This Fourth of July, find out the areas of the country seeing the highest ownership rates among active-duty service members and veterans.

Since offers of compensation may no longer be communicated on an MLS, it should not have any functionality related to broker compensation. As for filtering based on listing firm or listing agent, just like the inability of MLS participants or subscribers to withhold listings based on those criteria in IDX and VOW displays, MLSs cannot enable that same ability within other MLS functions that provide listing data to consumers. An MLS must take appropriate action if it becomes aware that a participant or subscriber acts inconsistently with this MLS policy. Get more facts about NAR's proposed settlement agreement at facts.realtor.

An experienced team working behind-the-scenes can help brokers help their agents navigate a typical sales process that can be complex and time-consuming.

When sales deals hit a wall, take a moment to analyze the reasons behind customer reluctance by understanding customer timelines and company priorities, advises Ben Kassiff, a sales director for HubSpot. "A lot of the time, a sale starts at 'no', but you need to work through a 'maybe' in order to get there," Kassiff writes.

From creating an "answer economy" to giving ecommerce customers more power, AI has transcended silos to start transforming the marketing industry. BrandRank.AI CEO Pete Blackshaw examines 10 of those changes and the best ways companies can adapt to meet them.

Sales of Manhattan co-ops and condos rose 12.2% in the three months through June compared to the same period last year—a jump driven by buyers who have grown tired of waiting for mortgage rates to fall, according to Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The properties are trading at a median price of $1.18 million, which is slightly less than a year ago, but still close to a record.

Virtual inspections, using high-definition 360-degree cameras and VR headsets, allow agents to showcase properties remotely. This can be a time-saver for agents and clients and potentially reach a wider audience.

Home affordability in the U.S. has plummeted to its lowest level since 2007, with average wage earners now spending 35.1% of their income on home-related expenses. The figure, reported by Attom, represents a significant increase from 32.1% last year and is driven by rising mortgage rates, which currently hover around 7%, and a spike in median home prices to a record $360,000. The persistent shortage of home listings is exacerbating the issue, making homeownership less attainable across many U.S. markets.

Senior housing development is lagging amid skyrocketing demand and by 2030 there is expected to be a $275 billion investment shortage, according to NIC MAP Vision. "We simply don't have enough senior housing inventory in the pipeline, so we must act now to develop senior housing to help meet this demand," said CEO Arick Morton.

Economists and Federal Reserve officials are growing increasingly concerned about the U.S. labor market. Unemployment is rising, indicating a potential end to the tight labor conditions seen during the pandemic recovery. And while hiring remains strong, there are fears that further softening could impact economic growth. "Any change in the outlook for the labor market could have significant implications for the direction of the economy and monetary policy," said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. "If there is one thing we know for sure, it is that conditions change very quickly."

In observance of Independence Day in the US, SmartBrief will not publish Thursday, July 4.