Zillow poised for legal fight as agent antitrust case advances
Zillow must face antitrust claims alleging the company pressures real estate agents to steer clients to its mortgage lending services, a federal court ruled on Monday. On Sept. 28, Judge James L. Robart of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington denied the home search giant's motion to dismiss a case filed in January by Stephanie Dupuis, a Washington state agent who owns a real estate team in Kitsap County, on behalf of qualified class members.
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US mortgage rates jump by most in 4 years in latest week
The interest rate on the most common US home loan shot up by a quarter percentage point this week to the ?highest in almost three years on the back of surging ?government bond yields, dealing another setback to would-be home buyers.
The rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage now averages 7.28%, up from 7.03% a week ago, Freddie Mac ?data showed on Thursday. It was the largest weekly increase ?in about four years.
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Former Delano man sentenced in $10M real estate fraud scheme
Depiano was serving a 12-year sentence for a previous multimillion-dollar fraud conviction when he and others created fake identities for supposed real estate agents and shell companies that mirrored legitimate real estate companies. The group marketed properties online that were not actually for sale, including properties whose owners had died. They met with prospective buyers using the false identities and presented fabricated deeds, title reports and other documents to make the transactions appear legitimate.
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Title Insurance Changes Could Save Homeowners
The Trump administration is moving to reduce title insurance costs for homeowners, an issue with particular significance in New York, one of the nation's largest and most expensive title insurance markets. "Title insurance is often very redundant, and we're doing everything we can to ensure that the safety and soundness of the market is there, while at the same time getting rid of these redundant, unnecessary title policies," Pulte said. Pulte questioned why homeowners refinancing only several years after obtaining title insurance should necessarily pay for the process again.
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