This Week in BAM: $5K Tax Credit for First-Time Buyers, How to make $75K GCI from Open Houses and a New IG Follower Metric

For this week in BAM, we’re sharing a couple of our most clicked-on articles in real estate news, agent tactics, and agent marketing. Because we don’t want you to miss anything that could help you stay informed, level up your skills, and grow your business. 

Let’s dive in! 

News You May Have Missed

“Biden Announces $5,000 Mortgage Relief Credit and Incentives to Build More Homes”

In his State of the Union Address on Thursday, March 7, 2024, President Biden announced new housing initiatives to make homeownership more accessible and affordable, including a $5,000 annual tax credit for two years to help first-time homebuyers. Tom Toole and Lisa Chinatti discussed the plan in this week’s episode of the Knowledge Brokers Podcast. 

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“‘Zillow’s Sinking Foundation’: Dissecting Spruce Point Capital’s Strong Sell Report on Zillow”

This week on the Hot Sheet, Byron Lazine broke down Spruce Point Capital’s strong sell report on Zillow, disputing key points in the latter’s argument and calling into question their assessment of a 40% to 60% downside risk to Zillow stock values. 

“Hit or Miss? NAR’s New Consumer Ad Campaign for 2024”

This week on The RealWord, Byron Lazine and Nicole White discussed a couple of TV commercials the National Association of Realtors® released as part of its full consumer ad campaign. 

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“Roundup of 2023 Real Estate Financial Results”

Q4 and full-year 2023 financial results are in for some of the biggest names in real estate.

Agent Tactics

“3 Ways to Prepare Yourself for a Decoupled Commission Environment”

Tom Toole shares three things agents can do to prepare for a decoupled commission environment. 

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“Becoming the Neighborhood Expert: 5 Steps to Choose a Geographical Farm with Confidence”

Katie Lucie shares her roadmap for choosing a geographic farm in five steps.

“How I Made $75K GCI From Open Houses as a New Agent”

Katie Kenny breaks down five things she did as an agent that enabled her to earn $75,000 GCI from open houses alone.

Agent Marketing

“3 Ways to Showcase Proof of Business (Without Being Cringey)”

Lindsey Jo shares three brilliant ideas for showcasing proof of business without resorting to “just listed” and “just sold” posts. 

“Instagram’s New Follower Metric”

Krys Benyamein shows how to leverage Instagram’s new eye-opening follower metric.