themselves they can improve, writes author and leadership expert Mike Robbins. New research shows that we routinely underestimate how others feel about us, believing that they harshly judge us, when in reality, most people like us and wish for more engagement.

How real estate pros can support greater diversity within brokerages and associations.

A recent Mason-Dixon opinion poll reveals that a majority of Floridians are urging local governments to tackle the affordable housing crisis, with many respondents personally knowing someone affected by housing insecurity.

Regulators have signaled that nearly two dozen U.S. banks late last year had commercial real estate loan portfolios that deserve closer scrutiny. The regulators said they would look more stringently into banks with such loans that are valued at more than triple their total capital, raising the possibility of more pressure for lenders to increase reserves.

In observance of Presidents Day in the U.S., SmartBrief will not publish Monday, Feb. 19.