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Inman Top 10: The biggest stories in the month of September 2021

Redfin, Zillow, TikTok, Twitter, Sean Gotcher and Inman

Catch up quickly on the biggest stories of the month, as determined by Inman website visitors. Here’s this month’s Inman Top 10.

1. 10 smart closing gift ideas that clients will never forget

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By Jimmy Burgess

Jimmy Burgess rounded up his top 10 closing gifts that are working for agents right now (No. 10 is straight from his playbook). They’re highly personalized, memorable, shareable and relationship-cementing.

2. Redfin CEO, Zillow pour cold water on TikToker’s iBuyer theory

By Jim Dalrymple II

A recent viral video suggested iBuyers could jack up the prices of homes. But one expert called the theory “fairly conspiratorial,” and iBuyers themselves said they still have a tiny share of the market.

3. NAR is fighting a losing battle against the feds

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By Brad Inman

Now is the time to unwind the messy set of industry practices at the crux of this fight and bring transparency, fairness and clarity to real estate transactions.

4. Broker sues NAR, claims listing agent omission violates antitrust

Kris Tan / Shutterstock.com

By Andrea V. Brambila

Arizona broker Grady Hillis objects to rules prohibiting listing broker and agent contact information in public remarks and restricting Realtor access to lockboxes.

5. 12 listing photo crimes agents should never commit

By Cara Ameer

If buyers won’t waste their time coming to see your listing based on the photos, you shouldn’t be wasting your time on those photos either. It’s time to step up your listing marketing game, so avoid these 12 photo faux pas that no agent should ever commit, regardless of the market.

6. Largest MLS in nation signs off on slew of big changes to listings

ANDRIK LANGFIELD PETRIDES on Unsplash

By Andrea V. Brambila

California Regional MLS, which boasts more than 108,000 subscribers, has instituted changes on how listing agents and brokers appear on online listing pages.

7. Fall housing outlook: Cooling prices, tighter inventory, less competition

By Lillian Dickerson

As the weather cools, so too will competition and housing prices, experts told Inman for its 2021 Fall Housing Market Outlook. Still, agents can expect inventory to remain tight.

8. 40 winning lead-generation strategies agents are using right now

By Jimmy Burgess

Here’s Jimmy Burgess’ list of 40 buyer and seller lead generation strategies that agents out there are using to win deals right now. In the video, find out why he thinks you should start with the last three.

9. NAR vs. DOJ: A timeline of the battle as it stretches into 4th year

Inman, Getty Images, Chip Somodevilla, REX and NAR

By Andrea V. Brambila

An analysis of the association’s petition offers a step-by-step timeline of the events leading up to the DOJ’s launch of a new probe into NAR rules.

10. Agent swept up in hack canned from brokerage for Holocaust views

Drew Coffman on Unsplash

By Andrea V. Brambila

Joshua Alayon allegedly tried to register a slew of domains such as holocaust-truth.com, theholocaustisfake.com, whitechristianrepublican.com and whitesencyclopedia.com.