Downpayment assistance programs are available to first-time homebuyers across the country in the form of more than 2,400 such offerings at the local and state levels, but they have not had an appreciable impact on the level of U.S. homeownership.This is why a zero-down Federal Housing Administration

The national housing shortage, the benefits of increased density, an ongoing shift in consumer tastes toward smaller homes closer to where the urban action is, and other factors have pushed state legislators to make it easier to build accessory dwelling units. In 2024 alone, Colorado, Arizona, Massa

Inventory, new listings, sales, and prices all dipped this week. The autumn seasonal decline is upon us. The election took up a lot of peoples’ lives last week, and that obviously delayed some listing and sales activity, plus we’ve had spiking mortgage rates. It’s actually not uncommon for housing a

The headlines might suggest that National Association of Realtors (NAR) members are struggling to find common ground on many issues. But any hint of division was nowhere to be seen during Monday morning’s NAR Board of Directors meeting.According to NAR president Kevin Sears, 886 directors attended t

While 2024 was certainly a challenging year for the real estate industry, 2025 may be a doozy if the Counselors of Real Estate’s (CRE) 2025 Top Ten Issues Affecting Real Estate report is to be believed. From price expectations to the impact of a Trump presidency, uncertainty is the main driver of to

New York-based digital mortgage lender Better.com launched a streamline refinance loan product on Monday that aims to help military veterans and service members save money on long-term interest expenses and closing costs.Better is now offering the well-known Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan (I

As a panel of real estate leaders gathered to discuss the future of the MLS at the National Association of Realtors‘ NXT conference in Boston, Errol Samuelson, Zillow‘s chief industry development officer, found himself and his company in a bit different standing than usual with the audience of sever

Zillow is moving full speed ahead with an ambitious expansion of its mortgage business, leveraging its housing tech innovations to potentially reshape how modern homebuyers finance homes. In its third-quarter earnings report, Zillow Home Loans revealed an impressive data point: mortgage revenue incr

The seasonal housing inventory peaks and bottoms have happened later than usual in the past few years. Last week, we saw a noticeable decline in both active inventory and new listings, which isn’t abnormal, but we might have had an election variable here. In the past two years, starting in mid-Novem

The newly-updated Fannie Mae Selling Guide for November has aimed to modernize special property eligibility and underwriting considerations for leasehold estates, and it has revised the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE)’s project review requirements for properties secured by manufactured homes.T

Ellington Financial, the parent company of top-five reverse mortgage lender and servicer Longbridge Financial, saw its net income attributable to common stockholders fall in the third quarter of 2024 to $16.2 million — down from $52.3 million in Q2 — but company leaders said that the proprietary rev

Following the resounding election victory of Donald Trump this week and the retaking of the U.S. Senate by the Republican Party, retirement and tax policy could be significantly impacted following the transfer of power, according to the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA).A political majori

In the latest episode of the Power House podcast, host Diego Sanchez sits down for a group chat with Fobby Naghmi, senior vice president at Homecomings Mortgage & Equity, and Ginger Bell, founder of Edumarketing. The conversation covers Bell’s and Naghmi’s co-authored real estate and mortgage guideb

Praising tariffs as “the greatest thing ever invented“ is unusual — that title is typically reserved for for sliced bread — but Donald Trump has always been vocal about his trade policies.An impending return to the White House for Trump could raise U.S. homebuilding costs as his proposed tariffs wou

Project 2025 refers to a series of proposals published by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation that would reshape many federal agencies and systems to more closely align with conservative ideology.Now that Donald Trump is once again the president-elect of the United States, and with sever

White-label brokerage Side keeps turning the screws on Official Partners and the Alexander brothers. Side filed a temporary restraining order on Wednesday against Tal and Oren Alexander, accusing the brothers of moving the underlying collateral on a loan that Side extended to Official Partners prior

After a monumental year of change, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is looking to the past to find inspiration for the future. Kevin Sears took to the NAR NXT main stage at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on Friday morning with a large iced coffee from Dunkin’ in hand. The NAR

Realtors are not the only ones gathering in Boston this week for the National Association of Realtors‘ NXT conference. On Thursday, MLS leaders took center stage at several conference sessions, including discussions of the business practice changes driven by the NAR commission lawsuit settlement and

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