It’s harder to show your personality when half your face is covered. Masks can conceal your expressions, muffle your speech, and create misunderstandings between you and those you’re talking to. But masks are essential when meeting with clients. “I felt muzzled,” Learka Bosnak, a sales associate with Douglas Elliman of California in Pasadena, Calif., told The Wall Street Journal. “I was constantly running around saying, ‘I’m smiling under here!’ This business is all about rapport, comfort level.”

Etiquette experts say it’s important to smile—even when wearing a mask. Your mouth may be covered, but your smile is still visible in your eyes and audible in your speech, according to a blog post from Debrett’s, a professional etiquette and coaching company based in London.

It’s also important to make eye contact, so take off those sunglasses. “Eye contact will become even more important when we can’t gauge others’ expressions,” Debrett’s says. “Eye contact is the basis of trust, releasing chemicals like oxytocin in the brain.”

Make sure to speak more distinctly, too. You have a mask over your mouth, so your speech is muffled and others are unable to read your lips. Raise your voice and speak clearly, Debrett’s suggests.

Heather T. Roy, a Douglas Elliman agent in Bosnak’s office, recently joined Bosnak to meet with a body language expert and learn tips to apply to their business. One point they appreciated: Watch your body language. “Face the person, and make sure your feet are in the right place,” Bosnak told the Journal. “Otherwise, you are signaling that you are not listening. Now it’s become so rote, I don’t even think about not facing a client when I’m talking to them. If they are behind me and ask a question, I will turn around and look at them.”

Keeping your body language positive and open, such as avoiding slouching or crossing your arms, will help you come across as friendly and approachable, even in a mask.

More homes are gradually coming onto the market in a hopeful sign that homeowners may finally be warming up to the idea of selling, according to data from realtor.com®’s latest Weekly Housing Report. An incremental uptick in available inventory is welcome news to home buyers struggling to find a property to purchase. Last week, homes sold a full two weeks faster than the same time period a year ago and were listed for an average of $38,000 more, realtor.com®’s report shows.

“Home sales are shaping up for a record-breaking October,” says Javier Vivas, director of economic research for realtor.com®. “There are so many buyers in the market right now that even the slight improvements we’re seeing in inventory could push the number of homes sold this month near mid-2000s levels. If sky-high prices continue to lure more sellers into the market, it could prompt the inventory rebound we’ve been waiting for—which would be welcome news for frustrated buyers.”

Total inventory is down 38% compared to a year ago. However, last week’s numbers mark the fourth consecutive week that the number of homes for sale has stayed even or improved. The number of new listings on the market fell 5% compared to a year ago, also marking an improvement over last week, when new listings were down 7%.

The pandemic has sparked Americans to relocate in large numbers. From February through July, more than 15.9 million people filed change-of-address requests with the United States Postal Service.

Twenty-eight percent of nearly 10,000 adults recently surveyed by the Pew Research Center said the most important reason they moved was to reduce their risk of contracting COVID-19. Another 23% said they moved because their college campus closed; 20% wanted to be with their family; and 18% cited financial reasons for their move, including job loss.

Many of these moves may be temporary, however. Temporary change-of-address requests were up nearly 27% from February through July compared to last year, according to an analysis from MyMove.com. A temporary change of address reflects consumers who forward their mail to a new location but plan to move back to their old address within six months.

Smaller cities are adding population during the pandemic. Some that have gained the most movers during the pandemic are Katy, Texas; Richmond, Texas; Frisco, Texas; East Hampton, N.Y.; Georgetown, Texas; Leander, Texas; Cypress, Texas; and Cummings, Ga.

The majority of individuals moving during the pandemic are leaving highly populated cities. Areas that have lost the most movers during the coronavirus pandemic include New York City (number of movers the city lost in 2020: 110,978); Brooklyn, N.Y. (43,006); Chicago (31,347); San Francisco (27,187); and Los Angeles (26,438).

Florida dominates this year’s “Best Places to Retire in 2020” from U.S. News & World Report “in a way that we haven’t seen in years before,” says Emily Brandon, U.S. News & World Report’s senior editor for retirement.

Brandon says Florida is drawing more retirees due to the state’s affordable homes, low taxes, and high ratings for happiness and desirability. Florida boasted seven of the top 10 places to retire in 2020 on U.S. News & World Report’s annual list.

U.S. News & World Report analyzed 150 of the largest metro areas and ranked them on metrics such as happiness of local residents, housing affordability, tax rates, and health care quality.

The top places to retire in 2020, according to the rankings, are:

1. Sarasota, Fla.
2. Fort Myers, Fla.
3. Port St. Lucie, Fla.
4. Naples, Fla.
5. Lancaster, Pa.
6. Ocala, Fla.
7. Ann Arbor, Mich.
8. Asheville, N.C.
9. Miami
10. Melbourne, Fla.
11. Myrtle Beach, S.C.
12. Nashville
13. Jacksonville, Fla.
14. Manchester, N.H.
15. Daytona Beach, Fla.

A top pet peeve of homeowners: an old or outdated space in the owner’s suite bathroom. It has sparked a wave of renovations of the space, according to the 2020 U.S. Houzz Bathroom Trends Study, reflecting nearly 1,600 homeowners in the midst of or planning a remodeling project for an owner’s suite bathroom .

Nearly 90% of homeowners renovating an owner’s suite bathroom say they are changing the style as a way to bring it up to date, the study says. Insufficient storage, small showers, poor lighting, and limited counter space were the chief complaints about the spaces.

That’s likely why the main areas upgraded in an owner’s suite bathroom renovation tend to be showers, light fixtures, countertops, and vanity cabinets, the Houzz survey shows. Homeowners are seeking larger spaces. They’re increasing the size of their showers (54% of bathroom renovators), and 20% are increasing their bathroom’s overall size.

“We’re seeing that spending so much time at home is bringing a functional, beautiful bathroom to the top of the priority list for many homeowners,” says Liza Hausman, Houzz’s vice president of industry marketing. “They’re enlisting home professionals to bring bathrooms up to date with more current styles, and upgraded features like storage and lighting.”

Bathroom renovations aren’t cheap. The national median spend on a remodel is $8,000. Homeowners undergoing a major remodel of the space—including a shower update—are spending three times more than those doing minor remodels and leaving the shower as is, according to Houzz. (The median spend is $14,000 versus $4,500.) The size of the bathroom being upgraded is also affecting the budget. An owner’s suite bathroom that is larger than 100 square feet has a median spend of $7,000 more than a bathroom smaller than 100 square feet ($17,000 versus $10,000), according to Houzz.

Some overall trends emerging from the Houzz study:

• White continues to be the top choice in bathroom colors, complete with white countertops and white walls.

• Wall lights and recessed lights remain favorite lighting choices for bathroom remodels.
• Installing a new mirror is a popular upgrade for remodeling homeowners, with most homeowners installing two or more mirrors. One in five homeowners also installed LED lighting in the mirrors, which has been a growing trend over the past year.
• More than a third of homeowners added or upgraded an accent wall during their bathroom renovation. The top colors include white, gray, and blue. Fifty-one percent are using surface material to distinguish the accent walls.
• Nearly half of all new faucets include high-tech features. A growing percentage of faucets offer one-touch-only or touch-free activation.

Millennials are reportedly accelerating their homebuying timelines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey by realtor.com® and HarrisX of 2,000 buyers. Low mortgage rates and more available savings for a down payment, accumulated during stay-at-home periods earlier this year to fight the pandemic, have unleashed a wave of buyers the real estate market has long been waiting for.

But which cities offer the best prospects for first-time buyers in 2020? SmartAsset, a personal finance website, compared 185 of the largest cities in the U.S. on 12 metrics, including home market favorability (price-to-rent ratio, five-year home value appreciation, and foreclosure rate); affordability (under-45 homeownership rate, down payment-to-income ratio, housing costs); employment; livability; and more.

The following are the top cities for first-time home buyers in 2020, according to the analysis:

1. Grand Rapids, Mich.
2. Henderson, Nev.
3. Virginia Beach, Va.
4. Boise, Idaho
5. Fort Wayne, Ind.
6. St. Petersburg, Fla.
7. Omaha, Neb.
8. Garland, Texas
9. Gilbert, Ariz.
10. Sioux Falls, S.D.

View the full list of top markets for first-time home buyers.