Finally, more hours of daylight have arrived as we all enter the first weeks of the bustling spring real estate season!

The 2024 selling season is poised to be a dynamic, yet healthier market. Whether the sweet spot for sellers

Finally, more hours of daylight have arrived as we all enter the first weeks of the bustling spring real estate season!

The 2024 selling season is poised to be a dynamic, yet healthier market. Whether the sweet spot for sellers arrives alongside lower mortgage rates, an influx of renters transitioning to homeownership, the demographic shift of folks looking to downsize, or more incentives from new construction, all remains to be seen.

The good news is that it’s off to a strong start and there’s a great chance it will carry through in the coming weeks and months. Now’s the prime opportunity to prepare for all the possibilities the spring selling season holds, so you can stay ahead—and even grow your business.

Get a jump start with these simple ideas.

Grow your real estate business this spring

1. Know your market

Whether you’re north, south, east, or west— real estate’s spring rush arrival varies regionally. We don’t mean larger geographical regions, but rather the pockets of activity and behaviors within your own city and neighborhood. Understanding the unique trends and "hot pockets" in your area allows you to target your efforts toward the most relevant buyers and sellers. How?

Data.

In 2024, the good news is that the housing market looks to be bouncing back as new listings increase and interest rates decrease. Does the same hold true for your local market?

BrokerMetrics' new release, Market Dynamics, will help you find the answer to that as it gives you the latest insights on:

All this information will help buyers and sellers make informed decisions, all backed by data—not fully on intuition.

2. Spring clean your CRM 

The client data that’s housed in your CRM holds the key to unlocking revenue growth, saving real estate brokers and agents time with the information needed to close deals faster and simpler. But remember, a CRM's true value lies in data that is organized and accessible.

When’s the last time you tidied up your CRM? With listing and searching as spring’s mantra, now's the perfect time to spring clean your CRM software. This will simplify staying connected with the influx of new prospects that are sure to roll in. It just takes a handful of simple to-dos to get a jump start on organizing your CRM:

3. Amp up your marketing activities 

Digital marketing. A topic that never gets old—or that is going away anytime soon. More buyers are actively searching, and one of your priorities is to help find motivated sellers who are ready to sell. What better way to do that than to let technology do it for you?

Leads+ is one of a few digital marketing tools here at Lone Wolf, and it’s filled with all the automated features that will free up your time to focus on other priorities.

4. Seal the deal with unforgettable tours

When helping your buyers land on their dream home, you know the feeling. Last-minute showing changes, outdated property information on tour documents, and rifling through paper printouts when comparing multiple properties during a tour. The list goes on.  

This all ends with the live buyer tours enhancement from Cloud CMA. Live buyer tours will impress your buyers as embark on home tours with features like:

And more. With live buyer tours, you can showcase properties like never before and put the latest information at your buyers' fingertips. All this keeps your brand top-of-mind and gets you that much closer to closing the deal.

Remember, preparation is key! By taking these steps now, you'll be ready to spring forward with confidence and capture the opportunities coming very soon. Until then, don't forget to prioritize some rest and rejuvenation before the spring market heats up! 

Every market has a story.  

What’s yours?

The 2023 housing market rollercoaster is behind us, and this might be the year of “out with the old and in with the sold.” The 2024 market is already looking

Every market has a story.  

What’s yours?

The 2023 housing market rollercoaster is behind us, and this might be the year of “out with the old and in with the sold.” The 2024 market is already looking sunnier with interest rates dipping, and new listings sprouting up.

Does the same hold true for your market, in particular?

Find out now with the latest release for BrokerMetrics, real estate’s leading business and market analytics tool.

Book a demo

Discover the all-new, next-level Market Dynamics tool

This latest release for BrokerMetrics combines historical trends with current production data to give you a crystal-clear picture of your market’s current—and potential future—activity. Now you can get answers to questions that brokerages like yours face from both their agents and their buyers and sellers:

Now online, Market Dynamics gives you the answers with its intuitive, user-friendly interface—so you can tap into your market’s metrics anytime, anywhere.

Intelligent, easy on-demand searches

With Market Dynamics’ search feature, drill down into neighborhoods, cities, and states and discover the latest metrics.

BrokerMetrics: Your brokerage’s command center

Real estate is filled with uncertainties that can make it hard to know how to answer buyers’ and sellers’ questions in any market. Your intuition and experience are just a couple pieces in your decision-making process. But with high-quality data and insights in BrokerMetrics and the latest from Market Dynamics, you and your agents can feel empowered while helping clients confidently make important decisions around one of the biggest purchases of their life. 

Become your area’s top brokerage with BrokerMetrics

Recruit, retain, and attract top talent 

Identify high-performing agents in your target market, even if they're not currently with your brokerage. Analyze performance metrics like sales volume, transaction count, days on market, and listing-to-sale ratio to make informed hiring decisions.  

Strengthen and grow your business 

Gain insights into your local market, including inventory levels, closing rates, and price trends. With the competitive intelligence in BrokerMetrics, track competitor activity and find your differentiator to develop effective marketing and sales strategies. 

Enjoy additional benefits, too 

Now is the time to take 2024 by storm. When you know the market, you can lead the market.

Book your demo today

Like any industry, real estate boasts an interesting history. From the earliest signs of land ownership etched in cave art to the rise of structured transactions and mortgages in the nineteenth century and onto the twentieth-century economic ups and downs—it's undergone a remarkable transformation.

At

Like any industry, real estate boasts an interesting history. From the earliest signs of land ownership etched in cave art to the rise of structured transactions and mortgages in the nineteenth century and onto the twentieth-century economic ups and downs—it's undergone a remarkable transformation.

At Lone Wolf Technologies, our story began in 1989. We've transformed, too, adapting and innovating to meet the ever-changing needs of the market—but our core remains the same.

How it all started

Born from the vision of Lorne Wallace and Des O'Kelly, Lone Wolf emerged to tackle the challenges inundating real estate professionals. Back then, complex deals, mountains of paperwork, juggling clients, and navigating a dizzying array of tools were the average norm on any given day in real estate.

Wallace and O'Kelly embarked on a mission to streamline this chaos. They pioneered financial software like brokerWOLF, WOLFconnect, and globalWOLF, laying the foundation for a revolution in real estate back offices and accounting.

Where it’s going 

Since 1989, our focus has been to create real estate software that works the way the people do. We build software that’s for people—by people. Now we’re in a new, digitally rich era at Lone Wolf. And we’re just getting started.  

Grab a glimpse into how our history has set the tone for our future—and for the future of real estate software by downloading your free copy of our Lone Wolf playbook. See what it’s like to work with us and discover:

GET YOUR PLAYBOOK NOW

It’s that time of year again! As the end of February draws closer, so does our first long weekend of the year. This upcoming Monday is Family Day in Canada and President’s Day in the U.S.  

After a busy start to the new year, along with preparing for exciting news to come, we’ll

It’s that time of year again! As the end of February draws closer, so does our first long weekend of the year. This upcoming Monday is Family Day in Canada and President’s Day in the U.S.  

After a busy start to the new year, along with preparing for exciting news to come, we’ll be offering our team a break to relax and spend quality time with family and loved ones.  

With that said, our Canada and U.S. home offices will be closed on Monday, February 19, 2023. This means support will be affected for some Lone Wolf products.

These Lone Wolf products will NOT have support available:  

These Lone Wolf products will have limited support available:  

In the meantime, check out our support page for more resources and assistance. Regular support will resume on Tuesday, February 20.  

We hope you can take some time to unwind as well, especially as we grow closer to the spring selling season. We’ll be back on Tuesday, refreshed and ready to go.  

From our family to yours, happy Family Day and President’s Day!  

In hindsight, 2023 was a busy year for a few reasons. Along with major news like the announcement of the future of real estate software, our leadership team made waves—and big contributions—to the real estate industry as a whole.

Let’s take a look back at

In hindsight, 2023 was a busy year for a few reasons. Along with major news like the announcement of the future of real estate software, our leadership team made waves—and big contributions—to the real estate industry as a whole.

Let’s take a look back at some of the prestigious awards that recognized the Lone Wolf leadership team recently for the work they do to support real estate at every level.

Jimmy Kelly, CEO

The Vanguard Award

Jimmy was recognized as a winner of the HousingWire Vanguard awards, honoring innovation, leadership, and outstanding contributions to the real estate industry. His vision for the future, both for Lone Wolf and for real estate, is one that focuses on creating real change and inspiring innovation for all through a comprehensive platform that brings together everything the people of real estate need to perform their best.

“I’m incredibly proud to lead this organization as we continue to work toward a brighter future for everyone involved in real estate today—one that gives them simpler ways to do what they do every day to help others find home and make the most of every moment this industry has to offer.”

Read more

Sean Wheeler, CTO

Tech Trendsetter

Sean was recognized on the 2023 Tech Trendsetter list from HousingWire, an award that honors ingenuity, innovation, and dedication in solving the challenges facing the industry today. As our CTO, Sean works with the team here at Lone Wolf to build solutions that solve specific problems for real estate professionals across the nation, pinpointing where we can improve workflows, deliver better technology, and make a difference for professionals and their clients.

Read more

Aaron Kardell, VP of Product and Design

Insiders Award

Aaron was recognized as a winner of the HousingWire Insiders Award, which honors outstanding contributions and leadership in the real estate industry. Since 2009, Aaron has been a key figure in the industry, both as the former CEO of HomeSpotter and as VP of Product and Design here at Lone Wolf. His expertise, fresh perspectives, and appetite for innovation have set the bar for what technology can accomplish in real estate—and how we work to bring those accomplishments to everyone in the industry.

Read more

Kyle Hunter, GM of Franchise

Insiders Award

Kyle was recognized as a winner of the HousingWire Insiders Award, which honors exceptional contributions and pursuit of excellence in the real estate industry. Kyle is always looking for deeper meaning in the insights he has into real estate and its shifting dynamics, assessing and predicting outcomes from the trends he sees and translating that into partnerships between key industry players.

Read more

Bonus: The Lone Wolf team

2024 Tech100

Already this year, we’re off to a solid start with a recent recognition as part of HousingWire’s 2024 Tech100 Real Estate awards. This list, which recognizes the most transformative and innovative companies in the real estate industry, sets the stage for what is truly going to be a transformative year in real estate—one that brings together all the hard work of the leaders and the team here at Lone Wolf, and one that we’re so excited to go through with you.

You might have heard that there are some upcoming changes to Google and Yahoo policies around sending business emails through their services—and you might have a few questions about it.  

As a trusted technology provider, we are doing everything in our power to adjust

You might have heard that there are some upcoming changes to Google and Yahoo policies around sending business emails through their services—and you might have a few questions about it.  

As a trusted technology provider, we are doing everything in our power to adjust these new policies, as well as the challenging timeline, to ensure the prompt and reliable delivery of every email sent by our valued customers.  

To help clear up what’s happening, here’s a quick look at what you need to know. 

What’s happening? 

Starting on February 1, 2024, Google and Yahoo are introducing stricter policies around business emails received by Google and Yahoo email addresses to verify that the emails sent are authentic. The goal is to reduce spam.  

These policy updates will require all businesses to authenticate their email domains through their DNS records to continue sending emails. 

Why is this happening? 

This change is an initiative on Google’s part to combat the volume of spam and phishing emails that consumers receive, and is being done entirely independently of third-party website and email providers. 

What does this mean for you? 

Generally speaking, users of CRM solutions for business email purposes will be required to authenticate their email address domains with a DMARC policy in their DNS records—whether it’s their own domain or a domain owned by their brokerage.  

As a CRM provider, we’re dedicated to helping make this shift as simple as possible for all of our customers. If you use our CRM services, you’ll receive an email from us with information about this change and the detailed steps you’ll need to follow to make sure your domain is authenticated.  

We’ll continue to update you as these policies roll out to make sure you don’t experience any interruptions in your business communications. Stay tuned for steps and how to reach out if you have any questions or concerns! 

A step-by-step guide to helping your clients feel at home.

Ideally, advocacy is part of your practice as an agent. Agents are, by definition, active—you work to produce the desired outcome for your clients when it comes to their

A step-by-step guide to helping your clients feel at home.

Ideally, advocacy is part of your practice as an agent. Agents are, by definition, active—you work to produce the desired outcome for your clients when it comes to their real estate journey. To do that, you defend, promote, and support their interests—you advocate on their behalf. 

There are so many moments, big and small, throughout any real estate transaction—and it’s important to consider how you can prioritize and advocate for the client experience at every step in the process. 

Stay responsive 

Advocating for a client doesn’t always happen during momentous occasions. While it’s critical to stand up for their interests during counteroffers and similar negotiations, you’ll also find many smaller opportunities to show your client that you have their back.  If a homebuyer needs advice or extra support during a transaction, you want them to feel as though they can—and should—reach out to you.

With mobile, easy-to-use tools that help agents to consolidate communication channels and information, you can ensure that you’re available when your clients need you—and that all the details for their transaction are within reach. 

Offer convenience and avoid complexity 

Today, potential buyers can search for and purchase a home entirely online—though many still seek out the support of an industry professional when considering a purchase this substantial. 

This shift in client expectations can create both opportunities and obstacles for agents who need to balance their client’s specific needs and expectations while negotiating a transaction on their behalf. 

When it comes to an event as important as signing, for example, being able to offer simplicity can often be a great source of comfort for clients. With features and tools that include eSignature, ways to order title insurance or home warranties, and access to the most complete library of forms for any situation, the right transaction management tool should help you deliver a complete—and completely unmatched—client experience. 

Enjoy the journey and the destination

Sometimes, advocating as an agent is going to mean adapting your strategy and style to match the needs of your client—and ensuring that you have the right tools and technology to successfully adapt is crucial. 

For example, recently, we’ve seen that in-person open houses are returning—but digital walkthroughs are also here to stay. Regardless of which option suits your client, you need to have the right tools to facilitate an organized, impressive showing.  There are solutions designed to help you focus on open house guests and their questions, whether their tour is digital or otherwise,  gathering contact details automatically and adding them into your CRM for easy follow-up phone calls and personal emails.

Tech and tools like these are making it simpler than ever to convert interested guests into potential buyers, and potential buyers into happy homeowners.

If you’re considering new strategies and solutions to advocate for clients from contract to close and provide an impressive, uncomplicated real estate experience, we can work with you to take next steps.   

Tax season for businesses across North America is upon us again—and while it’s never a necessarily a surprise, it can definitely sneak up on you. 

This year, get the jump on tax season—Back Office

Tax season for businesses across North America is upon us again—and while it’s never a necessarily a surprise, it can definitely sneak up on you. 

This year, get the jump on tax season—Back Office makes it easy. 

If your brokerage is in Canada, there are two slips you’ll need for your staff, admins, and agents: T4s and T4As.

Preparing T4s for your office staff and admins

You can prepare T4s in Back Office using payroll records for your staff and admins. 1.    Use the 9.5.3 menu to prepare your T4s in Back Office. Full walkthrough > 2.    Print out any necessary copies. Full walkthrough >

Preparing T4As for your agents

You can prepare T4As for your agents for any specified calendar year. 1.    Check your payroll history and T4A information to make sure everything’s accurate and up to date. Full walkthrough > 2.    Use the 9.5.4 menu to prepare your T4As in Back Office. Full walkthrough > 3.    Print out any necessary copies. Full walkthrough >

If your brokerage is in the U.S., there are two slips you’ll need for your staff, admins, and agents: 1099s and W2s.

Preparing 1099s for your agents

You can prepare 1099s in Back Office using your agents’ commission history information. You can also prepare them for rentals, outside brokers, accounts payable, and incorporated agents. 1.    Check your 1099 information to make sure everything’s accurate and up to date. Full walkthrough > 2.    Use the 9.5.4 menu to prepare your 1099s in Back Office. Full walkthrough > 3.    Print out any necessary copies. Full walkthrough >

Preparing W2s for your office staff and admins

You can prepare W2s in Back Office using payroll records for your staff and admins. 1.    Check your payroll history to make sure everything’s accurate and up to date. Full walkthrough > 2.    Use the 9.5.3 menu to prepare your W2s in Back Office. Full walkthrough > 3.    Print out any necessary copies. Full walkthrough >  

Still have questions?

If you’re worried when it comes to getting your books in order, we understand—and we can help. 

WOLFwatch is a bookkeeping service that specializes in our Back Office solution. On a monthly basis, our specialists check in to make sure your books are organized and up to date—so you can run your business without having to worry about whether it all adds up. 

Learn more about how our WOLFwatch experts can help you with bookkeeping peace of mind!

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

It’s a sentiment that’s shared often around the new year. Everyone is eager to succeed in 2023, and when it comes to making predictions, we’ve found that the best strategy involves turning

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

It’s a sentiment that’s shared often around the new year. Everyone is eager to succeed in 2023, and when it comes to making predictions, we’ve found that the best strategy involves turning to our data for insights on what to expect.  

So, now that the new year is here, what can we learn from last year’s data?

Supply remains low overall—but that number is going up

Factors like home prices and interest rates dominated headlines in 2022—along with the supply of new listings. Our data, provided by BrokerMetrics, continues to show a decrease in new listings year over year. When we’re comparing to 2022, we’re seeing a continued decrease in sold activity with uncertainty in the market.

Off-market listings are on the rise

According to Inman, the primary reason for both off-market and withdrawn listings is a too-high asking price. Amidst market factors that include increasing interest rates, seasonal slowdowns, and the quantity of new listings, it seems that off-market listings have become more and more common.  

In fact, our data shows a staggering increase of 102% in off-market listings between Q4 2022 and Q4 2021.

In an uncertain market, we’re seeing fewer new listings—and fewer homes sold

But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, 2023 is looking to be a promising year for buyers who’ve found themselves on the sidelines in previous years. With inventory on the rise and more homes staying on the market, buyers will have more to choose from.

How to create your success in 2023’s market 

Check out our report from BrokerMetrics to see how the numbers compare year over year. When you’re working with the best insights that data can offer, it’s simple to understand how your business fits into the big picture.  

Learn more about BrokerMetrics today

The holidays are once again upon us! Before we all indulge in festive gatherings with family and friends, we’d like to extend our gratitude to all of you for your support and for letting us join you on your real estate business journey. We wish you and yours happiness and health this holiday season and in 2023.

In

The holidays are once again upon us! Before we all indulge in festive gatherings with family and friends, we’d like to extend our gratitude to all of you for your support and for letting us join you on your real estate business journey. We wish you and yours happiness and health this holiday season and in 2023.

In observance of Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Year’s, our Canada and U.S. offices will be closed on:

Reduced support will be available for these products:

You can still reach our support team any time by calling 1-800-668-8768. 

Support will be closed for these products:

If you need support on these days, you can:

Send us an email at support@lwolf.com and include:

Or, you can submit a support request here.

We look forward to another great year in 2023. Happy holidays!