From bidets to smart toilets, the bathroom is getting a tech upgrade that makes life more convenient and a little less germy.

Real estate company Windermere is adjusting its marketing strategy to focus on influencer-based messaging and digital media, a shift from its previous strategy of television advertising. "We're putting a human face on it from the influencer POV to talk about what home means to them," said Julie Dey, Windermere's chief marketing officer.

Consultative selling, which involves developing relationships with customers, involves an in-depth knowledge of your customers' requirements, writes Ben Taylor. Ask basic questions, offer insights and let customer feedback guide the conversation, Taylor writes.

Account-based marketing—"really focusing on a target piece of business and doing everything you can to win it"—is a useful tool for keeping sales and marketing on the same page, Sales Director Elissa Nauful for The Center for Sales Strategy explains in a podcast. Nauful talks about the benefits and challenges of ABM and shares how to target the right accounts.

Borrowing costs are decreasing as home sales are rising, which bodes well for a potentially active spring market.

Experts have said during a roundtable discussion they expect the housing market to recover slowly from the effect of rising interest rates and economic uncertainty. "It's going to be a tough spring selling season; maybe better than expectations but still pretty tough," Moody's Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi says.

Julie Teets, whose daughter died in a hospital, imagines a place where families can have more privacy and comfort as they say goodbye to terminally ill loved ones.

Giving your house a good "spring cleaning" does more than declutter your space, it enhances mental health by creating both a sense of calm and a new feeling of energy that comes with a clean, organized space, experts say. "There's a peace of mind from having an aesthetically pleasing place to wake up in and return to at the end of your workday, or, if you're working from home, just to have your workday feel smooth and organized and put together," says clinical psychologist Dawn Potter.

New York's rent-stabilized buildings have seen operating income drop in recent years, a decrease attributed to regulations and the coronavirus pandemic. "The Rent Guidelines Board must ensure they use this data, along with the data in the upcoming reports, to set a sustainable rent adjustment that will keep this critical housing stock on the market and ensure the future of an affordable housing supply in the city," says Jay Martin, executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program.

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank poses uncertainty around funding for construction tech startups and green tech investments, creating concerns for the HVAC sector's sustainability efforts. The collapses of SVB and Signature Bank and turmoil at First Republic Bank and other institutions also are causing worries over commercial real estate financing.