The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced this week that Mark Steven Diamond, who was accused of “bilking elderly homeowners in a reverse mortgage and home repair scheme,” was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.Diamond was cr

Compass is strengthening its presence in the Nutmeg State. On Friday, the largest brokerage in the country by sales volume announced that The Jennifer Leahy Team will be leaving Douglas Elliman to join the Robert Reffkin-helmed firm.Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, the team is led by Jennifer Leahy

Today’s housing starts data exceeded estimates; however, a closer examination of the report with the builder confidence reveals that the recent rise in mortgage rates, approaching 7.25%, has negatively affected builder sentiment. Since late 2022, our analysis indicates that mortgage rates in the 6%-

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) this week published Mortgagee Letter (ML) 2025-06, which codifies “updates to FHA’s permanent loss mitigation options based on learnings from its temporary COVID-19 policies and feedback received on the draft policies” from a proposal published this past Nove

The wildfires ripping through Los Angeles are on pace to be the most destructive in U.S. history, as one estimate concludes that property damage from the Palisades and Eaton fires could exceed $45 billion.When they’re finally extinguished, the city and its residents will have to sift through the dev

Seattle-based WaFd Bank, which has offered home loans for more than 100 years, announced Thursday in an earnings report that it will exit the single-family mortgage lending business. WaFd president and CEO Brent Beardall said in a LinkedIn post that the move will involve layoffs for about 8% of the

Florida-based non-QM lender A&D Mortgage announced Friday that it has acquired the wholesale and nondelegated correspondent lending businesses of Mr. Cooper Group. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed but it is expected to close by the end of March 2025.A&D reported that the two entities be

Government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced this week that the planned transition from a “tri-merge” credit model — requiring credit reports to be pulled from all three, major agencies — to a “bi-merge” model that would require only two will be tied to other, new cre

President Joe Biden is mere days away from leaving office, but his administration is taking one more shot at the real estate industry.The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Thursday that it’s suing multifamily property manager Greystar for allegedly deceiving renters by adding mandatory fees t

Attom‘s year-end 2024 foreclosure report revealed that 322,103 properties in the U.S. had some type of foreclosure filing — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — last year. The data solutions company also reported that in fourth-quarter 2024, one in every 1,671 properties had a

Longbridge Financial, one of the largest reverse mortgage lenders in the country, is currently embroiled in a lawsuit against competitor and Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsement leader Mutual of Omaha Mortgage. Now Longbridge has filed a motion in court seeking to take down material it

Mortgage and property tax payments are not the only expenses that prospective homeowners need to consider. Homeowners associations (HOAs) are commonplace, and more of them are requiring owners to pay up, according to a survey by Realtor.com. Realtor.com’s report found that 40.5% of listings in 2024

A dedicated aging in place (AIP) program offered by the Oswego County Habitat for Humanity (OCHFH) in New York says it is seeing success by incorporating family, community and local resources to ensure older homeowners can remain where they prefer.“It’s been projected that, over the next 20 years, h

Many housing insiders often characterize the topic of housing as a bipartisan one that is somewhat insulated from the acrimony of more divisive issues during a historically polarized political era. This was mostly on display during the Senate confirmation hearing for Scott Turner to be the next secr

CoreLogic today announced preliminary residential and commercial loss estimates for the Eaton and Palisades Fires in Los Angeles, California totaling between $35 to $45 billion. As of today, both fires are less than 50% contained. CoreLogic says it will provide final insured loss estimates once the

Southern housing markets have dominated growth lists over the last few years, and a report by CoreLogic today shows Southern markets are still hot. Using growth indicators that measure upcoming construction and development, southern metros take eight spots in the top 10 list. The top three metros ar

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) and several other defendants are making another attempt at having the Hardy antitrust lawsuit dismissed.The defendants — which also include the Michigan Association of Realtors, The Grosse Pointe Board of Realtors, Greater Metropolitan Association of Realto

The 10-year yield and mortgage rates have been on a wild ride lately, even testing my top-end forecast at 7.25%, but today, the 10-year yield fell after remarks by Fed President Chris Waller about whether the Fed would do even more rate cuts than the market was anticipating. His statement on this, i

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced Wednesday that it has appointed Jarrod Grasso as its senior vice president of industry relations, a new position created to engage with state and local Realtor associations, in addition to individual Realtors. NAR’s reputation has been under attac

Tal and Oren Alexander are staying in jail.Along with Oren’s twin brother Alon, the two former luxury real estate brokers were denied bond Wednesday on the federal sex trafficking case against them. The three brothers allegedly engaged in a scheme to systematically drug and rape dozens of women dati