Mortgage Equity Partners Merges with Stepstone Mortgage
Lynnfield-based Mortgage Equity Partners has combined forces with Stepstone Mortgage in a merger finalized at the beginning of the month.
Former RE Agent Pleads Guilty to Larceny, Receives Two-Year Sentence
A former Boston-based real estate agent has pleaded guilty and been sentenced in connection with stealing more than $166,000 from 19 individuals, including his coworkers and acquaintances.
Back Bay Coldwell Banker Office Honored for 2017 Performance
Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC has announced its 2017 year-end award recipients for numerous company, team and agent categories in North America.
Mortgage Applications Tail Off as Rates Climb
Mortgage applications decreased 6.6 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 16, 2018.
Planning Urban Suburbia
After studying history, architecture and economics, David Dixon discovered his talent for design by chance and has been following that passion ever since. He’s won numerous awards for his planning and architecture work and has written several books; he co-edited the recently released “Suburban Remix: Creating the Next Generation of Urban Places.” The book is written for anyone who lives in, works in or cares about the future of real estate in suburban America, he said. More recently, he’s been following his newfound passion, spending time with his 4-year-old grandson, Giacomo.
Driverless Cars Will Radically Change Real Estate
Flying cars might still be a ways off, but driverless cars are much closer to reality than most consumers realize – and it’s difficult to overstate how much they’re going to impact the economy, perhaps most dramatically real estate.
Gloucester Man Accused of Million-Dollar Real Estate Scam
A Gloucester man is accused by Secretary of State William Galvin’s office of defrauding elderly investors out of more than $1 million.
Presti Installed as 2018 GBAR President
Marie Presti, broker-owner of The Presti Group in Newton, is officially the 2018 president of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors (GBAR). She was installed in ceremonies held at the Boston-Newton Marriott in Newton last week.
CFPB Will ‘Go No Further’ than Fulfilling Statutory Requirements
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau yesterday released its five-year strategic plan, marking a change in enforcement strategy and laying out its mission and strategic objectives under the new administration.
Early-Stage Mortgage Delinquencies Dip Again in November as Hurricanes’ Impact Wanes
Mortgage delinquencies across the country and in Massachusetts dropped again in November, to some of the lowest rates in a decade.
NAR/DOJ Data-Sharing Settlement to Expire in November
A 2008 settlement between the National Association of Realtors and the U.S. Department of Justice is set to expire in November, prompting speculation about how the Realtor organization will control access to listing information going forward.
ERA Key Realty Services Merges with HUNT Real Estate ERA
The second largest brokerage firm in the ERA network, HUNT Real Estate ERA, has merged with ERA Key Realty Services, which also ranks in the top 10, significantly expanding the reach of the combined companies.
Zillow Group Reports Record Earnings of $1.1B in 2017
Zillow Group Inc. posted record earnings of nearly $1.1 billion in 2017 and projects revenue in excess of $1.3 billion in 2018.
MassHousing Financed $14.3M Preservation of Affordable Housing in Fenway
MassHousing provided $14.3 million in financing to the nonprofit Fenway Community Development Corporation, for the renovation and preservation of 52 affordable housing units at the Fenway CDC’s Burbank Gardens community in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood.
January Employment Report: A Mixed Bag For Housing
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 200,000 in January and the unemployment
rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
Employment continued to trend up in construction, food services and drinking places,
health care, and manufacturing.
Sinking Inventory Drives Home Prices Higher
Economics 101 says increasing demand coupled with decreasing supply equals rising prices – and to the surprise of no one, the end of this trend in the Bay State’s real estate market is nowhere in sight. The median sale price in 2017 jumped 5 percent to $365,000, a new record high, according to recently released analysis from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. The number of single-family homes sales dropped 1 percent year over year in the state – a difference of just 102 sales.
Writer, Lawyer, Professor, Realtor
After working as a journalist for many years after college, Shel Toplitt left the field to study law, becoming a litigator and university professor. He taught journalism and media law in Greater Boston for two decades before becoming a Realtor last year.
Keller Williams Posts Record Q4 Earnings
Keller Williams is No. 1 in units and sales volume in the U.S., the company announced yesterday.
Deutsche Bank, Ocwen Financial, and Altisource Accused of Racial Discrimination
The National Fair Housing Alliance and 19 fair housing organizations from across the country today filed a housing discrimination lawsuit in federal district court in Chicago against a number of organizations.
Federal Appeals Court Finds CFPB Structure Constitutional
A federal appeals court yesterday ruled that the leadership structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is constitutional, reversing a 2016 ruling that found the opposite.
