Now that practice changes are part of a new reality for your real estate business, what does it look like to move forward with confidence as you adjust your operations and conversations with home buyers and sellers? You're likely prepared for the potential challenges, but you also need to focus on where the opportunities lie. Listen to "Drive With NAR."

New member benefit SoFI offers exclusive rates on loan products for financial milestones, such as home buying and student loans, which you can extend to your clients.

To ensure a productive sales team, managers must focus on motivation as much as training, writes Matt Sunshine, who offers five key strategies to motivate sales teams but also cautions that each team member may have different motivations. "Investing time in understanding what motivates each team member can pay dividends in terms of productivity and engagement," Sunshine advises.

Meet the real estate pros who are doing extraordinary charity work and choose which causes get a boost in funding and exposure.

Commercial real estate is grappling with maturing debt, with about $1.5 trillion due by the end of 2025 and about a quarter of the debt potentially difficult to refinance, JLL says. Apartment buildings account for about 40% of the upcoming maturities, according to JLL.

Trimont is slated to acquire a $640 billion loan portfolio from Wells Fargo and become the largest commercial real estate loan servicer in the U.S. Positives exist in the current commercial real estate sector, despite widespread negative prognoses, Trimont CEO Bill Sexton says. Nonbank lenders are eager to participate in the sector and are "well equipped" to back more creative strategies, such as repurposing buildings for different uses, Sexton says.

Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy both used self-deprecating humor, which Laurence Stybel and Maryanne Peabody, the co-founders of Stybel Peabody Associates Inc., say can increase likeability and create an emotional bond. However, they warn that someone not in a high position of power should be cautious with such humor because it can backfire and make them less likable.

A number of historic real estate practices in the U.S. have had lasting impacts on Black and Brown communities' ability to participate in the full breadth of wealth-building opportunities that should have been available to them. One lesser-known tactic employed in the Midwest, the North and the South, was the creation of sundown towns.

Some experts say they see little likelihood of a fourth-quarter increase in U.S. consumer spending, despite the interest-rate cut expected this month. Spence Mehl of RCS Real Estate Advisors notes that consumer spending is a lagging economic indicator, and EY chief economist Gregory Daco forecasts that "[h]ouseholds will spend more prudently as labor market conditions and income growth soften further."

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell recently indicated that interest-rate cuts are on the way, and other policymakers have generally supported that view. However, despite Powell's comments about inflation easing without the economy tilting into recession, surveys suggest that many Americans are still concerned about elevated prices.