Author: Michael Gersitz

As the $600 COVID-19 unemployment bonus comes to an end this month, many people will be left not knowing how they will pay their bills. In anticipation of that, the City of Austin, Texas, on Tuesday announced the rollout of

Single-family rent growth slowed in May, according to CoreLogic. The annualized increase in rent slowed to 1.7%, the smallest gain in nearly a decade, down from 2.9% a year ago, according to the CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index. Leading up to

With great power comes great responsibility – and the independent mortgage broker community is steadily increasing its leverage within the mortgage industry.   Mortgage brokers have created outstanding momentum over the last few years, making up roughly 20% of the overall

Mortgage and real estate associations have long served as a backbone for their members, with the COVID-19 pandemic only reaffirming this support as members mobilized quickly to provide COVID-19 relief. As their members quickly took action to donate supplies, money

U.S. existing-home sales rose 21% in June, the biggest monthly gain on record, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales of single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops rose to a seasonally adjusted 4.72 million at an annual pace after

U.S. home prices gained 4.9% in May from a year earlier as low mortgage rates and a shortage of listings boosted competition for properties and kept values growing even amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The pace was lower than the annualized

As mortgage forbearances dropped from 8.55% to 7.8% in the past five weeks, forbearances that received extensions jumped from 6.52% to 48.06%. Is this a sign of trouble for homeowners and the economy? Let’s examine what’s driving this trend, key

This article was written for FinLedger, HW Media’s new fintech-focused news brand designed specifically for financial services professionals in banking, insurance and real estate. Stay tuned for updates. The competition in the home insurance space continues to heat up. On the same day that insurtech

DIY landlord and renter platform Avail announced Wednesday that it raised $4.2 million in a Series A round of funding, led by St. Louis-based venture capital firm Cultivation Capital. The company said the funding will go toward accelerating its position

Thursday evening, Association of Independent Mortgage Experts Chairman Anthony Casa announced he will be stepping back as the head of the association following backlash from lewd and sexist videos he sent out. In a statement to HousingWire, Casa said he

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on oversight and investigations held a hearing on Thursday examining how servicers provided clarity and information on the CARES Act and forbearance options for borrowers. The discussion, titled “Protecting Homeowners During the Pandemic: Oversight of

This article was written for FinLedger, HW Media’s new fintech-focused news brand designed specifically for financial services professionals in banking, insurance and real estate. Stay tuned for updates. An increasing number of real estate startups want to offer a fully integrated platform, giving users the

Popular solutions in the real estate industry, while in-person open houses were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are 3D home tours, virtual home tours and even FaceTime home tours. In April, realtor.com said that about 25% of

If there is one thing to be learned from the #BlackLivesMatter eruption this year, it is that race and racism remain as an alarming and polarizing social chasm that has never been fully addressed. From the founding fathers who debated

Startup Knock announced Thursday it is getting out of the real estate brokerage business and becoming a lender. This morning, the company unveiled a major shift in strategy with its new Home Swap program, under which Knock serves as the

Single-family housing authorizations in June sunk 10.02% year-over-year – the steepest year-over-year decline in the past five years, according to a report by Buildfax, a property condition data service provider. Month over month, June experienced a 3.77% decline in single-family

The average mortgage rate fell to 2.98% this week, breaking the 3% threshold for the first time, as investors concerned about a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic fled to the safety of the bond markets and the Federal Reserve continued