The travel and tourist industry is one of the largest industries in the world, with a global annual contribution in the trillions of dollars according to Statista (http://nnw.fm/xQ1DT). Solely considering international travel, there are over a billion international tourist arrivals worldwide each year. People book their accommodation according to price, ratings, previous experiences, and other parameters, and the type of travel varies widely, from high-end to low.

This leads us to the topic of backpacking. Backpacking was often considered a form of hiking or camping holiday. Today, it is one of the trendiest ways to travel among people of all ages. With this rising trend comes the advent of new forms of backpacking such as “flashpacking” and “poshpacking.” These terms are used for the more affluent backpackers who do not necessarily need to travel on a small budget but still choose the freedom attached to this form of travel.

Thanks to the evolution of technology, more and more people are traveling light without having to give up comfort. The world of the digital nomad is here and the travel industry is gearing up to capitalize on these emerging trends. In recent years, companies have increased the technological interaction with their consumers making everything more accessible online.

Aside from the rise of technology, different levels of backpacking have become more accessible thanks to the introduction of cheaper flights, trains, buses, hotels, hostels and dining opportunities. These are marketed online to budget travelers and often include the option to make all-inclusive bookings through one platform. To the new-age flashpacker, it’s becoming a way of life. Travelers today are not isolated. They are followed by a digital world full of tools.

According to The Future of Backpacking by Ferda Van Vaals (http://nnw.fm/zkmS4), some of the new characteristics expected by 2030 include infrastructure expansion, greater tourist mobility, and growing global tourism and destinations. In other words, the world will continue to become more accessible, and more people will value experience rather than just material possessions.

Who makes such expanding ease of travel possible? Today there are thousands of travel agencies, both online and in-shop, in millions of locations. Online travel agencies are making travel more accessible thanks to the options to book flights, accommodation, and other factors through the Internet. However, backpackers today want more. Travel agencies are reigning in and offering all-inclusive booking facilities online, making the booking process, easier, quicker and often cheaper.

Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI) is a technology travel company on the leading edge of these ever-changing holiday booking trends. The company is made up of multiple divisions and brands offering a real-time booking engine featuring a wider and creative range of lodgings for a variety of backpackers, flashpackers, and holiday makers. In addition to this, the company allows consumers to book from an array of airlines, hotels, cruises, rental cars, tours, and much more.

The company’s flagship brand, NextTrip.com, is the industry’s first and only real-time booking engine that features alternative lodging (vacation home rentals, resort residences and unused timeshare inventory), as well as a full selection of airlines, hotels, cruises, rental cars, tours and concierge services. These features are combined into a single, easy-to-use platform that gives travelers complete real-time control when planning and booking their vacations.

Most NextTrip listings are in desirable locations in the U.S., the EU and the Caribbean with about 20% exclusive listings, and the company anticipates rapid exclusive listing growth because of its competitive edge, proprietary solutions, and interest in strategic partnerships and acquisitions, in addition to new travel trends.

The company recently launched its own Monaker Booking Engine and Premium Service for property owners, opening its offerings up to an even broader variety of consumers.

For more information, visit www.MonakerGroup.com

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Recent news has highlighted how obesity in children has doubled in the last three decades. Children are being fed the wrong foods largely because they tend to choose foods based upon taste and appearance rather than nutrition. In recent weeks, a number of studies have come out highlighting the impact of our modern world on children’s relationship with food.

A recent article at Parent Herald (http://nnw.fm/U8fVw) entitled, “Children Nutrition: Food Commercials Influence Children’s Choice of Food,” covers the impact that mass media has on children and their eating habits. Dr. Amanda Bruce and researchers from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Kansas Medical Center shine a light on the fact that children choose for taste rather than nutrition. In association with this, according to Dr. Bruce’s research, commercials have a significant and negative influence on food choices children make.

But how can we make children’s nutrition more important to them? News Medical (http://nnw.fm/5hACN) recently announced the release of an innovative board game that helps improve nutrition and health in young people. The game has been developed by Focus Games Ltd. and Foodtalk CIC (pediatric dietitians) in order to educate children aged 1 to 5 about health and nutrition. They aren’t the only people fighting a growing battle for the health of children, however; others are going toward a movement where nutrition and taste and fun and education are unified.

Giggles N’ Hugs (OTCQB: GIGL) came to light when Dorsa Parsi, co-founder of Giggles N’ Hugs restaurants, couldn’t find an eating establishment that catered to children and adults equally. At most restaurants, aside from the lack of children-sized utensils and chairs, children’s menus were often greasy and unhealthy. She said: “I also hated the fact that all the ‘kid friendly’ foods were made with artificial cheese or potatoes. Having a very picky eater, I came up with very creative ways to have her get her veggies. I always pureed cauliflower in her fettuccine alfredo and squash in her mac n’ cheese. I always made homemade pizza with pureed spinach in her pizza sauce. She never knew she ate her veggies every day, but going out to dinner meant NO veggies!”

Parsi started Giggles N’ Hugs with the aim of providing a healthy restaurant that was both child and adult friendly. The menu includes not only child-friendly meals packed with goodness, teaching children how good taste and health are not mutually exclusive, but also the opportunity for children to connect it all with a fun place to play. Giggles N’ Hugs now has two locations with a strategic expansion plan in place to expand to Asia, Europe, Australia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

For more information, visit www.gigglesnhugs.com

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China’s burgeoning O2O (online-to-offline) market has shown us quantifiably robust growth vectors, undergirded by the most attractive baseline metrics of any such market on the planet. Chinese vice minister of Industry and IT, Chen Zhaoxiong, told crowds at the Internet Society of China’s 2016 China Internet Conference in June that the number of 4G users in China is more than 530 million as of Q1, more than the U.S. and Europe put together. China’s Internet economy was valued at roughly $171 billion last year, while the O2O services segment was estimated by iResearch Consulting Group at approximately $68.71 billion, up 27.7 percent compared to 2015 (http://nnw.fm/95lTR).

While there are some big players currently dominating the market, there is plenty of room left at the margins for thriving localized networks, a phenomena which echoes the internal dynamics of the O2O space itself. Before taking a look at some of the major players, it is worth noting an up and comer like Shenzhen-based Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC), which has a market cap under $400 million and yet has put together an extremely compelling, integrated O2O platform known as Moxian+.

Half of the company’s 170 or so employees are R&D people and its CTO is the same Dr. Ng Kek Wee whose Oracle and IBM award-winning consulting startup was acquired by Pactera (formerly NASDAQ: PACT), which was itself taken private after acquisition by Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX).

Needless to say, the Moxian+ User and Moxian+ Business architectures/apps are brilliantly designed given their origins in a tech hotbed like Moxian. The architectures come complete with big data-driven social CRM (customer relationship management), engagement gamification/actual games, and even a proprietary/platform-specific digital currency (MO-Points and MO-Coins) for merchant driven reward redemptions. Moxian+ Business is where the real meat is though, offering comprehensive business intelligence analytics, demographic profiling insights, easy to setup customer engagement/loyalty programs, and ubiquitous advertising capabilities.

A projected 20 percent CAGR is easily understandable for the O2O space in China, with restaurants and food delivery being the narrow end of the transformational wedge. And with online retail currently around 13 percent of the overall retail space as of early this year, in what is the world’s largest ecommerce market ($589 billion), it is little wonder that one of the biggest internet companies on earth, Chinese operator Tencent (OTC: TCEHY; TCTZF), continues to hammer out its own O2O footprint with gusto.

A strategic investment in indoor mapping company Sensewhere, to license its indoor positioning software for Tencent Maps, was a clear move by Tencent to jockey for position with Baidu’s (NASDAQ: BIDU) Baidu Maps (shows group-buying deals from its Nuomi platform), and taxi/restaurant finding marvel AutoNavi, which is majority-owned by the Chinese version of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Alibaba (NYSE: BABA).

Alibaba’s $483 million investment last year in its Koubei JV, aimed at unifying its footprint in fast local delivery with its growing O2O presence, is a very clear signal to investors from China’s ecommerce king about the future of the country’s O2O market. There is a big opportunity here for investors to lay down some territory of their own, especially when you consider events like the $18 billion Meituan-Dianping valuation in January for China’s biggest group deals site, which laid claim to the title of the largest ever single funding round ($3.3 billion) for any VC internet startup in the country’s history.

Tying together the increasingly dominant mobile user with local brick and mortar businesses is a recipe for success in China for a savvy developer like Moxian, whose Moxian+ platform not only allows merchants to more easily/readily engage potential/returning customers, but which was born of the same robust cloud service technology that proved good enough for financial institutions and major corporations.

Delivering enterprise-class capabilities to the broadest possible merchant market should keep MOXC well in the running, even as sector majors gobble up the largest pieces of the pie. It is worth noting that this level of capability made it easy for MOXC to recently secure an exclusive reseller agreement with Xinhua New Media for gaming industry ad space, a deal that puts Moxian’s platform and digital currency front and center, before a growing Xinhua New Media App user base of over 110 million users (over 10 million active per day).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com

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Star Mountain Resources, Inc. (OTC: SMRS) today announced the results of its district-wide review and evaluation of the historic exploration drilling program that targeted zinc mineralization in the Balmat-Edwards Mining District, St. Lawrence County, New York.

According to today’s press release, the company identified significant potential zinc mineralization in the Upper Marble unit (the host unit for zinc mineralization for all the mines in the Balmat-Edwards District) at a location approximately one mile southwest of the historic Hyatt Mine and four miles northeast of the Balmat #4 Mine (the “Sully discovery”).

The Sully discovery is located within the 80,582 acres of mineral rights controlled by Star Mountain. A dozen drill holes were completed on the Sully target in approximately 8 years ago. Seven of the twelve intersected massive sulfide zinc mineralization in Upper Marble unit rocks (see the table at https://www.accesswire.com/uploads/Star%20Mountain%20Resources%20Image.jpg). It has been concluded that zinc mineralization is significantly thick and can be correlated over approximately 1,500 feet along strike and up to 500 feet across strike.

Star Mountain stated that mineralization remains open in every direction. The company has planned a follow up drilling program to confirm the discovery and to determine the extent and limits of the mineralization.

Star Mountain Resources President Mark Osterberg commented, “The Balmat-Edwards District has been in near continuous production for 100 years and the exploration history documents a record of new mine discovery every 17 years on average. We expect to continue our review and evaluation of historic exploration drilling and to advance exploration efforts on the Sully discovery in the Balmat-Edwards District and we are confident that we can add to the record of discovery.”

For more information, visit www.starmountainresources.com

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A recent article, titled ‘Think zinc: Miners Bet Big On Revival In Key Base Metal Market’, by Reuters (http://nnw.fm/lJ0Ap) highlights the fact that resource companies are moving quickly to dig zinc mines as supply is becoming lower worldwide. As zinc mines are starting to run empty, prices are increasing, encouraging the start of new projects. Resource companies are feeling a sense of urgency, fearing that zinc prices will continue to rise, and new investments are continuing to pop up.

Richer mines around the world are contracting as reserves are running low, and new players are getting the chance to make a significant profit. In an interview with Reuters, Daniel Morgan, a commodities analyst from UBS, stated “There is no doubt the supply side of this market is declining and supporting the case for new mines.”

Although there are a number of variables that could affect future prices, such as China digging up more metal and the price of steel weakening, things are looking good for zinc resource companies for 2016. Mines across every continent are reopening their doors and returning to production. Supplies are especially stressed in Australia, Canada, and Ireland, and the U.S. is not far behind.

Supplies in the U.S. saw a severe drop from February to May 2016. However, the price of zinc has been on the rise since January 2016 and supplies are starting to look up, according to Zinc Investing (http://nnw.fm/AXbo2). The U.S. zinc supply has been facing a medium-term supply issue, as there are no large, advanced-stage development projects on the horizon.

With this in mind, Star Mountain Resources, Inc. (OTC: SMRS) recently acquired the Northern Zinc and Balmat Holdings Corporation, as well as St. Lawrence Zinc Company, LLC, including its mining operations in the Balmat mining district of St. Lawrence County, New York. The Balmat mining complex is a fully equipped and functional mine with a hoisting capacity of 4,000 tons per day. The operation is rubber tired, with a mobile mining fleet, as well as a mill capable of producing 5,000 tons of zinc concentrator per day, a tailings facility, a concentrate storage area, and rail and truck transportation infrastructure.

Since the acquisition of the mine in November 2015, SMRS has been gearing up to resume production, which couldn’t come at a better time since supplies are falling and prices are rising. The Balmat mine opens new doors of opportunity to Star Mountain Resources, which are expected to play a role in the company’s transition from a junior exploration firm to a full-fledged production operation in the near future.

For more information, visit www.starmountainresources.com

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OurPet’s Company (OTCQX: OPCO) may serve both cats and dogs with its innovative range of pet care solutions. However, the company itself is most definitely not a dog, as defined in the Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) Growth Share Matrix. Rather, it’s a wild cat that has been churning out a string of ingenious pet care products. If OurPet’s Company keeps up its wild ways, there is the distinct possibility it may morph into a star.

Back in the early 1970s, BCG developed the Growth-Share Matrix as a portfolio-planning tool. BCG assessed each business unit within a company’s portfolio, taking into account two determinants of profitability: market growth and market share relative to the largest competitor. Market growth gives some indication of the unit’s future prospects while relative market share is a sign of competitive advantage. Mapping a business unit to a cell in the matrix thus helps determine whether the unit would be a net user or contributor of cash and whether the portfolio decision should be develop, maintain or dispose.

The Growth-Share Matrix classified business units into four types: dogs, cash cows, stars, and question marks or wild cats. Dogs neither generate nor consume a large amount of cash since they have low market share and a low growth rate. Cash cows are net contributors of cash. They are typically leaders in a mature market, providing a return on assets that is greater than the market growth rate. Stars generate a lot of cash but tend to use it all up because of their high growth rate. Wild cats are businesses that are growing rapidly and so require large cash infusions.

There is every indication that OurPet’s Company is a wild cat on its way to become a star. The company has been growing at an annually compounded rate of over 6% – twice the industry rate. Focusing on high-growth categories in the pet care industry, OurPet’s Company’s very first product was the Big Dog Feeder® in the $100 million per annum healthy feeding and storage systems segment. This product line now extends over 81 SKUs that include the Store-N-Feed^® Single Adjustable Feeder, the SmartLink^TM Feeder – Intelligent Pet Bowl and the SmartLink^TM Waterer – Intelligent Water Fountain.

OurPet’s Company is also in the $250 million a year feline waste and odor control market with its OurPets® Skoop-N-Pak, OurPets® Pick-Up Bags and its ground-breaking OurPets® Switchgrass Natural Cat Litter with Biochar. And the company is tackling the $1 billion a year segment of interactive cat and dog toys and accessories with a host of clever products. This product line uses Blue Tooth and Wi-Fi communication technologies so our beloved pets can “talk” to us; the line includes the amazing OurPets® Catty Whack® and the Intelligent Pet Care® line of products.

OurPet’s Company has a robust pipeline of some 160 patents issued and or pending. It also has a strong diversified product portfolio of about 1,000 SKUs. The company is particularly focused on finding solutions to the pathologies that accompany aging in pets. It deserves a star for that.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ourpets.com.

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Whether we like it or not, social media has had a major impact on how businesses interact with their customers online. It is a great avenue for businesses to get their messages out and enhance awareness of their brands. It also has a huge potential of backfiring if any possible customer complaints voiced via social platforms are not handled properly. In addition, a lot of companies are still not responsive enough on social media and rarely reply to potential customer inquiries through the channel. As a result, many businesses fail to tap the full potential of social media when it comes to understanding and consolidating their client base. That’s where social customer relationship management (CRM) programs such as the one developed for the Chinese market by Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC) come in.

The traditional customer relationship management platform typically focuses on managing and collecting static data about customers based on phone or email interactions between company and customers. The collected information often includes contact history, past purchase data and customer demographics. With Social CRM systems, an additional layer of information is added, extracted from the social networks where a customer shares information. A Social CRM allows companies to develop a more complete profile of their customers by tracking info such as revenue and social influence. By monitoring information that the consumer shares publicly outside of the direct communication with the company, any business will be able to combine the data it already has about current or prospective customers with new info around their intentions and sentiments. This will allow companies to take action faster, project customer needs in advance and develop a customized response to each consumer group.

It was with this personalized approach in mind that Moxian set off in 2010 to create a new way of combining social media with business intelligence and entertainment. The Chinese company’s proprietary Social CRM system is at the foundation of its multi-channel social commerce platform, and was developed in such a way to help consumers and merchants interact, further allowing merchants to run targeted advertising and promotions that can then generate personalized reports.

Targeting the giant Chinese online-to-offline market, Moxian’s platform for small and medium-sized enterprises consists of two primary mobile apps: Moxian+ Business App for merchants and Moxian+ User App for shoppers, both of which are available for free download for both iOS and Android users.

The company’s business app has built in Social CRM and offers merchants a wide range of options, from setting up a store on the Moxian platform to pushing promotions through the platform and obtaining customized reports for their stores. The user app serves to introduce consumers to the platform and includes social networking capabilities, a game center and a redemption center. The app comprises Moxian’s proprietary virtual currency, MO-Points and MO-Coin, which can be earned by playing games and then used to redeem prizes from merchants or Moxian. This mechanic ultimately helps to drive registered consumers to the merchants and allows companies to advertise their services, run marketing campaigns and learn about their customers and their habits through the Moxian platform.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com

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The consumer market for wearable technology is in a period of rapid growth. According to Statista (http://nnw.fm/vYNE4), sales of wearables exceeded $2 billion in 2015, and forecasts call for sales of more than $4 billion in 2017. This growth is, of course, being led by some heavy hitters in the tech industry. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) launched its Apple Watch to much fanfare in April 2015, and, according to Juniper Research (http://nnw.fm/5TAqW), the company had successfully secured 52 percent market share in the burgeoning smartwatch space by the end of that calendar year. In recent months, however, sales have begun to slow. According to a report from market research firm IDC, Apple Watch sales have already dropped 55 percent since the product’s launch, likely due to anticipated hardware updates in the coming months.

Apple is far from alone in its efforts to bring innovation to the wearable technology space. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG; GOOGL) also entered the market with its innovative Google Glass prototype smart glasses back in 2013. Although the company announced intentions to discontinue sales of the product in January 2015, it would be shortsighted to refer to the project as an outright failure. Shortly after Google’s announcement last year, AugmentedReality.org predicted that sales of smart glasses would reach $1 billion in shipments by 2020 and surpass shipments of mobile phones within the next decade (http://nnw.fm/t0bH4). Meanwhile, Google has remained committed to leading future developments in the space, filing an application with the FCC for a new version of Google Glass in December 2015 (http://nnw.fm/6wqDj).

Alongside Apple and Google, other global tech leaders have thrown their hats into the wearables ring with varying degrees of success. Samsung (OTC: SSNLF), in particular, has illustrated some of the difficulties presented to established firms in targeting the wearables crowd. Despite being one of the first major tech companies to enter the wearables market, Samsung held just over eight percent of the market in 2015, according to IDC (http://nnw.fm/Uep27). The research firm expects this figure to fall to just 2.8 percent by 2019.

For investors looking to capitalize on the growth of the wearables market without being exposed to the greater tech industry, pure plays also exist. Fitbit (NYSE: FIT) is one example of a pure wearables play with a sizable share of the burgeoning market. Fitbit’s revenues have been on the rise in recent quarters, and sales more than doubled during 2015. According to an article on The Motley Fool (http://nnw.fm/Od59n), the wearables specialist is currently on track to grow an additional 35 percent this year. Still, investing in the future of Fitbit isn’t exactly cheap. The company’s PPS is currently hovering at around $14.80.

GTX Corp. (OTC: GTXO) is a more approachable option for investors seeking to diversify their portfolios in order to cash in on the forecast wearables boom. A self-described ‘pioneer in IoT wearable technology’, GTXO offers comprehensive end-to-end solutions that include location-based hardware, middleware, apps and related professional services. The company’s flagship product is the award-winning GPS SmartSole, which aims to improve the lives of the roughly six million Americans currently living with Alzheimer’s and Dementia, as well as their caregivers. By embedding a GPS tracking device into a comfortable insole, GTXO’s GPS SmartSole provides peace of mind to family members without the need for separate tracking devices and the obtrusiveness and stigma that are often associated with them.

Earlier this month, GTX Corp. released its financial results for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2016, which included promising growth. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 36 percent over the previous year, while subscriber revenue increased 133 percent year-over-year. In total, GTXO boasts active subscribers in more than 35 countries around the globe. The company intends to build on these results by adding new customers and subscribers, as well as through a new initiative designed to monetize its numerous intellectual property assets. In line with these initiatives, GTXO recently entered into two new master distribution agreements that will allow the company to scale distribution in certain vertical markets without significantly increasing operational expenses. Key to these efforts will be GTX Corp.’s ability to secure the capital required to keep up with market growth, as alluded to by CEO Patrick Bertagna in a recent news release.

“Lack of sufficient capital for inventory, human resources and infrastructure has been a challenge since our launch last year. It has limited our ability to order appropriate inventory thereby limiting our ability to grow as quickly as we would like,” he stated. “We believe that our increased margins and revenues, along with the new monetization IP campaign, will begin to ease our capital shortage problem. Having said that, we remain focused on building brand and product awareness on a global scale, growing our channels of distribution and increasing sales, subscription revenues and margins in all our product categories.”

For more information, visit www.GTXCorp.com

Before the opening bell, Laguna Blends, Inc. (CSE: LAG) (OTC: LAGBF) (FRANKFURT: LB6A.F) announced a first tranche closing related to its non-brokered private placement. The first tranche closing included the issuance of 1,627,200 units at a price of $0.25 per unit for gross proceeds of $406,800. Each of these units includes one common share, as well as a purchase warrant entitling the holder to acquire an additional common share of Laguna’s stock at a price of $0.40, valid until August 25, 2017. Securities issued as part of the first tranche will be subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day from the original date of issuance. The Canadian Securities Exchange has granted Laguna an extension for the filing of final material related to the private placement to October 7, 2016. The company expects to close the final tranche on or before this date.

In recent weeks, Laguna has remained focused on expanding the reach of its affiliate marketing network across North America. In addition to its innovative beverage products capitalizing on the nutritional health benefits derived from hemp – including Caffe and Pro369 – the company recently entered an exclusive distribution agreement with ISO International, LLC to market, promote and distribute seven cannabidiol (CBD) skin care products developed by Cannaceuticals of California, USA (“Canna”). Through this agreement, Laguna will look to bolster the marketability of its affiliate marketing network with a line of proven skin care products while gaining access to the global skin care industry, which is estimated at $121 billion.

Laguna’s ongoing growth initiatives are being guided by an experienced management team that was recently expanded to include Bryan Loree as chief financial officer, corporate secretary and director. Through this appointment, which was announced early this month, Loree replaced Stuart Gray, the company’s founder and CEO, who was previously serving as acting CFO, adding roughly 10 years of accounting, finance and management experience to the Laguna team.

For more information, visit www.lagunablends.com

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eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI) is offering Americans a 21st century new deal with its Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage™. Back in the 1930s, Americans were, as they have been in recent times, picking up the pieces after a series of devastating economic events, but if we thought the Great Recession was bad, it’s because most of us haven’t been around long enough to remember the Great Depression. Writing in the Wall Street Journal (http://nnw.fm/Diys5), well-known financial commentator and hedge fund director Roger Lowenstein opined that ‘the world didn’t experience anything close to a global depression during the recent crisis. Peak to trough, global GDP fell 15%, world-wide, from 1929 to 1932; it fell less than 1% from 2008 to 2009.’

As part of recovery efforts back then, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched his New Deal, under which the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was created. The FHA was a big deal for housing since it gave rise to the vibrant housing market now estimated by the National Association of Home Builders to contribute about 15 percent of GDP (http://nnw.fm/8GTa4). The FHA set standards for construction and underwriting of mortgage loans. Its most important contribution, however, was its provision of insurance for loans for home building made by banks and other private lenders.

The FHA has become the largest insurer of mortgage loans in the world, insuring over 34 million properties since its inception in 1934. It now falls under the aegis of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. After its creation, home ownership increased. It was 44 percent in post-Depression 1940, but is now 62.9 percent, according to a July 2016 press release from the Census Bureau (http://nnw.fm/0vHQq)… and it keeps rising.

Last week, housing data for July 2016 (http://nnw.fm/oX6sp) released by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) showed that ‘private-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,211,000… (which) is 5.6 percent above the July 2015 rate of 1,147,000.’ Private-owned houses completed ‘were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,026,000… 3.2 percent above the July 2015 rate of 994,000.’

eXp World Holdings is offering brokers, agents and prospective home owners a new deal in these still uncertain times. Its Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage, operated by wholly-owned subsidiary eXp Realty, offers brokers and agents a full service national real estate brokerage platform with all the services offered by a traditional brick-and-mortar brokerage… but without the associated costs. It provides a novel 3-D environment in which agents and brokers can source training, educational, coaching and mentoring resources, as well as transaction and technical support.

An updated research report from Fundamental Research (http://nnw.fm/Nmzm0) issued last week details that ‘Since our previous report in May 2016, the company has expanded its membership count by 31%, from 1,204 to 1,580. The platform only had 665 real estate brokers and agents as members as of June 30, 2015.’

For buyers, things have never been easier. From the comfort of their armchairs, they can find the right agent and, through him or her, the right house. eXp Realty is currently operating in 41 states across the U.S., as well as the District of Columbia and Alberta, Canada. This new deal from eXp World Holdings looks like the real deal.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com

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