News

In the world of modern real estate appraisal, the toolbox is getting bigger—and a little weirder. Alongside clipboards and comp sheets, today’s appraiser might wield regression models, automated valuation algorithms, and more acronyms than a federal agency. It’s tempting to think that with all this tech, we can simply “compute” our way to a credible value.

The Federal Reserve is keeping rates steady at its targeted range of 4% to 4.25% and is waiting to see how President Donald Trump’s administration’s tariffs will impact the economy.

The Fed met last week and did not signal a rate decrease. “Look at the state of the economy,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said. “The labor work is solid, inflation is low. We can afford to be patient as things unfold. There’s no real cost to our waiting at this point.” Now that this news has settled in, here is how insiders see it impacting lending going forward:

The Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday afternoon concluded its bi-monthly meeting and announced it was holding the federal funds rate at 4.25%-4.50%.

Why leadership, innovation, and mentorship matter more than ever in the mortgage industry’s next chapter

As housing finance enters another challenging year, the mortgage business in 2025 will be significantly affected by a few emerging trends we may categorize as the good, the bad, and the ugly. Let’s begin with the ugly trends.

Mortgage activity was already slowing as uncertainty about interest rates, house price movements and employment kept borrowers on the sidelines. But President Trump’s rollout of his large-scale trade policies on Wednesday might add fuel to the fire, industry executives say.