Prospecting is the lifeblood of your business. Without a strong real estate prospecting strategy in place, you’re missing out on future business. You can be the best agent in the world, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have enough clients. The most important activity you can focus on is your real

A group of Republicans in the U.S. Congress sent a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) that opposes a plan for the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Freddie Mac to purchase and guarantee single-family, closed-end second mortgages. The document sent on Friday states that, if imple

Just about a year ago, Chicago-based multichannel mortgage lender Guaranteed Rate announced its plans to expand its reverse mortgage division — including around the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) for Purchase (H4P) product.Roughly five months after that announcement, the company named Ryan O

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill into law on Tuesday that aims to improve the prospects for seniors who seek to age in place in their current homes.The law, which was supported by senior advocacy organization AARP, creates a state registry of home care providers to promote awareness and acc

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced this week that it is extending a 90-day foreclosure moratorium for all Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgages to the federal disaster area in Texas stemming from severe weather, tornadoes and flooding that hit sever

Dave Mele, president of Homes.com since 2014, has left CoStar Group to pursue “an opportunity outside of the real estate industry,” he confirmed to Real Estate News on Friday. During his tenure, Mele guided Homes.com through its acquisition by CoStar in 2021 and its emergence as a significant player

Median prices for homes and condominiums in federally designated opportunity zones rose in 49% of areas from fourth-quarter 2023 to first-quarter 2024, according to a report released Thursday by Attom. On a year-over-year basis, however, prices increased in nearly two-thirds of these zones. Attom an

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Friday announced the availability of $26 million in funding to be distributed to state and local housing agencies to enforce fair housing practices and to combat discrimination.The money will be distributed via noncompetitive funding for

U.S. Bank appointed John Hummel to lead its East market for retail home lending. Hummel, who previously led the correspondent and Housing Finance Agency (HFA) business at U.S. Bank, will now oversee a team of 750 sales managers and mortgage loan officers responsible for generating $7 billion in orig

Movement Mortgage, a multichannel mortgage lender, has appointed Joe Thompson as its new regional director. Thompson, recognized as a HousingWire Rising Star in 2018, will oversee more than 60 loan officers across Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. In his new role, Thompson will also be responsible for

Most Americans still view homeownership as a key to building wealth, but for many, that piece of the American dream is on hold or out of reach thanks to the heavy burden of student debt. In fact, according to a recent study, millennials currently struggle with so much debt that 25% worry they won’t

New home sales missed estimates, showing that demand isn’t crashing but not growing much either. However, we need to keep an eye on the housing construction data in this report because it has huge implications for the economic cycle, our recession risk and mortgage rates. As the chart below shows, t

Freddie Mac’s head of single-family acquisitions, Sonu Mittal, this week defended the government-sponsored enterprise’s proposal to acquire single-family, closed-end second mortgages amid opposition by trade groups that are worried about its impacts on the secondary market. “Six out of 10 borrowers

A study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) in 2022 aimed to assess the state of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program over a 20-year period.The study, released late last year, examined three core el

Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler sat down with Christos Bettios, chief information officer at NFM Lending, to talk about the company’s private, proprietary GPT that is making his whole team more efficient. Bettios has been at NFM Lending for seven years. He previously worked at US Bank Home Mortgage an

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered real estate assistant Sidekick unveiled a partnership with South Florida’s BeachesMLS on Thursday. The collaboration will allow 43,000 agents that serve Broward, Palm Beaches and St. Lucie counties to leverage Sidekick’s integrated datasets and workflows.The coll

In the first quarter of 2024, 38% of a typical household’s income was needed to make a mortgage payment on a median-priced, new single-family home in the U.S. That’s according to the Cost of Housing Index (CHI) unveiled Thursday by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo. Fo

A reverse mortgage has potential utility for a homeowner in the right situation, but loan terms must be observed closely to remain in good standing and avoid the possibility of foreclosure. This is according to a look at the reverse mortgage product category published by Newsweek.As part of its rece

After nearly a year of searching, iBuyer Offerpad has a new chief financial officer. The firm announced Thursday that it has pegged Peter Knag for the role, effective June 5.“I am excited to join at such a dynamic time for the company,” Knag said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the t

The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced on Thursday the publication of a policy recommendation that encourages property insurers to offer free loss-mitigation options for policyholders that would ultimately reduce premium costs.NYDFS Superintendent Adrienne Harris cited the a