North Carolina real estate agents may be wondering whether the USDA’s recent drought disaster designation matters in everyday practice. The short answer is yes — especially for brokers working with land, rural homes, farms, horse properties, private-well properties, and listings where water availability or wildfire risk could affect a buyer’s decision. On April 21, 2026, USDA announced that 40 North Carolina counties were designated natural disaster areas because of drought,

A major federal compliance change has been aimed at residential real estate, and even agents who are not personally responsible for filing reports should understand the basics. FinCEN’s Residential Real Estate Rule was designed to increase transparency in the U.S. housing market and deter money laundering through certain residential property transfers. FinCEN says the rule targets a relatively small slice of the market, but one it considers higher risk for illicit activity. W

What are the main changes to the NAR Code of Ethics in 2026? The 2026 NAR Code of Ethics updates focus heavily on modernizing compensation rules following recent industry settlement agreements. The major changes include amending Article 7 to limit compensation disclosures strictly to clients, completely deleting Standard of Practice 3-4 regarding variable rate commissions, and updating Standard of Practice 17-4 to cap arbitration awards based on buyer representation agreement