At The Builder’s Daily Focus on Excellence Conference in Denver, we had a chance over breakfast to discuss what we were seeing in off-site housing. While we have come at this from different angles and have seen different aspects of it, we reached a similar conclusion. Both of us have believed for years that off-site building is simply inevitable—the way we do things has changed so little in a...

Keller Williams Realty Atlanta Partners has entered into a strategic partnership with Southeast Mortgage of Georgia — linking the state’s largest real estate franchise with its largest non-bank mortgage lender. Leaders say the agreement is intended to streamline the home buying and selling process by coordinating lending and real estate services through shared technology and aligned...

For almost 40 years of training real estate agents, one truth has stood out above the rest: memorized scripts don’t move people. In fact, they can actually hold you back and hurt your business. I’ve long been called the “godfather of metaphors and analogies,” and for good reason — it’s the basis of all my coaching. Why metaphors beat memorized scripts The reason I teach agents to...

Onity Group, the parent company of PHH Mortgage Corp. and its reverse mortgage arm, Liberty Reverse Mortgage, announced this week that it has chosen to stop originating reverse mortgages. Instead, Onity said it’s selling almost all of its reverse mortgage business to Finance of America (FOA). PHH is selling reverse mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) for about 40,000 Ginnie Mae-backed Home Equity...

Compass adds the Dianne Van Volkenburg Team to its Great Falls, Va., office — bringing more than 80 years of combined experience in residential and land transactions, subdivision work, acquisitions and new construction. The team is led by Principal and Owner Dianne Van Volkenburg. The 2025 RealTrends Verified shows Van Volkenburg placing No. 4 in Virginia with more than $120 million in 2024 sales...

This Michigan couple with two young kids wanted to update their bland and dated kitchen. Heavy upper cabinets crowded two corner windows and blocked natural light. A small island lacked both seating and storage, and the refrigerator jutted out past the cabinetry. A narrow pantry tucked...

Image Acton says smaller and retail investors are under-allocated to real estate...

Biggest Share of Home Price Declines Since 2012 The American housing market is entering a new phase of cooling, with a majority of homeowners now seeing their property values slip from last year's highs. New analysis from Zillow shows that 53% of U.S. homes have lost value over the past 12 months -- the largest share since 2012, when the market was clawing its way out of the post-recession trough. The...

The plaintiffs in the Taylor Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) suit filed against Zillow in mid-September filed an amended complaint on Wednesday.  The amended complaint contains testimony from a dozen anonymous current and former Zillow-affiliated loan officers and agents that corroborate the claims made by the 10 homeowner plaintiffs. The latest complaint maintains the same core...

Bill Ackman’s plan to relist Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac faces skepticism over whether the federal government would be willing to forgive billions of dollars in senior preferred investments. Even if it did, uncertainties around capital requirements would still limit share value, according to analysts at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods (KBW).“While shares are likely to re-rate up sharply if Treasury forgives...