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Realtor.com Launches Enhanced Listing Intelligence for Agents
In a cooling housing market, real estate professionals may find they have to work harder to win a listing and make a sale. New enhanced listing intelligence features from Realtor.com put predictive insights from listings at agents' fingertips, making it easier for agents to demonstrate their value and knowledge of local market conditions, amplify their marketing tactics for their clients, and close deals. Millions of homeshoppers visit Realtor.com each month. Understanding how these buyers are searching in a local market can be a valuable resource and powerful selling tool for agents in today's shifting market. With the new suite of features, real estate professionals now have access to valuable listing intelligence, including: Buyer info: See the total number of potential buyers in their local market on Realtor.com and those who've submitted inquiries on the site with a budget range that matches the listing. Buyer demand: View the top three ZIP codes from which a listing's buyer interest is coming on Realtor.com. Moreover, the new features share the percentage of Realtor.com listing traffic coming from within the listing's city, the listing's state, other states, and internationally. Listing completeness: Gain insights about how complete their property listing is and suggestions for improving it with additional photos or listing description information. Performance score: Understand a property listing's performance and how it's attracting and engaging potential buyers compared to similar listings in that price range and ZIP code on Realtor.com. Market trends: See local market trends seen across Realtor.com, including median days on market, median list price, total number of homes with price reductions, and more. According to a recent consumer survey from Realtor.com, nearly 9 out of 10 home sellers worked with an agent to list their home for sale. Agents and brokers can use Realtor.com's advanced listing intelligence features to help convert leads into clients with market intelligence and trends insights, as well as to help inform and manage seller expectations. Agents can also use the intelligence solutions to keep their homeowner clients informed and engaged throughout the selling process with automated, personalized and customizable reports about their home's performance. The report also provides sellers with insights about recent trends in their local market that have been seen across Realtor.com, such as median days on market, median list price of homes, the percentage of homes with price reductions, and more. Real estate professionals can access the new listing intelligence features at no cost from the Listing Manager section of their Realtor.com Pro Dashboard. Learn more

Tips for Buyers on Choosing Their Next Neighborhood
Have buyer clients that need clear strategies for choosing a new neighborhood? Share this article with them to help them learn how to narrow down the best area for their unique needs. Deciding to move and buying a house can be a stressful, yet exciting process. One of the biggest decisions you'll make when beginning your home search is where you will live. After you decide on the location of your new home, it's time to pick your new neighborhood. Picking your new neighborhood can be tough, especially if you have a family. It's important choose the safest and most practical neighborhood with something for everyone! Neighborhood Safety The first and most important thing to consider when choosing your next neighborhood is the overall safety of the area. At Homes.com, we know the importance of safety, so we have created the "Scores" section on every listing details page of every home for sale or rent.  On the "Scores" section, you can see the Walk Score, Sound Score, Transit Score, and Bike Score.  How Walkable Is the Neighborhood? To find the "Scores" section, go to any property listing details page and scroll past the "Transit" section. Once you get to the "Scores" section, you will see the Walk Score. The Walk Score tells you the walkability of the address and gives you a score out of 100. According to Walkscore.com, a score from 0-20 and 25-49 means Car-Dependent, 50-69 means Somewhat Walkable, 70-89 means Very Walkable, and 90-100 means Walker's Paradise. Even though a Walk Score below 59 seems low, if the score is between 25-49, your family may still be able to walk around the neighborhood, but you won't be able to run errands on foot. If you want an area that's more friendly to walkers, try to find a home in an area that has a walk score above 50. How Loud Is It? To learn about how loud your neighborhood will be, check the Sound Score. Below the Walk Score, you will see the Sound Score. The Sound Score tells you about the outside noise level at the address. The scale for the Sound Score is from 0 to 100. Zero is very loud, and 100 is very quiet. Getting a good night's rest, no matter who you are, is important, so if you are concerned about the sound near your home, it's best to choose a home with a sound score between 70 and 100. Is There Transit Nearby? To check on nearby transit for you and your family, check the Transit Score. You should see the Transit Score to the right of the Walk and Sound Score on the listing details page. The Transit Score tells you how close the address is to nearby public transit, and the scale is from 0 to 100. According to Walkscore.com, a score from 0-24 means Minimal Transit, 25-49 means Some Transit, 50-69 means Good Transit, 70-89 means Excellent Transit, and 90-100 means Rider's Paradise. Using public transit is not only an environmentally conscious decision, but it's a more affordable option than using a car every day. If you want to ensure that your new neighborhood has as many public transportation options as possible, pick a home that has a Transit Score above 50.  Is It Safe to Ride a Bike? To learn about how safe it is to ride bikes in the neighborhood, check out the Bike Score. The last part of the "Scores" section is the Bike Score section, located below Transit Score. According to Walkscore.com, the scale is 0 to 100. A score of 0-49 means Somewhat Bikeable, 50-69 means Bikeable, 70-89 means Very Bikeable, and 90-100 means Biker's Paradise. If you and your family enjoy riding your bikes together, you should look for a home with a Bike Score of at least 50 and above to ensure all of your rides are as safe as possible.   Streetlights Next, look around and see how many streetlights will be near your new home. At night, a few streetlights will help you and your family feel safer. If you see streetlights on your street but they don't come on at night, you might be required to pay a small monthly fee to your power company to keep the lights on. This sometimes occurs in areas outside the city limits. Crime Rates Finally, to get the best idea of the safety in your new neighborhood, you should check out the crime in the area. On City Protect, you can check out the nearest law enforcement agencies and see the incidents happening near the neighborhood. You can also sign up for incident updates to always be in the know and protect your family. Commute to Work Another big consideration you need to make before choosing your next neighborhood is your daily commute to work. You may find a neighborhood you love, but the commute may be over an hour to and from, and that commute could be even longer depending on traffic. Therefore, you should put the home and work addresses into Google Maps to see how long the commute will be. If the commute seems too far, you should pick a neighborhood closer to work.  Schools If you have kids, you'll likely want to check out the schools in the neighborhood you are considering. We have created the "Schools" section on every listing details page. The "Schools" section is below the "Request a Tour" section. Typically, each listing has four schools listed. With each school, you will learn its score out of 10, whether it's elementary, middle, or high school, if the school is public, private, or charter, and how long of a car ride or walk it is from that address. Homes.com gets their school's scores from greatschools.org. Greatschools.org is a website where you can search by the address or name of the school and check out the overall ranking of schools and their test scores. By learning the most about the schools in the area, you can be sure that you are sending your children to the best schools available. Amenities Nearby You might also want to consider the amenities you would like your neighborhood to have, whether it's a park, pool, gym, or restaurant. Determine what kind of amenities would be best for you and your family to enjoy. To find out more about your new neighborhood's amenities, scroll down to the "Parks and Recreation" section or the "Property Details" section on the listing details page. Having these amenities is fun for the whole family and a great resource when making new friends in your neighborhood.   Engagement Speaking of making new friends, you may want to consider the engagement of your neighborhood. Some neighborhoods host group events such as block parties around the holidays. If you and your family enjoy these types of activities, then try and find a neighborhood with a community that engages with one another. Most neighbors that have a lot of engagement usually have an HOA. An HOA is a homeowners' association that charges monthly fees to residents to maintain the neighborhood and keep engagement high. To learn more about HOAs, check out our article, What Is an HOA, or Homeowners Association? Hopefully now you know how to pick the safest and most comfortable neighborhood for you and your family. And if you ever get stuck, Homes.com is here with our Search feature to help you find the perfect home! To view the original article, visit the Homes.com

New Realtor.com Buying Power Tool Shows What Homes Are Affordable Based on the Buyer's Finances
With interest rates constantly changing and home prices at all-time highs, understanding what you can afford has never been more important. To give buyers a more objective view of their budget, Realtor.com has introduced a new buying power tool to help home shoppers see whether a specific home is "affordable," "a stretch," "difficult" or "out of reach." It uses a home a shopper's specific financial details, current mortgage rates, taxes, insurance and HOA fees to determine if the monthly payments will be comfortable. Buying power labels now appear directly on home listings on Realtor.com, making Realtor.com the first national home search site where shoppers can filter their search by selecting their desired affordability range. Recent Realtor.com surveys found that more than two-thirds (68%) of shoppers were surprised by what they could actually afford for their first home. Additionally, 32% of recent buyers found it difficult to understand how changing mortgage rates affected their monthly payments and 62% were surprised by closing costs. Realtor.com's affordability calculator and buying power tool can help prevent these unhappy surprises during the home buying process. "There is nothing more disappointing than falling in love with a home only to realize that you can't afford it, and nothing more exciting than realizing you can afford that dream home. However, there are many factors that go into affordability," said Colleen Coyle, vice president, product management, Realtor.com. "We introduced this tool to help shoppers better understand how much home they can afford and if specific homes fit their budget given their personal financial situation. This tool is especially important right now with rising interest rates – which can add hundreds of dollars to monthly payments and impact buying power." A home's affordability is more than just the asking price. Many first-time home buyers don't realize the added costs of things such as HOA fees, taxes and insurance, not to mention closing costs, which can really add up. Realtor.com's new buying power features give home shoppers the opportunity to input their monthly income, debt payments and savings to determine their budget. Users can save this information to their buyer profile and then search only for homes that fit that budget. To calculate buying power, buyers can visit the Realtor.com affordability calculator and enter their income, monthly debt payments and available funds. By saving this information to their profile, listings on Realtor.com will include an affordability label – "affordable," "a stretch," "difficult" or "out of reach." Users can also filter their search by homes that are within their desired affordability range. Learn more