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The Latest News from WFG National Title Company
ryantate
163
WFG News
January 30, 2015

Fed affirms plans for rate liftoff, but mortgages are another story

First the facts, then the ponderables. Long-term U.S. interest rates fell again today, now to a 20-month low. The 10-year T-note broke through the 1.7 percent prior low to 1.66 percent, down from 1.85 percent on Monday and from 2.3 percent in Christmas week. Meanwhile, on Wednesday the Fed affirmed…
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117
WFG News
January 30, 2015

How to break into luxury real estate

NEW YORK — The path to becoming a “luxury agent” isn’t always a long and arduous journey. Sometimes agents can take a quantum leap into the niche. Diane Ramirez, CEO, Halstead Property That’s what happened with one greenhorn that Diane Ramirez, CEO of New York City-area brokerage Halstead Property, hired in the…
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117
WFG News
January 30, 2015

Florida Realtors have new CEO, mum on predecessor’s departure

The 140,000 members of Florida’s statewide Realtor association are getting a new CEO — Michigan Realtors CEO Bill Martin — but leaders of the Florida association are saying little about the departure of his predecessor, John Fridlington, who worked for the association for a decade and was named CEO in…
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117
WFG News
January 30, 2015

How to convert like a tech startup

NEW YORK — Lead conversion is a complicated art, but technology is making it easier to engage consumers and increase the chances they’ll turn into business. Jonathan Aizen, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Amitree Inc., maker of a tool that walks consumers through the homebuying process and helps brokers and…
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191
WFG News
January 30, 2015

Chief economists mostly bullish on 2015 housing market

NEW YORK — Four chief economists from some of the nation’s most popular real estate websites are optimistic about the housing market this year, citing an expected increase in home sales, and low mortgage rates and oil prices leaving more money in consumers’ pockets. Still, low inventory, decreasing home affordability…
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150
WFG News
January 30, 2015

Handling client expectations in an era of open real estate data

Real estate professionals are operating in an unprecedented time. Our clients now have access to more information than ever before. Today, by the time clients contact an agent to set up showings, it’s more than likely that they’ve already spent hours online researching neighborhoods and properties. We are no longer…
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118
WFG News
January 30, 2015

10 smoking-hot real estate web design trends

Web design is a faced-paced industry, and we often see big trends come and go. But many of the web design trends we’ve seen rising in the last few years are still around, and more new trends are emerging in 2015. Here are 10 trends that will likely dominate the…
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170
WFG News
January 30, 2015

Love it or hate it, Zillow is here to stay

Love it or hate it, Zillow is not going anywhere. Even with ListHub cutting off its feed, Zillow’s business will not suffer. In fact, it could probably make the portal even more trustworthy in the consumer’s eyes. I posted a simple question to my Facebook wall the other day, and…
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153
WFG News
January 30, 2015

Scott Strevell: ‘Local content produces our best results’

Age: 53 Years in real estate: 32 Job title: Broker associate at KC Homes 365 Team with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Kansas City Realty Location: Kansas City, specializing in Johnson County Hours per week spent on social media: Less than one hour per day, but working on increasing our presence on the…
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136
WFG News
January 30, 2015

Radical innovation is coming to real estate. Will you survive it?

Webster’s Dictionary defines innovation as “the act of introducing something new.” That’s weak. Someone could introduce a new shape of marshmallow into the market, but it creates little change. So let’s redefine the word. There are two levels of innovation, the first being “incremental innovation — new, but not lethal.”…
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