Your buyers may say they want a “modern” or a “contemporary” home, but those two words are not interchangeable. So, what do they really mean?

Modern and contemporary styles do share many of the same traits, but they are two distinct styles. And they often get confused, according to an article by Marvin Windows and Doors that sets out to clarify the two styles.

Contemporary tends to refer to architecture of today and, as such, it is constantly evolving. It could contain a mix of aesthetics, including from traditional and even modern architecture. Contemporary homes are often characterized by asymmetrical shapes; mixed materials; open spaces; energy efficiency; curves or sweeping lines; abundant natural light; and a combination of indoor-outdoor spaces where those spaces get nearly blurred.

Modern, on the other hand, tends to center on straight lines and limited details. That’s a big difference from contemporary styles, which use curves and sweeping lines. Modern uses sharper, very sparse lines.

“Modern design is a more honest look at what a building is—load-bearing columns, beams that transfer the weight, and not putting things in for decoration,” says Rebecca Comeaux, an associate at Lake/Flato Architects in San Antonio. “It’s still beautiful, but there’s kind of a level of honesty and simplicity in the design.”

Modern design is marked by rectangular exteriors with flat roofs; clean, straight lines with limited detail; open floor plans; changes in elevation, like split-level spaces; monochromatic color palettes; and spaces that have minimal decoration.

Learn more about residential architectural styles so you—and your clients—can talk intelligently about the differences in REALTOR® Magazine’s Guide to Residential Styles.

You may not be happy with an unfair online review you received that you feel is damaging your business. But you may have little recourse in court to have it removed if the online site chooses not to. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a case against the online reviewing site Yelp. The case involved Yelp’s refusal to remove allegedly defamatory reviews from its website, stemming from a 2016 defamation lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, attorney Dawn Hassell accused former client Ava Bird of leaving false, negative claims about her in a Yelp review. Yelp was issued a court order to remove the posted content in question but refused, citing Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act that protected it from censorship. The California Supreme Court sided in Yelp’s favor, ruling they did not have to remove the negative review. The case was taken to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the high court has refused to review the ruling. Therefore, the California Supreme Court ruling stands.

Yelp applauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s dismissal. “We are happy to see the Supreme Court has ended Hassell’s efforts to sidestep the law to compel Yelp to remove online reviews,” Yelp wrote in a statement. “This takes away a tool that could have been easily abused by litigants to obtain easy removal of entirely truthful consumer opinions.”

Section 230 protects web services like Yelp, Twitter, and Facebook from being held liable for user-posted content.

High student loan debt is one main culprit for the lower rate of home ownership over the past decade, a new study from the Federal Reserve shows.

Home ownership of all Americans has fallen 4 percentage points from its peak of 69 percent in 2005. It has dropped the most—from 45 percent to 36 percent—among those 24 to 32 years old.

“In surveys, young adults commonly report that their student loan debts are preventing them from buying a home,” Fed researchers Alvaro Mezza, Daniel Ringo, and Kamila Sommer write in the paper. “Our estimates suggest that increases in student loan debt are an important factor in explaining their lowered home ownership rates, but not the central cause of the decline.”

The Fed’s paper did not identify the other causes for the decline in the home ownership rate among younger adults. Researchers attributed about 20 percent of the drop in the rate to high student loans.

Every increase of $1,000 in debt contributed to a 1- to 2-percentage-point drop in home ownership, the study finds. Researchers note that this equates to about 400,000 people who otherwise would have expected to own homes but have not because of their student loan debt.

“This finding has implications well beyond home ownership, as credit scores impact consumers’ access to and cost of nearly all kinds of credit, including auto loans and credit cards,” the researchers noted in the report. “While investing in post secondary education continues to yield, on average, positive and substantial returns, burdensome student loan debt levels may be lessening these benefits.”

The National Association of REALTORS® has also conducted studies showing the impact student debt is having on delaying home ownership. A 2017 NAR study found that student debt delayed homeownership by about seven years. It also had an impact on the rest of young adults’ lives, such as holding millennials back from making financial decisions and reaching personal milestones, such as changing careers, continuing their education, marrying, or even having children.

The real estate industry will soon see what kind of impact weeks of declining mortgage rates have had on home sales. Will it provide the boost some experts are predicting?

Since early November, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has fallen nearly half a percentage point, from 4.94 percent to 4.45 percent, where it stood at the end of this week. This could provide an important incentive for potential home buyers to make a move. The 30-year rate, which didn’t budge in the latest week of reporting, was on a downward trend for six consecutive weeks prior. Existing-home sales in November were already bouncing back from unusually low volume in the summer months, gaining 1.9 percent month over month, due largely to stability in the overall economy, according to data from the National Association of REALTORS®. But when NAR’s data for December existing-home sales is released Tuesday, it may reveal whether lower mortgage rates have escalated sales gains.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun told Yahoo! Finance on Thursday that he expects recent declines in mortgage rates to keep home sales on an upward track—possibly leading to an additional 200,000 transactions this year. “Buyers will want to take advantage of the lower rates,” Yun says. “This additional demand will help absorb inventory. Both home prices and home sales will be lifted.”

Though rates were flat in the latest week, due largely to weaker manufacturing data and a prediction that the Federal Reserve will leave its benchmark interest rate alone for now, other industry experts echo Yun’s positive outlook. “Interest rate-sensitive sectors of the economy—such as consumer mortgage demand and homebuilder construction sentiment—are on the mend, which indicates that lower interest rates are beginning to have a positive impact on some segments of the economy,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Jan. 17:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 4.45 percent, with an average 0.4 point, unchanged from last week’s average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 4.04 percent.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.88 percent, with an average 0.4 point, dropping from last week’s 3.89 percent average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 3.49 percent.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs): averaged 3.87 percent, with an average 0.3 point, rising slightly from last week’s 3.83 percent average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 3.46 percent.