California

New platform aims to ease California down payment burden

Zown, a real estate platform that offers upfront financial help to homebuyers, is expanding into California with a goal to ease the burden of down payments and elevated home prices. The service has launched in the Golden State after gaining traction in Canada, where it supported more than 250 homebuyers and facilitated $300 million-plus in […]

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Bipartisan Senate duo finds common ground on fighting wildfires

In the halls of U.S. democracy, bipartisanship is a difficult concept. But some topics seem more likely to warrant collaboration between Republicans and Democrats, especially when it comes to housing or housing-adjacent issues. One such issue is natural disasters, including wildfires. Two senators with different bases of support are uniting in their efforts to fight

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NAHREP’s top Latino loan officers closed $22B in volume in 2024

The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) on Wednesday released its annual Top 250 Latino Mortgage Originators Report, which recognizes the nation’s top-performing Latino mortgage professionals. NAHREP received nearly 5,000 nominations and is recognizing more than 600 Latino mortgage originators this year across various national and regional rankings. Even in a high interest

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California wildfire recovery event sought to offer guidance to reverse mortgage borrowers

For communities engulfed in the wildfires that took place earlier this year in the Los Angeles area, lives have been upended and additional strain has been placed on an already-stressed housing system in Southern California. But for wildfire victims who are also reverse mortgage borrowers, they may encounter problems stemming from a major disaster interacting

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California revokes City of Fresno’s ‘pro-housing’ designation

In a move seen as a blow to the city’s plans to develop affordable housing, the mayor of Fresno, California, announced during a city council meeting that the city has lost a pro-housing designation from the state due to perceived failures in expanding its affordable housing stock. In April 2023, Fresno was announced as one

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MetroList introduces voice-controlled property data app

MetroList, the largest MLS in Northern California, has rolled out a new “add/edit” voice-controlled app for real estate agents to collect and input property data directly from the field. The app, developed in partnership with real estate technology company Lundy Inc. — allows agents to speak property details aloud while walking through homes, with the

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State Farm’s added California rate hike request gets pushback

State Farm is going back to California’s regulator for a higher homeowners rate increase. One week after State Farm General, the California division of the State Farm parent company, won approval from California insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara for a 17% emergency rate increase, effective June 1, it amended its previous increase request. State Farm General

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Loan officers detail the challenges of explaining reverse mortgages

Reverse mortgage professionals encounter a variety of challenges when introducing product specifications to a prospective customer for the first time. These elements may include an explanation of how the loan proceeds work, clarifying the realities of negative amortization, or something as basic as communicating to a family member why their loved one is thinking of

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