When it comes to agent retention and office cohesion, gleaning feedback from your team is an essential element of business, no matter how uncomfortable. Create an environment where everyone feels their input is wanted.

Check out one caller ID and spam-blocking app that aims to help real estate professionals improve their productivity.

Shoppers tend to buy from companies that have good online reviews, so enhancing your company's reputation is critical, writes Sonu Yadav, a digital marketing manager with SEO Vendor. Business leaders can safeguard their reputation by using tools to see what's being written about them online, establishing themselves as authority figures in online communities and using tools to keep up with industry trends, Yadav writes.

Designers say the trendiest look at the moment is to mute the background and go bold in the foreground.

How these pros blazed a trail of success—and what they're doing to help others along the way.

While there has been a slowdown in home sales for the Pittsburgh market, prices are steady. "What agents do is price a home slightly below a sales price and people come in and they get all excited and then there's a multiple-offer frenzy," said Diana McKay of Compass Real Estate.

Personal Google account users can now use Google Workspace office software to schedule and accept calendar meetings and appointments without paying for a full Workspace subscription and users can share availability directly within emails using Gmail and Google Calendar. "If you're a small business, time is one of your most constrained resources," said Ilya Brown, Google Workspace vice president of product management. "We provide tailored Google Workspace plans to address the specific needs of small businesses, with tools that help you make the most of your time and make everyday tasks easier."

Hundreds of thousands of affordable housing units could be lost in coming years as government protections recede, enabling building owners to increase rents. Units funded by tax credits will be eligible for conversion into market-rate properties in the next few years.

KeyBank, a Cleveland-based subsidiary of KeyCorp, has introduced a special-purpose credit program aimed at providing home buyers in underserved areas with up to $5,000 to help with expenses such as closing costs, taxes and insurance. The program is the third of its kind for KeyBank.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has provided its latest Fair Lending Annual Report to Congress, outlining the agency's efforts in areas such as small-business lending and mortgage originations. The report says the CFPB "has been increasing its expertise in data science and analytics" and "will continue to dedicate and develop resources to dive deeply into how financial institutions are using, understanding, testing, and improving" advanced and emerging technologies across the credit life cycle.

A raft of stronger-than-expected labor market data last week has put more pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates further to cool the economy and ease inflation. Some analysts say the economy is bound to slow in the second half of the year as the effects of high rates are felt. "It still seems likely that the economy's next move is a step down," said Comerica Bank Chief Economist Bill Adams.