Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
Several fires burning more than 45 square miles in the Los Angeles area have forced more than 100,000 residents from their homes and killed five people, The Associated Press reported on Thursday. Nearly 2,000 homes, businesses and other structures have been destroyed, with many displaced residents scouting for rental properties and temporary shelter.
Appraisal Buzz
JANUARY 9, 2025
In 2025, Florida and the Mid-Atlantic are the greatest locations for first-time homebuyers to begin their road toward home ownership. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was ranked as the top city in the 2025 Realtor.com Best Markets for First-Time Homebuyers report, followed by Rochester, New York; Villas, Florida; Lauderdale Lakes, Florida; Altamonte Springs, Florida; Lansing, Michigan; North Little Rock, Arkansas; Baltimore; Tonawanda, New York; and Wilmington, Delaware.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
This week, the Seattle City Council had its first meeting of 2025 and housing was a key topic of discussion. But if the meeting itself was any indication, determining a path forward for the citys severe housing shortage will be a struggle as elected leaders attempt to ascertain a sustainable plan for the next decade, according to reporting by The Seattle Times.
Appraisal Buzz
JANUARY 9, 2025
In December, the median asking rent per square foot dipped 0.1% month over month and 1.9% year-over-year (YoY) to $1.78according to a new Redfin report. Due to an increase in vacancies caused by an infusion of supply, asking rents have been gradually declining. In the third quarter, when data is available, apartment completions increased 58.1% year-over-year (YoY) to reach their highest level since 1974.
Speaker: Timothy Allsopp
Payment challenges often lead to delayed projects, financial bottlenecks, and strained relationships. With construction projects becoming more complex, outdated processes are no longer sustainable. By refining financial workflow, companies can improve cash flow, reduce error, and foster trust between stakeholders. Discover practical strategies for redesigning payment systems to overcome workflow challenges while creating a smoother, more reliable process for contractors and subcontractors alike.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
In the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, home prices have steadily risen, although 2024 saw more stabilized levels of affordability across the nation. According to property data provider CoreLogic , 17 states posted new home-price records in November. CoreLogic released its November 2024 Home Price Index (HPI) and HPI forecast this week, which showed that U.S. single-family home prices increased by 3.4% year over year in November.
Property Appraisal Zone brings together the best content for appraisal professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
A startup that wants to help independent real estate agents and brokers manage the logistics of their business is getting a big boost. RLTYco, a New York-based company that provides services related to commissions, taxes and health care, has secured $20 million in Series A funding with the hope of providing real estate professionals access to their commissions in as little as 24 hours.
Appraisal Buzz
JANUARY 9, 2025
This article originally appeared in the January 2025 edition of MortgagePoint magazine, online now. Title fraud, though not new, recently gained national attention when a Missouri woman attempted to fraudulently auction Elvis Presleys Graceland estate. She falsely claimed the property was collateral for an unpaid loan, using fake loan documents and a fabricated foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
In 2024, more people moved out of Illinois than into the Prairie State. According to the National Movers Study conducted by United Van Lines , 60% of moves in Illinois last year were outbound, which was the second-highest percentage of outbound moves among all states. The most popular reasons for relocating out of state were family (cited by 25.9% of respondents), jobs (20.7%) and retirement (20.3%).
Real Estate News
JANUARY 9, 2025
The upstart brokerage offers both rev share and fee-based plans, which CEO Robert Palmer believes will be key to their growth. So far, it seems to be working.
Advertiser: Trellis
Trellis is a state trial court research and analytics platform that provides Real Estate Professionals (Buyers, Foreclosure, Loan Modification, etc.) with LEADS on Pre-Foreclosures, Lis Pendes, Distressed Assets and more — to help uncover **new** opportunities and grow their business. The process is quick and easy — and all in real time. Trellis will supply you with a link to the relevant dockets, a Leads sheet and access to its UI where applicable.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
The Hooper commission lawsuit plaintiffs and the brokerage defendants that have reached proposed settlement agreements are looking to make things official. On Wednesday, the Hooper plaintiffs along with remaining defendants Mark Spain Real Estate , eXp World Holdings , Weichert of North America and Atlanta Communities Real Estate Brokerage filed a motion for preliminary approval of their settlements and preliminary certification of the settlement class.
Appraisal Buzz
JANUARY 9, 2025
The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has published a Final Rule in the Federal Register to modernize and strengthen regulations for the HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME). HOME is one of the largest federal grant programs specifically for creating housing for disadvantaged households. The regulatory updates, announced today, incorporate feedback from stakeholders, community leaders, and participating jurisdictions who receive annual HOME grant funding.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
According to BatchService and ResiClub Analytics , there were approximately 1.2 million pocket listings or off-market real estate sales in the United States in 2024, with the vast majority happening in Texas and Florida. Pocket listings are more common in some areas of the country than others, yet its important to be familiar with them no matter where youre located.
Appraisal Buzz
JANUARY 9, 2025
Many commercial real estate (CRE) borrowers are feeling challenged these days, due to changes in post-pandemic behavior and a larger debt service caused by higher interest rates. While these may lead to higher defaults, S&P Global Market Intelligences latest report, Commercial Real Estate Outlook: Weathering the Storm reports that the stress will be different across various asset classes, and could take longer to play out than many think.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
In 2019, Chris A. Williams had a problem. He was working two jobs selling shoes at Foot Locker and cleaning cars at Enterprise but he wanted more out of life. He was 20 years old. He tried college, but like many young Americans today, he decided the math didnt work too much debt and too few opportunities. He considered the military but was tacitly rejected due to a heart murmur.
Appraisal Buzz
JANUARY 9, 2025
Mortgage rates continued to increase this week, with the average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage reaching 6.93%, up from 6.91% last week, according to Freddie Macs Primary Mortgage Market Survey. A year ago at this time, the average rate for a 30-year was 6.66%. In the first full week of the new year, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remained elevated at just under 7 percent, says Sam Khater, chief economist for Freddie Mac, in a statement.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
The raucous drama surrounding Las Vegas Realtors (LVR) has claimed two board members. Last week, outgoing President Merri Perry and Joshua Campa, the president-elect who was scheduled to take her position, resigned from the LVR board of directors and its committees, the trade group announced last week on its website. The Las Vegas Review-Journal was first to report the developments.
Real Estate News
JANUARY 9, 2025
With all deals now disclosed, the parties have requested preliminary approval, but the eXp and Weichert settlements are still under scrutiny in another court.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
The Mortgage Firm , a Florida-based mortgage lender, has agreed to invest $1.5 million to settle a redlining case with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the parties announced Wednesday. The DOJ accused the company of discrimination against predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan area.
Appraisal Buzz
JANUARY 9, 2025
Consumer confidence in the housing market waned in December, causing Fannie Maes Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) to drop 1.9 points compared with November to a score of 73.1. However the index is up 5.9 points compared with December 2023, due in part to ongoing mortgage rate optimism: A plurality of consumers continues to expect mortgage rates to decrease over the next 12 months.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
In a challenging and expensive housing market , some prospective homebuyers may compromise on certain standards and features to secure their purchase. But survey data released Thursday by Bright MLS found that some standards were top priorities for some buyers. The Maryland-headquartered MLS conducted a survey in mid-December that included 700 prospective homebuyers who were renting or living with others.
Real Estate News
JANUARY 9, 2025
Weekly averages moved closer to 7%, but upcoming labor market reports could change the trajectory.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
In the newest episode of the Top of Mind podcast , host Mike Simonsen , the founder and president of Altos Research , sits down for a conversation with Guy Berger, director of economic research at the The Burning Glass Institute. They explore the intersectionality of trends in the labor and housing markets. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Eyes on Housing
JANUARY 9, 2025
According to the U.S. Census Bureaus latest estimates, the U.S. resident population grew by 3,304,757 to a total population of 340,110,988. The population grew at a rate of 0.98%, the highest rate since 0.99% in 2001. This also marked the third straight increase in the growth rate of the U.S. population. The vintage population estimates.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in December released its 2023 Mortgage Market Activity and Trends report, which included a brief look at activity from the reverse mortgage industry based on Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data from 2023. While the majority of the data largely excluded reverse mortgages from trends in the broader mortgage market, the report did include a section dedicated to the origination of Home Equity Conversion Mortgages ( HECMs ).
Inman
JANUARY 9, 2025
As wildfires burned through LA County over the past three days, thousands of people were suddenly in need of temporary housing. The surge in demand is poised to create a spike in rental prices, agents said.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
Many retirees have said they rely largely and sometimes entirely on Social Security benefits as their primary income stream in retirement. But in instances where these payments may not be enough to make ends meet, other options should be considered and in the right situation, a reverse mortgage could be one such option. That’s according to a column published this week by USA Today , which assessed reverse mortgages in tandem with options such as personal savings, a part-time job and oth
Inman
JANUARY 9, 2025
Find out how this Houston, Texas, Realtor puts her two decades of expertise to work for clients and for the agents she influences.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
Ridgeland Mortgage , a recently formed joint venture between loanDepot and homebuilder Smith Douglas Homes , on Thursday announced the appointment of Teresa Carlile as president. In her new role, Carlile will lead Ridgelands growth strategy and daily operations. Teresa is a trusted leader in the mortgage industry, and as our first key hire, shes an exceptional addition to the Ridgeland Mortgage team, Dan Pea, executive vice president of national joint ventures for loanDepot, said in a statement.
Inman
JANUARY 9, 2025
Looking for a way to fight the lock-in effect in your market? According to real estate expert Ricky Carruth, new construction and builder incentives are the keys.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
In this weeks episode of the Power House podcast, HousingWire President Diego Sanchez is joined by Varun Krishna , CEO of Rocket Companies and Rocket Mortgage , to explore his background, Rockets tech-focused approach to servicing and retention, and its upcoming brand transformation in 2025. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. To kick off the episode, Krishna explores his background and how it aligns with Rockets growth strategy.
Appraiserblogs
JANUARY 9, 2025
The hidden costs of appraisal management companies (AMCs) in the real estate industry have faced growing scrutiny, as highlighted by a recent Business Insider article titled “The Hidden Middleman who cost homebuyers $12 billion dollars and counting.” The article examines the opaque practices of AMCs, which frequently charge exorbitant fees that can exceed the amount paid to the appraiser.
Housing Wire
JANUARY 9, 2025
Mortgage verification services firm Xactus announced this week that it appointed Mike Brown, its former chief integration officer, as its new chief product officer. This hiring underscores the company’s commitment to technology and product innovation. Brown will oversee Xactus’ product life cycle from ideation and development to launch and implementation.
Expert insights. Personalized for you.
484 
Let's personalize your content