HUD secretary Turner spars with lawmakers on housing crisis during oversight hearing
Lawmakers from both parties agreed the housing market remains under acute strain, with high mortgage rates, thin inventory and stubborn affordability pressures weighing on buyers. But the session quickly split along familiar partisan lines over whether HUD should be shrinking its workforce, unwinding civil rights rules and tying housing stress to immigration while also helping implement president Donald Trump's new order targeting institutional investors in single family homes.
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Federal Housing Policy Turns Toward Institutional Buyers
The Trump Administration has issued an Executive Order designed to restrict large institutional investors from acquiring single-family homes that could otherwise be purchased by individual owner-occupants. The Order, "Stopping Wall Street From Competing With Main Street Homebuyers," aims to preserve homeownership opportunities for American families and first-time buyers. The Executive Order frames homeownership as a foundational element of middle-class wealth building and asserts that rising interest rates and inflation have reduced affordability for many prospective buyers.
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Title Expert Ron Yacobozzi of Avon, OH, Breaks Down Real Estate Closings for HelloNation
What makes a real estate closing feel quick and easy when so much is at stake? As a HelloNation article explains, the smoothest closings are usually the result of weeks of detailed work handled quietly by title professionals before closing day ever arrives. Ron Yacobozzi with 1st Nationwide Title Agency, Ltd. offers insight into the behind-the-scenes steps that protect buyers during the real estate closing process. According to the article, the most important part of a transaction often happens before any documents are signed or keys are exchanged.
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Industry Mourns The Passing Of FirstAm's Kurt Pfotenhauer
Kurt Pfotenhauer, executive vice president and vice chairman of First American Title Insurance Company, has passed away according to a release from the firm. "Everyone within the First American family of companies mourns the passing of Kurt Pfotenhauer," said Mark Seaton, CEO, First American Financial Corporation in a statement. "Our deepest sympathies go out to his wife, Nancy, children, and grandchildren. Kurt was a distinguished leader in our industry and a valued member of the First American team."
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Maryland attorney general secures $1.05M settlement with title insurance companies
On January 14, Maryland's attorney general announced that the state's Consumer Protection Division (CPD) entered into a settlement resolving allegations that several joint venture title agency companies formed between a title agency and real estate agents or brokers unlawfully paid fees to those agents and brokers in exchange for referring consumers for title insurance.
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