name: real-estate-market-research description: Conducts real-time residential real estate market research including MLS activity, price trends, days-on-market, absorption rates, interest rates, and neighborhood-level analytics. user-invocable: true metadata: {"openclaw":{"emoji":"📊","always":true}}

Real Estate Market Research Skill

Purpose

Use this skill whenever you need to research current residential real estate market conditions, pull comparable sales data, analyze neighborhood trends, check interest rates, or generate market reports for buyers and sellers.

When to Use

• A buyer asks about market conditions in a specific area
• A seller needs a pricing recommendation or CMA
• The morning briefing cron job fires
• The weekly market report is due
• A price alert cron job is running
• Anyone asks "what's the market doing?"

How to Research

Step 1: Identify Target Area

Extract the target location: city, ZIP code, neighborhood, or county. If not specified, use the agent's primary service area stored in memory.

Step 2: Pull Live Data

Use the web tool to search and fetch from these sources in order of preference:

MLS & Listing Data:

• site:zillow.com/homes [city] sold — recent sales activity
• site:redfin.com/city/[city] housing-market — Redfin market dashboard
• site:realtor.com/local/[city] — inventory and median prices

Interest Rates (always pull current):

• Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms
• Bankrate current mortgage rates: https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/mortgage-rates/

Economic & Macro Context:

• NAR Existing Home Sales: https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics
• Census Bureau Housing: https://www.census.gov/topics/construction/new-residential-construction.html

Step 3: Calculate Key Metrics

For any market analysis, compute and report:

• Median List Price and Median Sale Price (and the gap between them)
• Months of Inventory (active listings ÷ monthly sales rate)
  • < 3 months = Seller's market
  • 3-6 months = Balanced

  • 6 months = Buyer's market

• Average Days on Market (DOM)
• List-to-Sale Price Ratio (how close to asking price homes are selling)
• Price Trend (up/down/flat vs 30, 60, 90 days ago)
• Active Listings Count vs. Same Period Last Year

Step 4: Interpret for the Client

Translate numbers into plain English. A buyer needs to know: "Is this a good time to buy, and will I face competition?" A seller needs to know: "How quickly will my home sell and at what price?"

Output Formats

For Buyers: "The [neighborhood] market has [X] months of supply, meaning it's currently a [buyer's/seller's/balanced] market. Homes are selling at [Y]% of list price in an average of [Z] days. I'd recommend [action]."

For Sellers (CMA Summary): Include 3-5 comparable recent sales, adjusted for square footage, condition, and features. State a recommended list price range with reasoning.

For Market Reports: Structure as: Overview → Key Numbers → Trend Analysis → What This Means → Forecast.

Data Freshness Rule

Always note the date of the data you're citing. Real estate data can lag 2-4 weeks. If data is older than 30 days, flag it and recommend pulling updated comps.

Skill Location

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