From large, staple appliances to small gadgets, the kitchen is the perfect playground for smart-home technology.

Ford Motor introduced a "concierge spirit" to its marketing, shifting from focusing on the product to prioritizing the buying experience, writes Metaforce's Allen Adamson in this excerpt from his book "Seeing the How: Transforming What People Do, Not Buy, To Gain Market Advantage." Ford's former marketing chief, Suzy Deering, shifted the brand's mindset, explaining, "We see experience as a growing and important part of what makes people act: to buy, to share about their purpose, to repeat that act of buying."

Reiterating your company's purpose frequently and acknowledging the contributions of every employee go a long way toward making workers want to do their best, writes leadership coach John Baldoni, expanding on a recent speech from movie director Christopher Nolan that credited good films to everyone down to the popcorn servers. Keep in mind your company's mission, and don't worry about getting credit for yourself, Baldoni suggests.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has remained under 6.5% for the last few weeks, offering buyers more stability.

Fluctuations in the housing market in recent years, including a recent run-up in mortgage rates, have had a profound impact on buyer behavior. "The real financial winners were the pandemic home buyers who locked into mortgage rates around 2% to 3%," said First American Financial Corporation's deputy chief economist, Odeta Kushi.

Stephen Baker, president and general manager of Zego, explains the trend toward "hospitality-inspired lifestyle amenities" in the rental market in response to resident expectations as rents rise. In addition, management companies are taking lessons from the retail sector, such as flexible payment options and promotions.

KeyCorp subsidiary KeyBank says it is developing a process in partnership with The Clearing House and real estate cash-management platform EMTransfer to enable real estate transaction payments to be settled in real time. The process would use the RTP network developed by The Clearing House.

Nichole Robichaux is taking in families who seek asylum in the U.S. and helping them start a new life.

Voters in three Idaho cities have approved ballot measures to allocate public funding to community housing. Sun Valley, Idaho, Mayor Peter Hendricks says the results send a "clear message" that affordable housing is a priority for voters.

Regional banks may have a greater exposure to commercial real estate risk than previously realized and could be forced to sell off these loans because their CRE holdings exceed thresholds mandated by regulators, according to new information from Trepp. It found that out of 4,760 banks, 763 have either a CRE or construction loan concentration ratio that surpass than the thresholds.