Gary Keller took to the stage at the 2023 Keller Williams Mega Agent Camp in Austin, Texas, Tuesday morning with his usual bravado: a black-and-white video featuring his favorite animal, the buffalo, in a thunderstorm, alongside a motivational message for agents. Rather than fear the storm, Keller W

With strong demand and limited options for existing homes, many homebuyers are turning to new construction. Mortgage applications for new construction home purchases increased 35.5% in July on a year-over-year basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS

Non-QM lender Acra Lending is projecting mortgage originations will increase in 2023 to about $2.6 billion, up from $2.1 billion last year, says CEO Keith Lind, “and we’ve been profitable every month this year, and every quarter.”Lind says Acra’s success in a punishing operating environment that has

Two former employees have filed a class-action lawsuit against Rocket Mortgage for allegedly failing to pay overtime wages. That’s at least the second case that targets the Detroit-based lender for unpaid wages. Brittany Roseboro and John Glover claim that Rocket’s leadership required them to attend

Homebuilder confidence declined for the first time this year in August, reflecting the difficulties of 7% mortgage rates and reduced housing affordability.The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) report showed that builder confidence fell 6 points from

Loan quality control is again top of mind for lenders, partially due to the wave of loan-repurchase requests from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac earlier this year. Higher loan volumes in 2020 and 2021 led to proportionally more repurchase requests, and the industry is taking another look at their risk m

While on opposite coasts and consisting of disparate inventory, New York City and Los Angeles share similarly competitive markets and, as such, have some of the most expensive real estate in the country.

Chemicals in our air may also be interacting with traditional airborne allergens, she adds, and other air pollution issues like the smoke and ash from wildfires can al...

A ransomware attack has crippled Rapattoni, a Southern California data host for property listing information.Santa Rosa-based Bay Area Real Estate Information Service (BAREIS) and other MLSes, who are clients of Rapattoni, fell victim of the cyberattack. This form of cybercrime encrypts the victim’s

These curb appeal ideas can help you spruce up your home, which attracts buyers and strengthens neighbood bonds.

Real estate professionals across the country are taking action to help support their colleagues in Maui after the devastating wildfires that began on Aug. 8. So far, the fires have killed at least 96 people and more victims are expected. Meanwhile, thousands of survivors are without shelter, water,

The regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac improperly amended stock purchase agreements in 2012 when it allowed the U.S. Treasury to sweep up the companies’ net profits, a jury in Washington, D.C. found Monday. The jury awarded shareholders of the government sponsored enterprises a total of $612.4

One of Texas’ top mega teams, Nest Finders, is partnering with real estate brokerage as a service platform, Pinnacle Realty Advisors, according to an announcement on Monday.Pinnacle Realty Advisors will supply Nest Finders with back-end support and tools such as on-demand broker support, as well as

Swiss bank UBS AG announced Monday it has agreed to pay $1.43 billion in penalties to settle a civil action alleging misconduct related to the underwriting, issuance and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) before the 2008 financial crisis. The settlement with the U.S. Department of

Mortgage rates have been stubbornly above 7% for two months and it sure looks like home buyers are growing weary. We can see signs that buyers are slowing, both in the sales volume and in the sales price data. This slowdown is not like last year, instead, it’s just slightly fewer buyers each week. A

In 2022, the price of the typical home purchased in “high-opportunity” U.S. neighborhoods — where poor children have the best shot at upward mobility — was $470,000. That’s $130,000 more than the typical home in low-opportunity areas, according to a Redfin report. Redfin analyzed home sales in 100 o

Rate lock activity fell for the second month in July as mortgage rates topped 7% for the first time since November 2022.Overall rate lock volume was down 7% month over month, with purchase lending accounting for 88% of total lock activity, according to Black Knight‘s originations market monitor repo

The Fed recently announced yet another interest rate hike, making borrowing more expensive and pushing the prospect of purchasing a new home out of reach for an even greater share of Americans. At the same time, inflation is easing and the economy is showing unanticipated strength, with strong emplo

The American Land Title Association (ALTA) is celebrating a huge win in its ongoing war against title insurance alternatives. Fannie Mae is no longer considering a pilot program that would bypass traditional title insurance by granting certain mortgage lenders a waiver on title insurance requirement

Looking ahead, if WeWork does actually close the adverse impact on landlords could be significant if its leases are not picked up by another co-working operator or sev...