As mortgage rates near 6%, this key figure could unlock a refinancing wave after the Fed meeting
Borrowers who took out mortgages over the past few years of high interest rates and a largely frozen housing market could finally see a big opportunity to refinance. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut rates by another 25 basis points next week to a 3.75% to 4% range, which would be its lowest level since Nov. 2022. It's helped that Friday's tame consumer price index all-but guaranteed that rate cut will happen.
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New broker group demands accountability from NAR
A new broker group has formed with the goal of holding the National Association of Realtors' feet to the fire for the betterment of the real estate industry. Called the Pro-Agent Restore Trust in NAR Working Group, it is electing to keep its 15 members largely secret, though they are the CEOs of some of the largest brokerages across the country and collectively represent about 100,000 agents, Dan Duffy, CEO of United Real Estate and the group's current spokesperson, told Real Estate News in an exclusive interview.
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Homebuilders push new frontier for Fannie and Freddie: Construction loans
Homebuilders are using President Donald Trump's growing calls for government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to get house construction "going" to push a controversial proposal: getting the mortgage giants to back construction loans. The industry's long-desired policy would create a secondary market where certain construction loans, which homebuilders procure to start new housing projects, could be packaged and sold.
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Old Republic to Acquire Small Farmowner Insurer Everett Cash Mutual
Old Republic International Corp., the Chicago-based specialty insurer, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Everett Cash Mutual Insurance Co. and its affiliated companies (ECM), following its conversion to a stock company in a sponsored demutualization transaction. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
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Class Sues Fidelity Title Over 'Kickbacks'
The class claims that Fidelity ran the scheme using a web-based platform called TransactionPoint, which allowed kickbacks and referral fees to be disguised as 'sublicense fees' or 'access fees.' "Through TransactionPoint, agents or brokers selected real estate settlement service providers for real estate transactions and, in turn, real estate brokers and agents entered into standard form sublicensing agreements with vendors, including defendants, to enable the vendors to be listed and selected through TransactionPoint as service providers for the transaction," the complaint states.
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Old Republic takes Citibank to court over $525k escrow fraud claim
Old Republic National Title Insurance Company filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on October 15, 2025, naming Citibank, N.A. as defendant. The complaint alleges that an unknown bad actor impersonated the true owners of vacant land in King County, Washington, and purported to sell the property to an entity called KKM23, LLC.
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