Company: HOUS
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001398987-25-000020
Chunk: 193

Company: Anywhere Real Estate Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 193
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 downsides in the broader real estate market, could hinder our recruitment and retention efforts or make it more difficult to motivate our existing employees. The increasing prevalence of virtual and remote-work arrangements adds additional competition for critical talent. Additionally, the advancement of federal or state laws or regulations seeking to prohibit or limit the use of non-compete clauses with workers could have an adverse impact on our business. If we are unable to internally develop or hire skilled executives and other critical positions, successfully plan for succession of employees holding key management positions, or if we encounter challenges associated with change management or the competitiveness of compensation actually realized by our executive officers and other key employees, our ability to continue to execute or evolve our strategy may be impaired and our business may be adversely affected.

Severe weather events or natural or man-made disasters, including increasing severity or frequency of such events, or other catastrophic events (including public health crises) may disrupt our business and have an unfavorable impact on homesale activity and the activity levels of other Company services.

Owned Brokerage Group has a significant concentration of offices and transactions in geographic regions where home prices are at the higher end of the U.S. real estate market, particularly the east and west coasts. Coastal areas, including California and Florida, are particularly subject to severe weather events (including hurricanes and flooding) and natural disasters. Increasingly, wildfires in the west have been difficult to contain and cover large areas. For example, in early 2025, California experienced significant wildfires. We are monitoring potential effects on the impacted markets and will continue to support our independent sales agents, franchisees and consumers.

The occurrence of a severe weather event or natural or man-made disaster can reduce the level and quality of home inventory and negatively impact the demand for homes in affected areas, which can disrupt local or regional real estate markets, delay the closing of homesale transactions and have an unfavorable impact on home prices, homesale transaction volume, relocation transactions, and title closing units. These effects may be compounded when the taxes or insurance costs associated with homeownership in the affected area are higher than average or the cost of such insurance materially increases in connect with the increasing frequency and severity of weather events or other disasters. Movements away from the use of title insurance in connection with rising affordability concerns could lead to declines in certain services offered by the Company or its joint venture operations.

In addition, we could incur damage, which may be significant, to our office locations as a result of severe weather events or natural disasters, and our insurance may not be adequate to cover such losses.