Moody’s Analytics finds that households in the U.S. now pay 30 percent of the median income for the average rent.

Philartphace/istock

Of all the household items that people despise cleaning, the toilet probably tops the list.

Self-cleaning toilets first appeared a few years ago in luxury hotels in Asia and Europe such as the Park Hyatt Zurich. Now, prices are dropping and they are making their way into regular homes.

But come on—do they really work?

According to Lauren Haynes, a cleaning expert at Star Domestic Cleaners who’s seen many of these high-tech thrones in action, the best of them could relieve many of the detestable chore.

Social media coach Chelsea Peitz shared a 3-step plan for agents looking to find their voices in a video format at Inman Connect New York on Wednesday.

Getty Images

Chilly winter weather means you’re likely spending lots of time indoors. And we hope you’re staying cozy (perhaps by your wood-burning stove).

But once you shake off that long winter’s nap, you might want to tackle a few projects around the house.

And while it could be tough to get excited about adding chores to your to-do list, these aren’t the same tedious tasks you’ve been avoiding since last summer.

Each project on this list is not only incredibly doable—but pretty darn satisfying, too. So, here are six of our favorite cold-weather DIY projects that will upgrade your home’s look and feel during this hygge season.

At Inman Connect New York Wednesday, CEO Brian Boero shared insights from a real estate consumer sentiment study it conducted under the self-imposed mandate to “shut up and listen” to what buyers and sellers want from real estate agents.

Realtor.com

A modernized Cape in Hamden, CT, is the oldest property to hit the market this week on Realtor.com®.

While looks may be deceiving, this adorable—and affordable—three-bedroom home has been entirely modernized on the inside. During the renovation process, the owners took care to preserve many historic details.

Other vintage homes to hit the market this week include a riverfront dwelling in New York once owned by author N.P. Willis, a historic farmhouse in New Jersey, and an affordable fixer-upper in Massachusetts.

Scroll down for a full look at this week’s 10 oldest homes.

Matt Lionetti and Tyler Whitman, of The Agency, and Sarah Desamours, of Douglas Elliman, shared their strategies for authenticity on social media with attendees at Inman Connect New York on Wednesday.

HGTV

On “Fixer to Fabulous,” renovation experts Dave and Jenny Marrs help homeowners turn dated, run-down houses into dream homes. And sometimes, if they’re lucky, they stumble across the best surprise a house can have: entire rooms that the homeowners weren’t even aware were going to waste.

In the episode “Builder Grade to Craftsman,” clients Patrick and Ashley Fitzsimmons have been married for five years, and are living in Patrick’s three-bedroom, three-bath bachelor pad. They think it’s high time to make the house work for the two of them, and they’re willing to spend a whopping $300,000 to do it.

While most of us don’t have that type of budget to work with, we can use some of their creative tips to update our own homes, room by room. Check out the lessons that Dave and Jenny taught us this week.

Do away with builder-grade beige

HGTV

Speakers at Inman Connect New York on Tuesday urged MLSs to adopt new datasets and make sure to share them in ways that are useful to agents and consumers.

Anywhere Brands President Sue Yannacone argued at Inman Connect New York on Wednesday that franchising helps brokerages scale up, and gives them tools they couldn't otherwise access.

A company that powers the home search for buyers using artificial intelligence, generating leads for agents, will enter new markets this year CEO Omer Granot said on Wednesday at Inman Connect New York.

Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images

The White House unveiled a series of new measures Wednesday that it said could protect renters both from rising costs and the burdensome practices hindering their housing searches.

The wide-ranging announcement follows advocacy campaigns from tenants, progressive activists, and Democratic legislators.

The measures included a bid from the Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to identify measures that “unfairly prevent applicants and tenants” from housing and a pledge from the Federal Housing Finance Agency to examine proposed actions on tenant protections and limits to rent increases on “future investments.”

National median rent prices, though currently cooling off nationwide, soared by 21% between March 2020 and December 2022, according to Apartment List. For the first time in decades, the national average rent-to-income ratio is also at 30%, according to Moody’s Analytics, meaning the country’s renters are broadly considered “rent-burdened,” spending a third or more of their income on housing and putting themselves at greater risk of eviction and financial precarity.

"It's great brand-building," CEO Mauricio Umansky said of his family's new real estate reality TV show, "Buying Beverly Hills." "But more than the brand building, it was just meant to have a lot of fun."

At Inman Connect New York on Tuesday, a trio of finance executives seemed bearish on the state of proptech funding but bullish on its future.

Pioneers of consumer-first online home search weighed in from Inman Connect New York on rumors that CoStar has approached News Corp about purchasing Realtor.com parent, Move Inc.

When the market emerges from this down period, savvy broker-owners will remain judicious with expenses, three top executives said at Inman Connect New York on Wednesday.

Purchase loan requests rise 3 percent week over week as mortgage rates ease but remain down 39 percent from the same time a year ago.

A day after Compass CEO Robert Reffkin dismissed remote work as 'the killer of culture' at ICNY, Sanford argued on Wednesday that there's equal merit to virtual and brick-and-mortar models.

Comparing himself to Henry Ford and Elon Musk, CEO says he's reconfigured Better's assembly line to crank out mortgages in a single day.

A renovated 18th-century farmhouse in Hyde Park, a Tudor Revival home in Durham and a Craftsman bungalow in Houston.