"January 2025" Archives

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Side, other brokerages settle new copycat commission lawsuit

The real estate industry is facing yet another copycat commission lawsuit. But unlike previous cases, this one appears to have simply been a vessel to facilitate nationwide settlement agreements.  Filed on Monday in Missouri, the lawsuit’s lead plaintiff is Jeremy Keel, but other named plaintiffs include some well-known names in the real estate space, including…

Senate banking chairman says CFPB changes could come ‘soon’

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, recently told a group of reporters that news about changes at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) under the Trump administration could be imminent. The news was first reported by American Banker. Scott told a group of reporters that…

RMF-backed proprietary securitization undergoing further review

A securitization of private reverse mortgages originated by Reverse Mortgage Funding (RMF) will require additional review due to the lender’s 2022 bankruptcy, according to a statement on the securitization issued by credit rating agency KBRA. “RMF Proprietary Issuance Trust 2019-1 (RPIT 2019-1),” which saw ratings assigned by DBRS Morningstar in mid-2020, has a key indenture…

In leaving rates alone, the Fed hides behind solid labor market

The Federal Reserve didn’t raise or cut interest rates today, but the meeting highlighted something I have been emphasizing since 2022: the Fed is shaping its policy around the labor market more than inflation. Both times when mortgage rates fell without Fed rate cuts (in late 2022-early 2023 and in mid-2024), it was primarily due…