2025

This Trending Now story features the most-saved outdoor photos uploaded to Houzz between March 15 and June 15, 2025.On a warm summer evening, few things compare to unwinding outdoors — whether it’s sitting beneath the twinkle of cafe lights, gathering around the soft glow of a...

Westcor Land Title Insurance Co. is now the second title vendor taking part in Fannie Mae‘s title insurance waiver pilot program. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte announced the move in a social media post. The waiver pilot, relaunched by Fannie Mae in March 2024, allows approved mortgage lenders to use an automated title review process to assess title risk during loan...

Lead generation for mortgage brokers and officers is all about consistently filling your pipeline with individuals who are interested in buying a home now or in the future. Considering the fluctuating state of the housing market and inflated mortgage rates, it’s even more crucial to showcase your expertise and amazing service to bring qualified clients into your orbit. So, are you leveraging all the...

A nearly $900,000 insurance check from State Farm failed to clear for more than a week, raising alarm for an Altadena, California, homeowner still displaced by January’s wildfires. Amelia McDonald, a veteran insurance defense attorney, deposited a check for $876,354.07 on June 30. But by July 9, the funds were still unavailable. A Chase bank representative told her the account associated with the...

Welcome back to Tech Pulse — HousingWire‘s weekly series rounding up the latest in technology — including tools, integrations and trends that impact mortgage and real estate. Here’s what happened this week: Realtor.com adds property tax appeal tool with Ownwell integration Realtor.com now offers property tax monitoring and appeals through a new partnership with Ownwell. With rising...

It’s no secret that low-income housing options are in short supply across much the country. And a report this week out of Fairfax County, Virginia, illustrates the challenges that seniors can face when trying to find subsidized housing. Fairfax County, which borders the District of Columbia and is home to about 1.1 million residents, is experiencing a “disconnect” between its affordable housing...

It scrubs the floors, walls, and even skims the water...

Remodeler confidence in the U.S. dipped in the second quarter as ongoing economic uncertainty and elevated interest rates tempered market momentum, according to new data released this week by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index (RMI) declined to 59 in Q2, down four points from the previous quarter. While still above the key 50-point threshold...

The Trump administration announced Thursday that it has ended the major policy provisions of the Biden-era Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) task force, “effectively disbanding” a program that sought to eliminate racial bias in the appraisal process. The directive primarily applies to two rules. One required appraisers and mortgage lenders to comply with the Fair Housing Act and...

“Marry the house, date the rate” is a phrase that was popularized during the post-pandemic era of rising mortgage rates. Lenders urged borrowers to focus on finding a house they were head over heels with and worry about their interest rate down the line. Borrowers who were accustomed to rates hovering near 3% didn’t realize how long “dating the rate” would take. This left many to be in an...