Your Guide to Optimizing LinkedIn for Real Estate Agents

While many agents are all-in on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, there’s another social media platform that’s incredibly powerful: LinkedIn. Using LinkedIn for real estate is a hidden gem for connecting with local business professionals. It also allows you to target your prospecting in a more purposef

Mr. Cooper won’t be onboarding as many Flagstar employees as initially anticipated

Mr. Cooper won’t be onboarding as many Flagstar Bank employees as initially projected in its $1.4 billion deal to acquire the depository bank’s residential mortgage servicing operations.Multiple sources told HousingWire that Flagstar began layoffs on Friday. The employees said that additional termin

Federal workers union sends cease and desist to HUD, OPM over DOGE directive

A directive handed down by the Elon Musk-led U.S. DOGE Service runs afoul of the law and collective bargaining agreements at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) while infringing upon employee privacy protections. This is according to the American Federation of Government Emplo

Maverix Advisory Group adds Kevin Van Eck as principal

Maverix Advisory Group has added industry veteran Kevin Van Eck to its leadership roster.Van Eck will assume the role of principal after a 16-year tenure at @properties. He served in multiple positions there, most recently as president of affiliate strategy at Christie’s International Real Estate, w

Can government job cuts lead to lower mortgage rates for spring?

Could the loss of jobs in the government sector and the withdrawal of funding from the economy significantly increase the unemployment rate and a surge in jobless claims? If this happens, will we see lower mortgage rates this spring? It’s an intriguing thought, especially considering how this aligns

DOGE to federal employees it instructed to stop working: Show us what you worked on or be fired

After being plagued for years by civil investigative demands and lawsuits from the Department of Justice (DOJ), the real estate industry hoped for looser antitrust enforcement under a second Trump administration. Although enforcement experts were initially skeptical, the latest action taken by the E

Fello CEO Ryan Young on 30-day listing challenge and community building initiatives

In the latest episode of the Power House podcast, Zebulon Lowe, director of HousingWire‘s Content Studio, sits down with Ryan Young, co-founder and CEO of marketing automation platform Fello. During the conversation, Lowe and Young cover Fello’s expansion goals, its technology usage and its upcoming

Trump allies fear DOGE’s methods to dismantle CFPB could backfire: report

Not everyone in the Trump orbit is apparently happy with Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) method of picking apart the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).Some Trump aides and advisers fear that DOGE is “moving too fast and breaking too many things,” Bloomberg reported S

Christie’s Sereno founders explore their history and dissect a key business decision

In a recent episode of the RealTrending podcast, host Tracey Velt sat down with Chris Trapani and Ryan Iwanaga, co-founders and leaders of Christie’s International Real Estate Sereno. In this conversation, Trapani and Iwanaga explore their journey from childhood friendship to co-ownership of the lar

Rocket plays the long game with its renter rewards program

The recently announced RocketRentRewards program from Rocket Mortgage — which the company says is the homeownership industry’s first offer to provide closing cost credits for renters — allows homebuyers who use Rocket as their lender to earn 10% back on their last 12 months of rental payments.Renter

NC governor needs $1.4B in block grants for post-Helene recovery. That could be a problem

Seeking to maximize the impact of $1.4 billion in federal disaster recovery funding stemming from the impacts of Hurricane Helene, newly-minted North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein (D) is seeking public input to determine how best to address “unmet housing and economic revitalization hurricane recovery ne

InGenius hires Sue Woodard as chief customer officer

InGenius, a data provider for the mortgage and real estate industries, has appointed industry veteran Sue Woodard as its chief customer officer.Woodard, a senior adviser at STRATMOR Group, brings more than 30 years of experience in financial services and mortgage lending. She will continue her advis

GOP bills would eliminate funding for the CFPB

Two Republican lawmakers from Texas have introduced bills that would end funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the latest in a series of swift moves by the Trump administration that target the embattled regulator.H.R. 814, sponsored by Rep. Keith Self, and S. 303, sponsored by

Longbridge CEO Chris Mayer on reverse mortgage partnerships with forward companies

In 2024, a key element for the reverse mortgage industry was a sense of newfound collaboration that many industry participants felt with forward mortgage players. Longbridge Financial largely sees that dynamic as one that is likely to continue, according to CEO Chris Mayer.In an interview with Housi

With Ginnie Mae under fire, concern about market disruption is growing

Rumors of large-scale staffing cuts at Ginnie Mae are spooking Wall Street and the housing industry, who fear potential repercussions to the mortgage-backed securities market.Mortgage lenders and developers are reportedly working their contact lists in Washington, D.C. to try and protect the company

Trump’s special envoy says California wildfire aid will come with conditions

Richard Grenell, the special envoy to President Donald Trump, said there will be strings attached to California wildfire aid, Politico reported on Friday.During a conversation with Politico’s Dasha Burns at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Grenell shared t

Mortgage rates fall as economic softness sends bond yields lower 

Mortgage rates decreased again today on weak economic data, following last Friday’s similar drop in the 10-year yield. Furthermore, the mortgage spreads in today’s pricing are favorable. According to the latest quote from Mortgage News Daily, mortgage rates are now around 6.89%. This represents a de

eXp rides Clear Cooperation to international growth

While Robert Reffkin and Compass are touting their success while pushing for the repeal of the National Association of Realtors‘ (NAR) Clear Cooperation Policy, eXp Realty executives are claiming that the North American MLS system is helping to fuel their company’s strong international growth. “I wa

Judge clears way for federal layoffs, including at the CFPB and VA

A U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., cleared the way for mass layoffs of federal employees — including at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) — when he ruled Thursday that four labor unions that filed suit against the Trump administ

NAR, Phoenix Realtors settle dispute over three-way agreement

The Phoenix Association of Realtors (PAR) has blinked first in its game of chicken with the National Association of Realtors (NAR).The groups announced Thursday that they’ve come to an agreement that will pare down PAR’s membership option to agents who are not Realtors, bringing PAR into compliance