2025

Following last month’s release of the so-called “skinny budget” from the White House, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released a 1,200-plus page appendix for the proposal. It includes projections related to the performance of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) portion of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund. According to the data — detailing the U.S. Department of...

Prudent AI — a California-based financial technology company — has released what it calls the first upfront automated underwriting system (AUS) designed specifically for non-qualified mortgages (non-QMs). Unlike traditional AUS tools — which assess loan eligibility later in the mortgage process — Prudent AI’s system reviews key borrower data such as income, credit and assets at the point of...

Airbnb growth trends drive where and how much short-term rental investors earn. In 2025, knowing the numbers is non-negotiable. Our latest snapshot shows the US average Airbnb occupancy dipping...

Find major deals on accent chairs, dining sets, fire pit tables, and...

Tossing batteries can pose some serious risks. Learn why it's unwise to do so, and how to safely dispose of them...

This dreamy property in the coastal mountains south of San Francisco already had a pool, lawn areas, gardens and mature trees, including a large Japanese maple and many oaks. The homeowners wanted to make the landscape design more refined, cohesive and colorful, so they hired landscape architect...

Hurricane Risk, Insurance Costs Stall U.S. Coastal Home Sales in 2025 Now that the 2025 hurricane season has officially begun, according to NOAA, a new and growing concern is emerging for homeowners along the U.S. coast -- especially in an already tight housing market with historically low inventory. The rising cost and shrinking availability of property insurance are starting to impact home values and...

Industry professionals were full of optimism heading into the spring that the housing market could pick up after a sluggish start to 2025. But heading into the summer, that optimism has largely faded. Existing-home sales are hovering around 4 million and many markets that are typically fruitful for homebuilders have stalled. In its midyear housing market report, John Burns Research & Consulting...

In a move that’s designed to simplify prior policy, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) on Tuesday published a new Mortgagee Letter (ML) that targets borrower default engagement practices that were published in the waning days of the Biden administration. ML 2025-14 makes changes to final guidance first floated last summer to open up communications between mortgage lenders and defaulted borrowers...

While reverse mortgages in the U.S. have struggled to push beyond their current market penetration rate for the past several years, their international equivalents don’t always have the same challenges. Lenders in other countries who make use of home equity tapping in a similar way can have different perceptions and market activity in their territories — and some U.S.-based lenders have taken...