What is the best resource to pull market reports?

I\'ve been using RPR. It is a collection of data from HAR and national databases. It is available to all NAR members as part of membership.\n\nhttp://www.narrpr.com/\n\n

What type of classes have the most impact on your business the first year?

Norka, HAR has a great ones! My favorite (and the most impactful, by far) has to be the REALTOR LAUNCH course! It goes over so many different aspects of the real estate profession, and teaches you how to run your business like a business. It goes over multiple ideas for marketing, buyer\'s agent necessities, what type of person you are versus others in the business, insurance, title, inspections, and so much more! Highly recommend it!

I have a relocating buyer viewing 27 homes and I have manually sorted our selection based on neighborhoods/subdivision. However, I had to do this manually. The HAR app (once a folder has been created for your client) does not allow for you to sort by subdivision.

Norka, this is a great question! I have 2 favorite apps! The first is \"Waze\", it shows real time traffic, best routes, allows you to sent drives to your clients, etc. The second, allows me to plan a route ahead of time more accurately. It\'s called \"inRoute.\" Waze was 99 cents when I got it, inRoute was free and both are totally worth using space on my phone! You\'ll find the best information in the app store on your phone!

If I have a client that has done significant improvements to their property, is there a source that can be utilized to calculate adjustments to the listing price. For example, if a client paid $50K on a kitchen remodel, what can they expect on return should they decide to sell?

Norka, just as a home is worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it, so too are it\'s upgrades. Renovations will not only carry different weight from area to area, but also from appraiser to appraiser, and consumer to consumer. You just never can tell. I would give the sellers my opinion (CMA) based upon the most comparable properties, i.e. the properties with similar updates in which case this would be a non-issue. If that is not possible, I would give them the analysis bases solely on the property before upgrades, then explain to them that there is no \"set\" return on investment for upgrades and inform them that they want to be careful not to price their home out of the market. Next I would ask them what monetary value they believe their upgrades add to the price. From that point you can decide if they are being reasonable with their expectations or not. Lastly, advise them that through showings and open houses, you will get consumer feedback on what they think about the home\'s value with all of the upgrades and let them decide whether to lower the price from there or not. The article I included below is from REALTOR magazine\'s national average estimate on rate of return for certain upgrades. This could potentially help, but at the end of the day, the market, and an appraiser will give you your final answer. I wish you great success!

I work with a community bank moving into the Houston market and want to try and fill in any white space that realtors have identified in the mortgage market. What is the industry missing that we can provide?

Renovation loans are a great opportunity for buyers right now. Buyers should consider the FHA (203k) product or a conventional purchase & renovate mortgage loan. Buyers can take a home that has been overlooked on the market and with patience and in time make necessary improvements to make it their own.