Dan Asher, Designated Managing Broker at Baird & Warner - Glen Ellyn

11/10/2025

Waking up to news that significant progress was made towards ending the government shutdown had me thinking about what typically happens in real estate after a shutdown is ended. This chart shows what happened after the last extended shutdown, which resulted in a significant jump in sales after the shutdown concluded.

11/04/2025

More deals are falling through currently before they reach closing. Recent data suggests that 15% of pending contracts are falling through, which is up from 12% between 2017-2019. This means that approximately 1 out of every 7 deals today end up cancelling. The main cause for this, by a large margin, is a result of the home inspection and home repair issues. Since inspections have always been around, why are inspections now causing more issues than we’ve typically seen in the past? This is likely due to a multitude of reasons, which can include some buyers being stretched financially because of current interest rates and prices, potential buyer’s remorse due to more inventory in many markets and a large percentage of buyers today are looking for a home that is truly move-in ready and they don’t want to make repairs after closing. So, what do you do with this information? You can strategize before you list your home and make sure you have addressed issues that are going to come up during the inspection ahead of time. There are also times when a pre-listing inspection makes sense as well, although this is situational and depends on the specifics of your situation and goals.

10/29/2025

You’ve probably seen headlines saying home prices are flat. But that’s not the full story.

In half of the largest U.S. metros, prices are still rising. In the other half, they’re easing a bit. Average those together and the numbers look flat, but what’s really happening depends entirely on where you live.

That’s why knowing your local trend is everything.

10/27/2025

08/14/2025

Everyone’s waiting for rates to fall. And according to NAR, the magic number they're hoping for is 6%. But is that number on the horizon?

Most forecasts say rates will stay in the mid-to-low sixes through the end of next year. But right after the latest weaker than expected jobs report, rates hit their lowest point so far this year (6.55%). And that sparked hope they’re on their way down.

Ultimately, what happens from here all depends on the next round of economic reports. As of right now, experts agree a big drop isn’t expected, but small changes are possible. Here’s what to watch.

When rates do fall to 6%, it could unlock 5.5 million more buyers.