Naples Area Board of REALTORS® Symposium Speakers Discuss Housing Trends, Better AI Output and Social Media Marketing
Naples, Fla. (August 15, 2025) – Local REALTORS® and professionals working in real estate attended Naples Area Board of REALTORS’® (NABOR®) Symposium on August 6, 2025, at Arthrex One Conference Center. The live (in person and streamed), four-presenter event went beyond analysis of housing statistics by top economists to include best practices when using artificial intelligence and social media by two technology experts.
The Symposium began with a welcome message from NABOR® President Terrilyn VanGorder followed by remarks from the event’s platinum sponsor Olga Vindell, manager of The FIRPTA Group. Symposium moderator Tim Aten, Senior Editor and columnist at The Naples Press and Gulfshore Business, assured attendees that they would discover new information and solutions to help them stand out in business.
First to take the stage was Dr. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of REALTORS®, who set the tone by pointing out that gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts by the Federal Reserve (Fed) changed from its original 2.1 percent rise down to its recent forecast of a 1.7 percent rise for 2025. Yun also said that the Fed will only cut interest rates once inflation is under control and that tariffs only complicate the matter. On a positive note, Yun was pleased to share that other areas of the economy are performing well including the labor market. In fact, Florida’s job market increased 11.5 percent since the pandemic, though wage growth remains marginally above the inflation rate.
According to Yun, those who purchased homes in Florida five years ago have enjoyed a 68 percent increase in home value. With many locked into mortgages at three percent or below rates, Yun asserts that there is little home debt which reduces the possibility of mass foreclosures in Florida’s future.
“If you want wealth in America, you must own a part of America,” said Dr. Yun, while sharing a slide that compared the future wealth potential of renters versus homeowners. “For Naples, if the mortgage rate goes down to 6%, this would likely produce an additional 5,000 people who could qualify for a home mortgage.”
Second to present was Dr. Brad O’Connor, Florida Realtors®’ chief economist of its research department. Dr. O’Connor began his presentation with data on single family and condominium sales for both Florida and Southwest Florida, which showed reduced activity compared to the first half of 2024. He is not confident home sales in 2025 will exceed home sales activity recorded in 2024, mostly due to mortgage rates that lock out a significant portion of potential homeowners.
Dr. O’Connor mentioned that even with more insurers coming into Florida, rising insurance rates also contribute to low home affordability, along with a reduction in domestic in-migration and property taxes based on higher assessed values for first-time homebuyers. Adjusted for inflation, he said there has been a 75 percent growth in monthly home costs in Florida for new homebuyers over the past five years.
After a short break, Jimmy Burgess, Chief Coaching Officer at HomeServices of America®, introduced the audience to a better artificial intelligence (AI) prompting approach to obtain better output results. Burgess said an AI request should start with a prime (give it context or examples of what you aim to achieve), followed by a prompt (ask it to perform the task), then ask it to polish (fine-tune) the result, and finish by reviewing the result before you publish it.
The final speaker was Katie Lance, CEO/Founder of Katie Lance Consulting, who provided insight into social media marketing. Lance recommended focusing on one big idea each month and turning it into numerous pieces of content across multiple social media channels. She also impressed upon the audience to get comfortable with video as it reigns supreme on social media and produces high rates of engagement. In the end, she said “done is better than perfect,” so be bold and start building a brand by being consistent with posting on social media.
The NABOR® Symposium was under the leadership of the Symposium Committee Chair Lesley Colantonio and Vice Chair Ben Boorom. NABOR® would like to thank its platinum sponsor The FIRPTA Group, and its gold sponsor Naples Move Managers.
NABOR® is located at 1455 Pine Ridge Road in Naples. For additional information on the Symposium, contact Melissa Bognaski at (239) 597-1666.
The Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR®) is an established organization (Chartered in 1949) whose members have a positive and progressive impact on the Naples community. NABOR® is a local board of REALTORS® and real estate professionals with a legacy of over 75 years serving 8,500+ members. NABOR® is a member of Florida Realtors® and the National Association of REALTORS®, which is the largest association in the United States with more than 1.4 million members and over 1,200 local boards of REALTORS® nationwide. NABOR® is structured to provide programs and services to its membership through various committees and the NABOR® Board of Directors, all of whose members are non-paid volunteers.
The term REALTOR® is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribe to its strict Code of Ethics.