The lack of a routine work schedule combined with operating in a constant high-pressure state can make even the most optimistic agents feel fatigued. The trick is to take care of yourself and your business in a way that's sustainable and prioritizes your needs.

"How on earth did the appraiser come up with this value?!" Good analytical techniques, data and judgment are all key to accurately appraising a home.

While there is plenty of troubling news about the economy, don't drive yourself to distraction by obsessing over unsettling headlines, writes Kevin Markarian, co-founder of Roopler, a lead-generation platform for real estate professionals. Instead, look for growth potential, with Markarian noting that "whenever the status quo cracks open, opportunities abound."

Otter PR's Alaina Chiappone explains how marketers can craft the most effective value proposition for their brand, which should be based on customer and market research and compel customers to try products or services. "Your messaging across the board is driven by why people should be your customer, and your value proposition summarizes that quickly," Chiappone writes.

The quest for more storage and space for personal enjoyment during the pandemic spurred interest in transforming garages. Nowadays, the sky's the limit on how the garage is used and what it looks like.

Mortgage brokers say there may be extra steps for buyers purchasing a micro-condo, typically less than 500 square feet. "Someone buying a micro-condo tends to be a first-time buyer, so they don't have a huge amount of assets or any leverage with their bank," says Jason Friesen, managing partner with Outline Financial, a Toronto-based mortgage broker.

A realtor.com® survey finds that seller concessions are on the rise as buyers gain bargaining power. "The overheated housing market of the past two years, which predominantly favored sellers, is beginning to regain a sense of normalcy," says George Ratiu, manager of economic research at realtor.com®.

Bank of America is testing the feasibility of no-down-payment mortgages for some first-time home buyers in Black and Hispanic communities as a way to support homeownership. The bank is also using metrics that go beyond credit scores to assess creditworthiness.

The Realtime Inequality tracker developed by economists at the University of California at Berkeley, which gauges how the economy is affecting households across the wealth spectrum, shows that the lower 50% of households have developed the strongest relative financial position in decades. With the growth mainly attributed to improved wages, this group's collective wealth grew by an estimated 2.8% in the first half of the year, while households in the middle 40% wealth bracket were down 4.9% and the top 1% lost more than 10%.

Chris Maher, chairman and CEO of New Jersey's OceanFirst Bank, has called on the industry to end its expectations of federal interest rates to be set at or near zero. "Whether rates go up a little bit, down a little bit or hold flat, we should not be returning to that zero rate scenario. We're going into a period that can be probably a lot more normal than what we've experienced," Maher contends.