{"id":1438,"date":"2018-10-05T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T02:22:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T02:22:49","slug":"the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>A few observations on new competition, cost of agent retention and more<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>The gross margin for the&nbsp;average brokerage firm in the United&nbsp;States,&nbsp;as of June 30, 2018, has declined to 15 percent\u2014down from 22 percent five years ago.&nbsp;While traditional brokerage firm&nbsp;gross&nbsp;commission,&nbsp;whether independent or franchised, is still&nbsp;nearly 21 percent,&nbsp;those firms&nbsp;have also declined proportionately over that period. It&nbsp;appears that this trend is accelerating downward&nbsp;in many regions of the country.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h1><strong>Agent Consolidation is Here<\/strong><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>The nearly 15,000 agents and teams represented on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/rankings\/americas-best\">REAL Trends America\u2019s Best Real Estate Agents <\/a>rankings from the calendar&nbsp;year 2017 represented about 1.5 percent of all Realtors\u00ae in the United States, nearly 11 percent&nbsp;of the&nbsp;transactions&nbsp;sides and a stunning 23 percent&nbsp;of all the closed sales volume last year. Consolidation among fewer agents is not coming; it\u2019s here now.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>New Business Models<\/strong><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>New forms of competition are driving the cost of agent retention to new heights and offering lower caps to agents and teams across the country. Firms such as <a href=\"compass-raises-400-million\/\">Compass<\/a>,&nbsp;eXp, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.joinreal.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">REAL<\/a>, Fathom, JP&nbsp;Piccinini&nbsp;and others are offering a widening variety of operating formats than ever before. Some of them are better funded than any new competitors in recent memory.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Core Services Margins Decreasing<\/strong><strong>, Housing Stalled<\/strong><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Margins in several related core services,&nbsp;such as mortgage and title,&nbsp;are decreasing making the growth in earnings from&nbsp;these endeavors more difficult.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Existing and new homes sales growth has stalled.&nbsp;In most months of 2018, existing homes sales have fallen below the rate&nbsp;of the same month a year ago.&nbsp;Price increases remain, and total sales&nbsp;volumes are mostly increasing,&nbsp;but even these are not making up for the continued&nbsp;downward pressure on commission rates.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So, there is a confluence of events&nbsp;that&nbsp;make this among the most challenging&nbsp;brokerage environment we\u2019ve ever seen.&nbsp;Apart from the housing and economic recession of 2006-2010, these may be the most challenging times ever for the brokerage industry.&nbsp;The business will survive,&nbsp;but what it looks like going forward may be far different than what it has looked like in the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few observations on new competition, cost of agent retention and more&nbsp; The gross margin for the&nbsp;average brokerage firm in the United&nbsp;States,&nbsp;as of June 30, 2018, has declined to 15 percent\u2014down from 22 percent five years ago.&nbsp;While traditional brokerage firm&nbsp;gross&nbsp;commission,&nbsp;whether independent or franchised, is still&nbsp;nearly 21 percent,&nbsp;those firms&nbsp;have also declined proportionately over that period. It&nbsp;appears [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15802,"featured_media":4822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u00a0Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0A few observations on new competition, cost of agent retention and more\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u00a0Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0A few observations on new competition, cost of agent retention and more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RealTrends - Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tracey Velt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@traceyveltFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tracey Velt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tracey Velt\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/db05dddc94c61082eaa18f2f5e66c788\"},\"headline\":\"\u00a0Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-05T07:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-13T02:22:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/\"},\"wordCount\":402,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Archive\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#respond\"]}],\"isAccessibleForFree\":\"False\",\"hasPart\":{\"@type\":\"WebPageElement\",\"isAccessibleForFree\":\"False\",\"cssSelector\":\".wp-block-housingwire-piano-member\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/\",\"name\":\"\u00a0Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-05T07:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-13T02:22:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0A few observations on new competition, cost of agent retention and more\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u00a0Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"RealTrends - Blog\",\"description\":\"Empowering Real Estate Decisions with Trusted Insights.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"RealTrends - Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/cropped-RTV_Horizontal_logo_Blue.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/cropped-RTV_Horizontal_logo_Blue.png\",\"width\":2321,\"height\":227,\"caption\":\"RealTrends - Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/db05dddc94c61082eaa18f2f5e66c788\",\"name\":\"Tracey Velt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/9b3cf1be6b1fb876ab0bd60ce0a485d0\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae51367450666ac65e816c5ed48f71a6aebe0ed43ea74c1f16500d37c0efc141?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae51367450666ac65e816c5ed48f71a6aebe0ed43ea74c1f16500d37c0efc141?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tracey Velt\"},\"description\":\"Tracey Velt is the Senior Director of Data &amp; Content. She is the host of the popular RealTrending podcast, manages content for the real estate team and The Gathering and leads editorial and sponsored research across the HW Media brands. Tracey has more than 25 years of experience writing and editing for the real estate industry and is the former editor in chief of Florida Realtor magazine. She resides in Florida.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/traceyvelt\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/traceyveltFL\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/author\/tracey-velt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u00a0Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0","description":"Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0A few observations on new competition, cost of agent retention and more","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u00a0Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0","og_description":"Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0A few observations on new competition, cost of agent retention and more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/","og_site_name":"RealTrends - Blog","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Tracey Velt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@traceyveltFL","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tracey Velt","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/"},"author":{"name":"Tracey Velt","@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/db05dddc94c61082eaa18f2f5e66c788"},"headline":"\u00a0Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0","datePublished":"2018-10-05T07:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-13T02:22:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/"},"wordCount":402,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d.png","articleSection":["Archive"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#respond"]}],"isAccessibleForFree":"False","hasPart":{"@type":"WebPageElement","isAccessibleForFree":"False","cssSelector":".wp-block-housingwire-piano-member"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/","url":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/","name":"\u00a0Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d.png","datePublished":"2018-10-05T07:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-13T02:22:49+00:00","description":"Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0A few observations on new competition, cost of agent retention and more","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d.png","width":1200,"height":675,"caption":"9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/05\/the-looming-challenges-of-brokerage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u00a0Has the Day of Reckoning Arrived?\u00a0The Looming Challenges of Brokerage\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/","name":"RealTrends - Blog","description":"Empowering Real Estate Decisions with Trusted Insights.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"RealTrends - Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/cropped-RTV_Horizontal_logo_Blue.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/cropped-RTV_Horizontal_logo_Blue.png","width":2321,"height":227,"caption":"RealTrends - Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/db05dddc94c61082eaa18f2f5e66c788","name":"Tracey Velt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/9b3cf1be6b1fb876ab0bd60ce0a485d0","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae51367450666ac65e816c5ed48f71a6aebe0ed43ea74c1f16500d37c0efc141?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae51367450666ac65e816c5ed48f71a6aebe0ed43ea74c1f16500d37c0efc141?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tracey Velt"},"description":"Tracey Velt is the Senior Director of Data &amp; Content. She is the host of the popular RealTrending podcast, manages content for the real estate team and The Gathering and leads editorial and sponsored research across the HW Media brands. Tracey has more than 25 years of experience writing and editing for the real estate industry and is the former editor in chief of Florida Realtor magazine. She resides in Florida.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/traceyvelt\/","https:\/\/x.com\/traceyveltFL"],"url":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/author\/tracey-velt\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/9ced5ef4-69ab-4ba7-a7cd-ec49be7b274d.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6225,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438\/revisions\/6225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1438"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtrends.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}