Inman News

Meta had a busy few days in AI. The company launched several tools in quick succession and introduced its first paid AI developer tier. Meta also plans to replace 90 percent of its content review staff with AI tools by the end of 2026, the company said. For real estate professionals building an audience on Instagram or Facebook, that’s a reason to have a backup plan if an AI moderation error ever locks you out of an account.

For listing agents, offers are the harvest, what we’ve been working so hard to get throughout the listing period. From prep to marketing to public comments, our focus is on getting offers. Offers open the door to negotiation and get us closer to the reward: getting paid. But what if they don’t meet the seller’s expectations? What happens when you get too many of them at the same time? What happens when we get too many lowball offers on a fixer?

An Intel survey of real estate agents and brokerage leaders conducted in June surfaced broad support nationwide for steps taken by some local MLSs to threaten to cut off their listing feeds to Zillow. But within each market, the appetite among agents for their local MLS to pick a similar fight was somewhat smaller.

For nearly three decades, Inman Connect has been where the residential real estate industry comes together to exchange ideas, challenge assumptions and build relationships that often last an entire career. Some of the most valuable conversations don’t happen during the keynotes. They happen over coffee. In the hallway between sessions. During an introduction that turns into a referral partner, a friendship or even a new business venture.

Congress passed the biggest housing bill in a generation, and no one signed it. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law at midnight Saturday without a signature from President Donald Trump, who let a 10-day constitutional deadline expire in protest of unrelated voting legislation stalled in the Senate, according to NPR. It is an unusual way for a law this size to take effect.

Before REMAX agreed to sell to The Real Brokerage, the legacy real estate brand spent months testing the market for competing offers. New proxy filings tied to the proposed Real-REMAX merger show REMAX contacted nine potential deal partners, signed six nondisclosure agreements, received three initial proposals and ultimately weighed two final bids before choosing Real.

Few conversations are more uncomfortable for real estate agents than asking a seller to reduce the price of their home. We know it may be the right recommendation. We know the market is speaking. But that conversation can just as easily damage trust if it’s not handled with care. Sellers need to know that  we’re not giving up, and they need to trust that a price adjustment is about the market, not about speeding up our commission.

Every Friday, we round up the most popular, most read, most critical stories of the week to give you a quick catchup on the big headlines you might have missed in the hustle and bustle of the workweek. Here’s this week’s Top 5 as chosen by our readers. P.S. Don’t miss The Download, our weekly column that breaks down one of the week’s top stories and equips you with what you’ll need to meet next Monday head-on.

Success isn’t the finish line What happens after you’ve hit your big milestones? For too many, success becomes a ceiling instead of a launchpad. Mauricio Umansky, founder of The Agency, shares how to break through the trap of milestone-driven achievement and expand your vision of growth. Think less about crossing finish lines, more about building the endurance to run the marathon with purpose, clarity and a future that keeps unfolding. Watch now.

A seller who wants privacy over broad exposure has a paperwork trail to follow. The National Association of Realtors published a new guidance document Thursday clarifying agent and broker responsibilities when a seller chooses an office exclusive listing or a pre-marketing option, according to the association. The resource is the sixth that the association has added this year to its facts.realtor library, which explains NAR’s MLS policies.