Realtors step up as Louisiana recovers from massive flooding

Home sales take a hit as low inventory keeps prices heading upward

And regulators are looking at smart home devices

These stories and more on The Voice for Real Estate

Hi, I’m Stephen Gasque of the National Association of Realtors.

Flood waters have receded in southern Louisiana, but in their wake they’ve left more than 60,000 homes and commercial properties damaged. As they do whenever a major disaster hits our country, Realtors are rolling up their sleeves and helping out. And they’re donating money, too, to help Realtors and others as they try to rebuild their lives. In the days after the flooding, REALTORS from around the country offered assistance. And now, the REALTORS Relief Foundation has announced it will provide up to $350,000 in donations to REALTORS and others in southern Louisiana who have been affected. You can help by going online, to the Realtors Relief Foundation and making a donation with just a few clicks.

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After months of steady increases, home sales hit a wall last month, sinking back 3.2 percent to a sales pace of 5.39 million units. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun says the continuing shortage of homes for sale in many parts of the country is causing the slowdown.

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Even with the pause, sales are expected to end the year at a level significantly above last year’s.

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Imagine listing a home for sale in which the air conditioner, refrigerator, and other appliances are connected to the internet – and so is all the data they generate! That is a smart home – and many consider that to be the wave of the future.

And without a doubt, that smart home tech will influence how you market the property and how potential buyers remember it. That’s why NAR’s Center for Realtor Technology created CRT Labs. It’s a new resource – that tests products and helps companies develop smart home technologies – that give homeowners useful information about their home while protecting data privacy and security. It’s also why NAR is closely monitoring the federal government’s effort to develop standards and regulations for the so-called Internet of Things. The Internet of Things refers to the way companies are creating Internet connections for and collecting data on products we use every day, from appliances to high-performance sports clothing! A lot of promise—but also some concern as well. Here’s NAR’s Melanie Wyne to talk about NAR’s focus now that the Internet of Things is moving from concept to reality in our homes and also in commercial properties.

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We’ll keep you up to date as the federal government develops its rules and standards for the Internet of Things. In the meantime, you can learn more by reading REALTOR Magazine’s article “Real Estate and the Internet of Things” and watching the magazine’s video on CRT’s smart-home technology lab.

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A big development on drones last week. Federal Aviation Administration rules took effect August 29^th that make drones easier to use – commercially. That means you now have a clear path to start using drones in your real estate marketing. Here’s how Chris Grayson, a broker associate at Baird & Warner Real Estate in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, is using drones to market a home she has listed for sale.

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Grayson appears in the new Realtor Magazine video, “Eye in the Sky: Smart Marketing With Drones.”

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More than fifteen hundred state and local REALTOR association executives and incoming presidents met in Chicago last week for NAR’s Leadership Summit. On the agenda: ideas for leading their associations next year. Here’s NAR President-elect Bill Brown, who hosted the summit, on how REALTORS must lead a revolution to ensure you stay prepared for the future.

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You can access videos and presentations from the summit online.

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In the last year, thousands of Realtors in hundreds of communities have helped children by getting involved in their local Boys & Girls Clubs. It’s made a world of difference for many, and the people who serve Realtors at the National Association of Realtors have gotten involved, too. Hundreds of NAR employees, in Chicago and Washington donated backpacks and school supplies and handed them out to disadvantaged kids locally.

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Employees at Realtor.com and at NAR-owned SentriLock, participated in their own back-to-school backpack drive.

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And that’s our show for the week of August 29. You can get more on everything we talked about at The Voice for Real Estate page on nar.realtor. Thank you for joining us and we hope you can join us again when we bring you the latest news on The Voice for Real Estate.