Three days before the new business practice changes mandated by the settlement of the National Association of Realtors‘ commission lawsuit went into effect, HousingWire caught up with top real estate coach Skye Michiels to talk about how his agents are handling the big changes.Michiels, the former h

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has settled a case with Florida-based Fay Servicing over illegal conduct in foreclosures. The deal includes a $2 million fine and potential limitations to the CEO’s compensation. A company spokesperson wrote to HousingWire that “Fay continues to strong

Doing the right thing is easy in theory, but often the hardest in practice. Our family established Baird & Warner more than a century ago with a mission to serve buyers and sellers with transparency and integrity, and we’ve endured many changes in our industry during this time. Sometimes, our choice

Plaintiffs’ attorneys in the Gibson copycat commission lawsuit are seeking $36.8 million, or one-third of the $110.6 million total settlement in the case, according to documents filed on Tuesday.This amount is only for the Gibson suit, which was combined with the Umpa suit in April, as the settlemen

David Heilman, principal for HomeGrown Financial in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, didn’t feel like he had to shake up his approach to working with seniors when he became involved in the reverse mortgage industry. Having experience in the health care field prior to entering the mortgage business, i

In conjunction with National Senior Citizens Day on Wednesday, the New York Department of State’s Division of Consumer Protection is circulating a series of tips that aim to help older adults avoid financial scams and exploitation. One way that bad actors may try to take advantage of older Americans

Mortgage rates have been on a declining trend, but demand slowed down last week largely due to fewer refinance applications, an indication that the industry should not expect a mini refi boom yet.Mortgage applications dropped 10.1% for the week ending Aug. 16 compared to the previous week, according

A U.S. District Court judge in Texas on Tuesday blocked a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule banning noncompete agreements, which are commonly used in the mortgage and real estate industries.Judge Ada E. Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted plaintiff Ryan LLC,

Mortgage rates have moved lower in recent months, but Fannie Mae economists said Wednesday that this won’t be enough to increase the number of homes sold in the foreseeable future.Fannie Mae’s Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group downgraded its forecasts for 2024 and 2025 home sales based on

A coalition of interest groups oriented around climate issues has launched a social media campaign designed to pressure the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) into adopting up-to-date energy-efficiency standards for homes backed by the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddi

While there have not been any “horror stories” in the first few days since business practice changes mandated by the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement were implemented, that doesn’t mean it has been completely smooth sailing for real estate professionals

The landmark date of Aug. 17, 2024, has come and gone, and the real estate industry is still plugging along, despite the business practice changes mandated by the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement now being implemented nationwide.In the Greater Boston ar

The state of Montana has been more heavily promoting its state-based Reverse Annuity Mortgage (RAM) program for seniors. Unspent funds allocated to the program can be put to use by assisting the state’s older residents with reverse mortgage financing at a relatively low interest rate when compared t

Unsold inventory of homes for sale has been on the rise all year. It hasn’t turned the corner yet — inventory rose across the country this week — but at less than 1% rate. There are some signs that inventory growth is slowing with newly lower mortgage rates and the end of the summer. In the years be

Compass is already one of the biggest brokerages in New York City — and it just got bigger.The Zweben Team, a high-producing group in Manhattan and Brooklyn, have left Douglas Elliman to join Compass at its headquarters in Manhattan. Led by Carolyn and Paul Zweben, the team has closed $800 million i

A majority of Americans are seriously concerned that their retirement will be negatively impacted by the rising costs and uncertainty associated with sudden, unexpected and more frequent extreme weather events taking place across the country. This is according to the 2024 Annual Retirement Study fro

Severe storms, winds and flooding in South Dakota earlier this summer has led President Joe Biden to issue an official disaster declaration for the state, which includes assistance for borrowers of government-insured mortgage financing from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The Move–CoStar battle is heating up as Move, the parent company of Realtor.com, filed an amended complaint on Friday in its suit against the Homes.com parent company and James Kaminsky, a former Realtor.com employee who is now an editor at Homes.com.In the suit, Move alleges that in January 2024, K

The National Association of Realtors has made things a bit more official with Nykia Wright. In an email sent by President Kevin Sears to trade group members, obtained by HousingWire, NAR has decided to name Wright as its new CEO.Wright was named as NAR’s interim CEO in early November 2023, after lon