Real estate fraud is on the rise, so industry professionals need to take steps to avoid falling victim to scams in the marketplace.
That was the message at the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) annual conference recently held in Boston.
Read on to hear how Realtors can stay safe from data breaches that make consumers susceptible to fraud schemes, and how NAR plans to prevent real estate fraud.
Thanks to a growing member base, credit unions are on point to steal a substantial mortgage share from big banks and independent lenders, according to the latest Stratmor Insights report.
According to Stratmor data, credit union membership growth has averaged more than 4 percent annually since 2016, five times the rate of the U.S. population growth, and loan balances have increased by more than 10 percent each year since 2014.
Read on for details from the October report.
Richard Cordray’s departure from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to become governor of Ohio came to an end Nov. 6 when Republican Mike DeWine defeated Cordray to earn the governorship.
Cordray’s resignation from the bureau sparked a battle for leadership control between Deputy Director Leandra English and presidential appointee Mick Mulvaney which lasted nearly six months.
Read on for more details from Cordray’s defeat in the governor’s election from a blog written by RESPRO’s former longtime president and executive director.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) needs a better system in place to refer cases of potential noncompliance, according to a new study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Two of three of HUD’s program offices do not provide staff with specific guidance on when referrals are necessary.
Read on to learn other details from the report, which addressed properties that do not pass physical inspections and other issues.
Nearly 10 percent of Realtors in a new survey reported an increase in property values located near marijuana dispensaries.
In addition, a majority of Realtors who had sold a grow house had no difficulty making the sale, had no issues surrounding the home’s title when selling, and disclosed that the property was used as a grow house at sale, according to the survey from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Read on for more results and insights from a presentation made at the NAR annual conference in Boston.
As the National Association of Realtors opened its annual conference in Boston, Chief Economist Lawrence Yun told attendees that the association expected flat overall home sales and a slowing increase in home prices in 2019.
Yun said home sales to date are only 1.5 percent lower than 2017, which was the best year for home sales in a decade. He called it “a mild twinge in the data.”
Read on for more from Yun’s presentation.
A Lake Forest, Ill.-based mortgage company has agreed to pay $1.2 million to eligible consumers seeking mortgage loans who were defrauded by one of the company’s branch managers.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) recently entered into an assurance of voluntary compliance with Diamond Residential Mortgage Corp. related to alleged mortgage fraud at Diamond’s branch in Springfield, Ill.
Read on for details from the settlement agreement.
A common question around Halloween usually involves whether real estate listing brokers must disclose the history of stigmatized properties – whether that history includes ghosts, violent crimes or death.
In many states, including Illinois, the answer is no.
Read on to learn why the general counsel for Illinois Realtors believes brokers often do not have a legal duty to disclose that someone believes a house is haunted.
Lenders and title agents increasingly are working together to manage services they offer to consumers.
Meanwhile, lenders have been under more regulatory scrutiny to watch over their third-party vendors.
RESPA News spoke with attorney/shareholder Brian Nettleingham of Maddin, Hauser, Roth & Heller, P.C. about the different factors financial institutions must consider when negotiating vendor management agreements from both business and regulatory perspectives.
Read on for more details from Nettleingham.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has targeted landlords in Ohio and Wisconsin for alleged discrimination violations due to tenants’ disabilities and familial status.
One of the landlords is accused of refusing a resident’s request to have a designated parking space at her own expense. Another allegedly refused to rent to a married couple with five children.
Read on for details from both charges of discrimination.
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