Life after the 2008 financial crisis hasn’t been kind to the appraisal industry. Stagnant pay and increasingly shorter turnaround times have prompted tens of thousands to leave the profession, and the presence of appraisal management companies (AMCs) has rankled industry veterans. The tension between AMCs and appraisers has reached the federal government, as have other…
"November 2024" Archives
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With relentlessly high mortgage rates and stubbornly high home prices, the mortgage payment on the median priced home in the U.S. is now back up above the 2023 and 2024 levels for the first time since August. Affordability is getting worse for homebuyers this fall. That does not bode well for home sales in the…
Ever since president-elect Donald Trump announced his appointment of onetime Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Tesla CEO Elon Musk to co-lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency,“ housing agencies have been on edge. The soon-to-be-created department is ironically referred to as DOGE — a nod to the dog-themed cryptocurrency by the same name that…
There’s nothing quite like an 11th-hour twist. On Sunday evening, less than 48 hours before the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) commission lawsuit settlement agreement is set to head for final approval, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed its long-awaited statement of interest in the Sitzer/Burnett suit. DOJ notes in the filing that it did not…