Sellers whose listings do not include virtual tours, professional photographs and floor plans are being cheated by their real estate agents.

Not "cheated" as in being ripped off, but in the sense that, without the proper visuals, homes will likely take longer to sell and fetch a lower price.

That's according to a recent study by BoxBrownie, a listings enhancement company based in Australia. The study found that, of the 25,000 properties for sale on two major U.S. listings websites, 94% lacked an immersive, 360-degree online tour of the house. Less than 30% of listings appeared to use photos taken by a pro, or that at least followed photographic best practices. And only 10% contained floor plans.

Altogether, only 1.5% of all the listings studied had all three of what BoxBrownie calls these "essential elements." Yet research from the National Association of Realtors indicates that 89% of all purchasers, regardless of age, want to see photos; 67% want to view floor plans; and 58% want to take a virtual look-see.

The BoxBrownie study does not say so directly, but it implies that without these techniques, would-be buyers are likely to move on to the next listing until they find one that offers the information they are seeking.

Another study, this one by Chicago-based real estate photography network VHT Studios, found that agents who used professional photos sold their listings 32% faster than those who didn't. And that was seven years ago, before buyers relied so heavily on visuals to decide which houses to visit in person.

NAR surveys show that buyers want to see five items when they view a listing: photos, written descriptions with essential details, a floor plan, a video tour and additional videos. Visit almost any builder's website and you'll find all of those elements in spades. They may have to use renderings instead of photos in the early stages of construction, but even at that, builders are marketing experts.

Real estate agents, as it turns out, are not so accomplished. The listings BoxBrownie studied were woefully lacking in three key features:

-- Immersive video tours. This is defined as a 360-degree, 3D virtual tour, and only 6% of the listings featured one. Photo-based slideshows, while certainly better than nothing, did not count as full-blown video tours in the company's survey.

Virtual tours came into vogue during the pandemic, when buyers feared visiting properties for sale (at least initially). Sellers shunned personal visits, too: They didn't know who might be sick or contagious, and didn't want to take the chance.

These virtual tours are still important. Buyers can take these tours anytime, anywhere on their computers, tablets or phones to help them weed out the houses they don't fancy and select the ones they do.

NAR recently reported that 35% of its agent-members rely on video tours to sell homes, but the BoxBrownie study refutes that figure as way overblown. And "despite the hype" surrounding virtual visits, its report says their prevalence does not appear to be advancing very quickly.

-- Floor plans. The study found that just 17% of all listings showed a floor plan, which helps people visualize how the house flows from one room to another.

Here, even landlords do a better job than agents. BoxBrownie found that only 14% of listings for single-family properties contained a floor plan, compared with 38% of those for apartments and condominiums.

-- Quality photos. When it comes to still pictures, agents do better, yet only 30% featured what the report calls "best practice" photography. One reason is that some agents use their smart devices to take pictures rather than hiring a pro -- or at least using a better camera.

BoxBrownie found a 76% probability nationally that the agent is paying a photographer. But even at that, "professional photography across the country really should be better," the report says.

It's doubtful most sellers want to pay the extra cost for a pro to take pictures of their house, no matter how important it is. But the study says the difference between the photos shot by some amateur photographers and those taken by pros who follow the best practices protocol is visibly apparent.

By "best practices photography," the company means using globally recognized techniques to best represent a property for sale. Without this, it says, it is "nearly impossible" for an image to show what the human eye truly sees.

Agents can fill the void, though, by hiring BoxBrownie. For $1.60 per photo -- "not expensive at all," General Manager Peter Schravemade told me on a Zoom call from Queensland -- the company can merge five pictures into one image that reflects what the eye takes in.

By the way, the listings his company studied often contained 30 to 60 pictures. And while agents are permitted to post an unlimited number on most multiple listing services, Schravemade says the ideal number is between 20 and 25. Any more than that, and visitors start looking elsewhere.

Home builders are running out of buildable home sites. Relief is on the way -- just not soon.

The current inventory of vacant developed lots is at its lowest level since the Zonda market research firm began tracking it in 2015.

They're "disappearing ... faster than replacement lots can be brought to market," says the company's chief economist, Ali Wolf. "Builders are snatching them up," she says -- in some cases, "aggressively" buying parcels "they wouldn't even have considered a year ago. ... All the top markets are significantly undersupplied."

The number of building sites in development is up 14% over a year ago, Zonda recently reported. However, the lion's share are still in the excavation stage. So they won't be ready for builders until sometime next year.

The rest are waiting for the developer to put in streets (or the streets are currently being added). These sites are expected to be ready to accept construction later this year -- some before winter sets in -- but only "if everything goes smoothly," Wolf says.

Nevertheless, the economist believes "a lot more houses will hit the market in the next 24 months." And that, she says, should put a stop to the extraordinary run-up in new house prices. Or at least slow it down.

The median price of a newly built house in July was $390,500: an 18% jump from a year earlier, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The median for all of last year was $336,000.

Higher costs have priced out some buyers, particularly at the lower end of the market. A year ago, 42% of new home sales were priced below $300,000. But in July, only 24% were priced below that benchmark.

Many factors go into the price of new construction. But a principal one is what builders pay for building sites, and that cost is up significantly. Lot values for detached, single-family homes started last year surged 18%, Census figures show, driving up the cost to a record median of $53,000. And that doesn't include custom-built houses.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, lot values are now approaching the record levels recorded during the 2005-2006 housing boom, when half of lots were going for more than $43,000. That's equivalent to about $55,000 when converted into inflation-adjusted 2020 dollars.

Though the jump in prices is "unprecedented," Natalia Siniavskaia, an NAHB economist, says it is "consistent with other significant building material price hikes and undeniable supply challenges that have been constraining the pandemic-fueled housing boom."

Over the last year, a quarter of the builders polled by Zonda said they paid significantly higher prices for finished sites -- 21% or more overall. And going forward, some two-thirds say their lot costs are likely to rise by 11% or more.

"That's one of the reasons we're starting to see more and more attached or high-density product," says Zonda Senior Managing Principal Tim Sullivan.

Higher lot costs are occurring even though lot sizes are shrinking. The median stood at 8,306 square feet, or just under a fifth of an acre, in 2020, the NAHB says. That's about 125 feet from the smallest lot size ever. And a record 39% of all lots are under 0.16 acres.

At the other end of the lot size spectrum, meanwhile, the share of spec houses built before they are sold and on sites exceeding half an acre shrunk from 14% in 2010 to 9% last year. The share of lots measuring between a quarter and half an acre declined from 24% to 18% over the same 10-year period.

Another way to look at the lot shortage is the number of new communities that are in active sales. And their number is shriveling up, too, largely because builders are selling out quicker than they expected.

Zonda's community count is down 20-25% nationally, but it's up to 40% off in some markets. And "we haven't seen the bottom yet," says Sullivan.

Similarly, John Burns Real Estate Consulting reports that builders are selling out of so many projects that its active list is down 17%. And Senior Vice President Jody Kahn doesn't expect a big uptick anytime soon.

"New home community supply won't surge," Kahn reported recently. "With 67% of land brokers reporting that fewer lots are available for sale and fewer bidders on land, we don't expect a massive increase in construction."

Despite all this, Zonda says land is only fifth on the latest list of builder concerns: Just 40% of respondents to the July survey said land prices were an issue, down from 47% in June.

The availability of building products is No. 1 on the list of builders' current challenges, followed by affordability issues, the cost of building materials and the availability of labor.

The inability to get key materials on time has some builders "thinking about switching to products they can get more quickly regardless of price," Sullivan reports.

If your closing was postponed recently, cybercriminals may be to blame.

In mid-July, Cloudstar, a cloud-hosting and data security provider to title and settlement firms, was one of the many companies to fall victim to a sophisticated ransomware attack that rendered its systems inaccessible.

The company has retained the services of third-party forensics specialists Tetra Defense to assist with the recovery efforts; negotiations with the hackers were said to be ongoing.

A company statement from a week after the attack said that Cloudstar was working "around the clock to assess the recoverability of customer data." As of early August, Cloudstar reported that it was continuing restoration efforts, and expected that the majority of its customer data would be recovered.

At the same time, the company warned that the process is "very complex ... Due to the extensive impact that this event had on our systems, we are unable to provide a definitive ETA. We expect that this overall process will take several weeks."

Cloudstar operates six data centers in the United States, serving more than 42,000 users.

An illegal grow house in your neighborhood could make your house less valuable. But when recreational and medical marijuana is legal, new research suggests that home values are likely to increase.

For every $1 million bump in tax revenues paid by legitimate growers and sellers, home values will increase by an average of $470, a study by Clever Real Estate found.

Once sales begin in the five states that most recently legalized recreational weed -- Montana, New Mexico, New York, Virginia and Vermont -- home values are predicted to increase by an average of $61,343, according to the research.

The study found that between 2017 and 2021, property values rose $17,113 more in states where recreational marijuana is legal, compared to those where it is illegal or limited to medicinal use. With each new dispensary added, whether medicinal or recreational, property values increase by $519, it said.

As of July, 36 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for recreational use, medicinal use or both. The industry is projected to be worth $30 billion by 2025. Pew Research says 91% of American adults believe marijuana should be legal in some form.

If you felt like someone was looking over your shoulder when you visited an open house recently, you may have been right.

About three in 10 sellers are using hidden cameras to spy on visitors -- and not just to protect their belongings, according to a new survey by LendingTree. The No. 1 stated reason: to gain a better understanding of what potential buyers like and don't like about their homes so they can make adjustments.

Sellers also resort to spying to gather information they could use during negotiations and to find out what their agents are really saying about their houses. And unbeknownst to their own agents, some are watching to make sure they are doing their jobs.

Using such devices may or may not be legal, depending on local laws. But it also may be counterproductive. Nearly half the buyers queried said they would back out of the deal if they discovered the seller had secretly recorded them.

If you are working from home, whether by choice or not, you might want to consider your workspace a satellite office of your employer and ask for compensation. At least, that's the thinking of one real estate executive.

As long as space in your home is used solely for work, and it is used for the majority of your work, you can claim a home office on your federal tax return. But Tamir Poleg, co-founder and CEO of The Real Brokerage, says your employer should be paying you for using space that otherwise could be put to other uses.

There are tax implications to working from home, as well as labor and employment law implications. For example, a shift in an employee's location across state lines can result in new wage and hour rules, and/or potential double taxation for employees living in one state and working in another.

"It is only fair that employers take responsibility for all of the above and find a way to compensate, or at least share expenses with, the employees for using their residences as the company's satellite office," Poleg told me.

A new rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is designed to help servicers -- aka companies that manage your mortgage payments -- to quickly process deeply delinquent loans. That way, they can focus on borrowers who still have a chance to save their homes.

The idea is to stem what some expect will be a flood of foreclosures. But not everyone is of that thinking, at least not entirely. Moody's Investor Services believes that if borrowers who are delinquent or in foreclosure list their homes for sale evenly over the coming months, as opposed to dumping them on the market all at once, the result would add only a meager half-a-month's supply to the inventory-starved market.