The spring home-buying season got off to a slow start in California, where sales of single-family homes declined from February to March, according to a report released Wednesday by the California Association of Realtors (CAR).The organization reported that the state’s seasonally adjusted annualized

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) this week announced a new product proposal for government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Freddie Mac that would allow the agency to purchase certain single-family, closed-end second mortgages. This would offer borrowers an alternative way to access their home eq

Capital Fundings, a Florida-based private mortgage lender, has partnered with real estate investment platform Privy, the companies announced on Tuesday. The collaboration will allow Capital Fundings’ borrowers to receive personalized investor insights.“Capital Fundings is thrilled to embark on this

BoostBoost by Lone Wolf is the simple way to market your real estate business online. Whether you’re looking to build brand awareness, draw in more engagement for listings, or take your client experience to the next level through digital advertising, Boost is here to help agents and brokers alike.Pr

Today, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made statements at the Washington Forum that indicate there will be no rate cuts anytime soon because the economy and the labor market are too strong with sticky inflation. This is a change from previous statements where the Fed talked about the rate cut

Mortgage applications for new homes stalled in March as buyers felt the brunt of sustained home price growth.Compared to February 2024, mortgage applications for new-home purchases rose 1% in March. Applications were up 6.2% from March 2023, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Buil

Reverse mortgage volume dropped in February compared to the month prior, and new data compiled by Reverse Market Insight (RMI) shows that the primary culprit for the month was retail reverse mortgage originations.The retail channel volume decrease of 15.7% effectively “masked” a gain of 3.9% posted

Are you tired of your text messages causing more confusion than closings in the real estate world? Wondering if you may have offended a prospect? Curious why you’re being ghosted at times?We’ve curated the ultimate guide to texting etiquette for agents. From dodging grammatical gaffes to perfecting

In a down market disrupted by the commission lawsuits, agents and LOs are considering working in a dual capacity. But it’s a tough road to hoe. (AI image generated by MidJourney.)As the engines of the housing and mortgage markets continue to sputter due to higher interest rates and fewer buyers, ind

In the wake of the recent NAR settlement, coupled with persistently sluggish home sales and high interest rates, real estate agents find themselves at a crossroads marked by uncertainty and unease.Amidst this backdrop, brokerages face a critical task; keeping their agent counts from diminishing. How

Because of certain persistent reputational challenges faced by the reverse mortgage industry, it can be challenging for borrowers to find objective informational sources about the product category. That’s what drove a listener of the podcast “The Indicator from Planet Money,” a production of Nationa

Bellevue, Washington-based real estate investment firm Legacy Group Capital announced this week that it has acquired fintech company Rook Capital, a provider of home equity investment (HEI) products through its “Shared Value Investment” brand. Legacy is privately owned and terms of the deal were not

Defendants in the behemoth Batton homebuyer commission lawsuit filed a ream of motions on Monday seeking to have the class-action allegations struck down and dismissed.The Batton suit consists of two separate lawsuits filed by the same homebuyer plaintiffs, alleging that the National Association of

Mortgage rates posted a big jump last week after Wednesday’s release of a higher-than-expected inflation report. As a result, HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center showed the average 30-year fixed rate for conventional loans at 7.24% on Tuesday, up from 7.16% one week earlier. That’s roughly 40 basis

Competition in the housing market is heating up heading into May and June. Home prices are surging in major U.S. metros, with coastal California cities and Seattle leading the charge in monthly home value growth, according to Zillow’s newest market report.San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego

In the late 2000s, Ryan Schmidt was a restaurant manager with no real understanding of the reverse mortgage product. It wouldn’t take long for that to change, however, and Schmidt now serves as the vice president of partner engagement at Finance of America Reverse (FAR), the reverse mortgage industr

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not count buyer’s agent commissions as part of their allowable interested party contributions (IPCs), according to announcements from the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) on Monday.The GSEs noted that this guidance was not an update to their selling guides but

As older people increasingly express their preference to age in place in their own homes, family members will oftentimes be required to provide some semblance of care for their loved ones in later life. Caregiving challenges can be compounded if there’s only one child in the family, but a reverse mo

Wholesale lender A&D Mortgage unveiled a new and enhanced version of its partner portal, Artificial Intelligence in Mortgage, or AMI, on Monday.The AI-powered portal integrates advanced technologies into A&D Mortgage’s existing partner portal. It notably features a more intuitive user interface, sea