rismedia digital magazine december 2020

RISMedia’s December Digital Magazine

rismedia digital magazine december 2020 At McKissock Learning, we want our customers to have all the resources they need to be successful in real estate. That’s why we’ve teamed up with RISMedia, the leading provider of the most relevant and up-to-date information related to the residential real estate market.

As their Strategic Education Partner, we are able to give our customers free access to the digital edition of the RISMedia monthly magazine.

This real estate magazine is full of thought-provoking and valuable content that prospective and licensed agents of all years of experience can apply to their careers. Here’s a brief overview of what you will find in this month’s edition.

Cover Story

The Future of Mortgage Visibility Is in Your Hands

This month’s cover story by Paige Tepping describes how Rocket Pro Insight by Rocket Mortgage “is changing the game and helping real estate agents enhance their business.”

“Providing unprecedented visibility into the mortgage process…the new product offers agents real-time updates on the status of their clients’ mortgages. They’re now able to see where each loan is in the process, the terms of their clients’ loans, whether additional documentation is needed and when it will close—all from a website and mobile app.”

Read the full article on page 30 of the digital magazine.

Industry News

Foreclosures Are On the Rise Monthly, But Lower Year Over Year

This piece, written by RISMedia staff, reports, “According to ATTOM Data Solutions, foreclosure filings were up 20 percent month-over-month in October. For the month, there were a total of 11,673 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings.” However, the good news is that overall foreclosure actions are down by nearly 80 percent compared to last year.

According to the article, the states that had the highest number of REOs filed in October were Alabama, Florida, California, Texas, and Pennsylvania.

“It’s probably not a surprise that almost all of the metro areas where foreclosure activity increased on a month-over-month basis are also places where unemployment rates are higher than the national average, and in many cases, have been hotspots of COVID-19 infections,” notes Rick Sharga, executive vice president of RealtyTrac. “Still, it’s important to keep the numbers in context,” he says.

Read the full article on page 69 of the digital magazine.

Free Guide: Get actionable tips and strategies for how to increase your annual income in our free Real Estate Income Guide.

Policy News

Pandemic Proves Value of NAR’s Vision for the GSEs

In this column, Bernard Fulton, NAR’s senior policy representative for financial services, explains the GSEs’ “importance to the housing market and overall economy in the wake of this pandemic.”

“By moving to buy mortgages in forbearance, providing flexibilities on appraisals and ensuring the availability of affordable payment plans after forbearance, among other measures,” he writes, “the GSEs proved this.”

Fulton also discusses the role of the FHFA as well as the NAR’s proposal for market utilities, under which “the GSEs would be re-chartered as privately-held utilities that pay dividends but remain subject to government oversight,” arguing that this is “the only rational future for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

Read the full article on page 13 of the digital magazine.

Real Estate Tips and Stories

3 Steps to Take Now For a Successful 2021

This piece, written by our sister school Colibri Real Estate, lays out three things you can do right now to increase your chances of success in the new year.

They recommend specific ways in which you can improve your efficiency, master your virtual property offerings, and up your content marketing and thought leadership game in preparation for 2021.

Read the full article on page 26 of the digital magazine.

Achieving a 90-Percent Referral Rate

“Having a steady stream of repeat clients, solid referrals and little to no cold-calling is not only a recipe for a successful career, it typically makes for a much more enjoyable one as well,” says national real estate coach Sherri Johnson.

In this article, Johnson provides five tips “that have been proven to help agents earn annual sales of $50-200 million and higher, all by referral.”

Read the full article on page 86 of the digital magazine.