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The Redfin investor who sued the real estate brokerage and Rocket Companies for allegedly failing to disclose key information about their merger is seeking a $450,000 award.Jason Morano, the plaintiff, argues in a filing dated June 11 that his "intense litigation efforts" forced Redfin's and Rocket's hand in publishing supplemental disclosures that had a "substantial benefit…conferred upon Redfin stockholders." If awarded the sum, Morano will mainly use it to pay attorney fees, documentation shows.The added disclosures included details about Goldman Sachs' lending relationship with Rocket. The investment firm advised Redfin during its merger negotiations with Rocket."By quantifying the magnitude of Goldman's existing lending relationship with Rocket, those disclosures provided Redfin stockholders with material facts necessary to evaluate the credibility of the fairness opinion," plaintiff Jason Morano wrote. The opinion, authored by Goldman, outlined that the number of shares Redfin stockholders would receive in the deal was fair from a financial standpoint.On June 4 Redfin stockholders voted to approve Rocket's $1.75 billion acquisition of the brokerage, despite the plaintiff's attempts to postpone the event.Morano filed the original complaint in late May, arguing that Redfin submitted "materially incomplete and misleading" filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission to persuade stockholders to approve the merger.The issue with the SEC filing, claimed Morano, is that it failed to disclose that Redfin's financial adviser, Goldman Sachs, is also affiliated with Rocket Companies. He also sought to postpone the Redfin shareholder vote — the final step before the acquisition's approval — until all information was released to stockholders.A Washington state-based judge dismissed this ask as both Rocket and Redfin released supplemental information prior to the vote.After the original complaint was lodged, both Rocket and Redfin argued it was meritless and a tactic used to "tax merger transactions," in separate filings dated May 16. Both firms swatted away the Redfin stockholder's assertions that there needed to be more thorough disclosures regarding Goldman Sachs's relationship with Rocket. Rocket later revealed that Goldman Sachs currently has a lending commitment to it that is estimated to fall between $143.75 million and $172.5 million. And looking ahead, Goldman is expected to increase its commitment, possibly reaching between $225 million and $337.5 million.Government officials have recently called into question the lack of federal antitrust oversight of Rocket Companies' acquisitions of Redfin and proposed acquisition of servicing powerhouse Mr. Cooper.Lawmakers, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, and Cory Booker, D-N.J.,sent a letter to the Justice Department's Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission demanding to know why the agencies did not review the Rocket-Redfin merger during the pre-merger review period. They want answers from both agencies by June 17.The senators also rang the alarm on the pending Rocket-Mr. Cooper merger, noting this will propel the Detroit-based company into becoming a "mortgage finance behemoth" with less incentive to compete for new customers.The addition of Redfin and Mr. Cooper will turn Rocket into a "massive housing company that threatens to reduce choice and raise prices for American families in the housing market," the lawmakers warned in their letter dated June 4.

After stepping down from his recent leadership role at Loandepot, home finance veteran Frank Martell has taken the helm as chief executive of a multifamily technology firm that is currently navigating a difficult period.Smartrent, a provider of technology-powered tools and services for rental communities and other types of multifamily housing, appointed Martell president and CEO, effective immediately. Martell has been a member of its board of directors since June 2024, while also serving on two separate committees. He also currently sits on the board of real estate brokerage Compass. No stranger to corporate turmoil, Martell joins another company that has seen its share of challenges and negative publicity in recent years, to become its third leader in less than 12 months. Why is Smartrent in trouble?Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Smartrent was founded in 2017 and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021. In late 2023, Bleeker Street Research published a report that alleged the smart locks Smartrent supplied to multifamily property owners had a known security vulnerability. The company subsequently found itself the subject of several shareholder lawsuits, as attorneys claimed the firm had issued false or misleading statements and failed to make pertinent disclosures. Several months later in July 2024, former CEO Lucas Haldeman was dismissed from his role, with the business entity also suspending its full-year outlook at the time. Following a months-long executive search, Smartrent appointed technology executive Shane Paladin to head the company only to see him resign, at the request of the board, in April.Over the past year, Smartrent has seen its stock value plunge from a high mark of $2.54 per share last July to under $1.00. In May, regulators at the New York Stock Exchange warned the company it had fallen into noncompliance with its listing requirements, which stipulate its stock's average closing share price over 30 days must remain above $1.00. Upon receipt of such warnings, public companies are given six months to make necessary changes and regain compliance. Smartrent executives noted they planned to raise the company's per-share value above the required minimum mark within the cure period, an undertaking Martell will oversee."He steps in at a critical time for Smartrent, our investors and customers," Smartrent Chair John Dorman in a press release. "We're confident his leadership will enhance the quality of our execution, strengthen our market-leading position and drive meaningful, long-term value for shareholders."What Martell did at LoandepotMartell arrives at Smartrent after stepping down as Loandepot's president and CEO earlier this month. Loandepot announced the return of its founder and primary shareholder Anthony Hsieh to day-to-day leadership for the lender in March, appointing him to executive chair and interim CEO to replace Martell. Martell first joined the Southern California-based lender in the middle of a significant mortgage industry slowdown in 2022 and immediately embarked on cost-cutting measures aimed at saving hundreds of millions of dollars by this year. While Martell helped Loandepot reduce costs, leading the company briefly back into the black in the second half of 2024, his tenure was also marked by contentious disagreements with Hsieh over the future direction and control of its board. The parties eventually reached a compromise deal in 2023, with Hsieh holding off on new appointments for two years. Before joining Loandepot, Martell was a senior executive at real estate services provider Corelogic for 10 years, hired by the company as chief financial officer in 2011. He later became its CEO in 2017, overseeing the restructuring of Corelogic's businesses and also fending off multiple takeover bids. Corelogic, which has since rebranded as Cotality, eventually reprivatized under Martell's watch, with the chief executive leaving the company shortly thereafter.

Teraverde and Stratmor want to make it clear that the proposed merger announced over a year ago between the two was never completed.The misconception, both Teraverde's Jim Deitch and Stratmor's Garth Graham said, came about from an artificial intelligence generated answer to a search engine question.The deal was announced last May at the Mortgage Bankers Association's Chairman's Conference.But by July, both companies decided it was better to remain separate and to continue their current relationship, Graham, a senior partner at Stratmor, said. They remain independent companies and collaborators, Teraverde CEO Deitch added.However, at the recent 2025 Chairman's Conference, Deitch was approached and asked how the combination was going and eventually was shown a copy of the AI generated response.It was the only time where it became apparent some misperceptions about the transaction's ending existed, Graham said, finding "there's some people here who didn't realize it, despite the fact that both still have a website, both still have contracts with customers."Still, to end any confusion, Teraverde posted on LinkedIn on June 15 that the deal had been terminated.Teraverde has great respect for what the management team at Stratmor, including Graham and Michael Grant, are doing, Deitch said.Why was the Teraverde-Stratmor deal called off?"We just felt, given our focus on the data centric solutions and our desire to really invest in this space, it was better for us to continue independent, but continue to cooperate as the situations arose," Deitch said.Since the transaction was cancelled, both companies have continued on their respective paths.Teraverde, which is based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has opened up an office in Naples, Florida, the Florida Center for Technical Excellence, Deitch said."We do data products, we do expert testimony and we do financial consulting, and we're continuing forth on those with a focus on the technology side," Deitch said. "We've opened the office in Naples and continue to invest in building our technology capability and our data solutions."

As if mortgage rates didn’t have enough problems lately, now they’ve got the threat of rising oil prices.And the inflation that could come with them, further pushing out any expected mortgage rate relief.While the price of oil has eased a bit after spiking Friday due to the Israel-Iran conflict, it could exacerbate an already difficult global economic situation.Coupled with the uncertainty of tariffs, the Fed will have an even more difficult assignment on their hands.The result might be elevated-for-longer bond yields and no Fed rate cuts this year if things get worse.More Uncertainty for Mortgage Rates Due to the Middle East ConflictThe keyword lately has been uncertainty. Ever since Trump won the election and the trade war got underway, the Fed has been in a veritable holding pattern.The constant flip-flopping on trade and tariffs has made economic projections extremely difficult for them and everyone else.And that means monetary policy is basically stuck, even if the (cooler) data supports lower interest rates.As such, the 30-year fixed has been hovering closer to 7% than 6% ever since Trump got into office.On Friday, yet another layer of uncertainty was added to the list after Israel struck oil facilities in Iran.While outright war could actually lead to Fed rate cuts if the economy falls into a dire situation, a more likely scenario is just more inflation.Higher oil prices are inflationary and if they stay elevated, consumers will pay the price, literally.One nice thing that was working for inflation lately was lower oil prices, but now they’re under pressure to move higher again.Combined with the tariffs, we might see inflation readings creep back up, stalling and even reversing all the progress on that front.If it sounds familiar, it’s because this wouldn’t be the first time this happened. In fact, a similar event (energy crisis) took place in the 1970s, causing inflation to spike.That’s also when mortgage rates happened to hit all-time highs in the 1980s, with the 30-year fixed surging to 18.45% in 1981.I’m not saying we’re going anywhere close to those levels, or even higher from current levels, but there is additional upside risk to mortgage rates again because of this conflict.More Unknowns Mean Interest Rates Will Struggle to Come Down Anytime SoonAt the moment, the Israel-Iran conflict is a very fluid situation and while some pundits are already kind of shrugging and moving on, it has the potential to get a lot worse.Even if it doesn’t, it’s yet another issue now lingering in the background and not providing any help to bond yields and by extension mortgage rates.Sometimes wars and conflicts can actually help mortgage rates because of the perceived flight to safety from stocks into bonds.When more money moves into bonds, their price goes up and associated yields (interest rates) go down. It’s an inverse relationship.But lately nothing has seemed to help bond yields, even if it historically might. They seem to go up whether it’s good news or bad news as traders play lots of defense.In a nutshell, mortgage rates might not actually get much worse because of this, but this development also means they won’t get much better either.Similar to the tariffs, the unknowns mean we have to wait longer for any relief. We have to wait to see what happens with the economic data, if anything at all.And unfortunately, when you look at the timing, that means the 2025 home buying season is going to be another swing and miss.It’s already June and we won’t know for months what the impacts of all these things will be.More importantly, the Fed won’t know either, and will be happy to take its time, even if the economic data tells a different story.Long story short, another headwind, another reason the 30-year fixed can hang out closer to 7% than 6%.And another reason prospective home buyers can sit on their hands or make below-list offers with little urgency.However, if you zoom out, mortgage rates are still expected to move lower. Yes, I keep repeating this line, but it’s true. It’s just that this reality keeps getting pushed further out.Read on: How are mortgage rates determined? Before creating this site, I worked as an account executive for a wholesale mortgage lender in Los Angeles. My hands-on experience in the early 2000s inspired me to begin writing about mortgages 19 years ago to help prospective (and existing) home buyers better navigate the home loan process. Follow me on X for hot takes.Latest posts by Colin Robertson (see all)

The Trump administration is moving swiftly to roll back Biden-era redlining enforcement.Federal courts in recent weeks have terminated five consent orders with mortgage lenders, which stemmed from redlining probes by the prior administration. The Department of Justice claimed those companies satisfied the terms of their settlements months and years before their expiration, freeing them of fair lending stipulations. Among 15 redlining settlements secured by the Biden administration, 10 remain active, with a few having uncertain statuses. The government's unprecedented attempt to reverse a previously-agreed settlement with Chicago brokerage Townstone Financial was also defeated by a federal judge this past week.Fair housing advocates are battling the DOJ's attempts to close two consent orders, including a 2023 agreement with ESSA Bank and Trust which was accused of redlining around the Philadelphia area. While feds say ESSA has distributed its required $3 million loan subsidy fund and is in compliance with the settlement's other terms, opponents say the bank's remedial work should continue for the required three additional years. Daniel Urevick-Ackelsberg, an attorney with the Public Interest Law Center opposing the feds' moves, said fighting the scourge of redlining has been a bipartisan priority for numerous administrations."The attempt to take down these agreements to remedy the effects of alleged redlining is really an attack on the fundamental ideals that I think have guided America for decades now," he said.The Department of Justice didn't respond to a request for comment.What is the DOJ doing?The DOJ in late May began asking federal courts to extinguish consent orders with lenders targeted by former U.S. attorney general Merrick Garland's Combatting Redlining Initiative. Biden-era prosecutors accused those firms of making fewer loans to Black and Hispanic consumers compared to their peers; failing to employ branches and loan officers in those communities; and in a few cases, of internally spouting racially prejudiced messages.In nearly identical filings, prosecutors last month argued banks had fulfilled, or were on track to fulfill, required multi-million loan subsidy funds for underserved borrowers. In short comments, feds wrote that banks satisfied other requirements which typically include employing LOs and branches in affected areas and promoting advertising and financial education to affected communities. Although President Trump condemned "disparate impact" earlier last month, feds' filings have lacked legal theory and other explanations. Still, most of their calls to end consent orders before their five-year terms have met little resistance, including no opposition from the banks. Which lenders have been affected?Federal judges have granted DOJ requests to terminate consent orders with five lenders: Ameris Bank, Patriot Bank, Cadence Bank, Trustmark National Bank and Trident Mortgage. The largest settlement was the $22.4 million deal prosecutors reached with Trident, which has been out of business since 2022. Ten redlining settlements remain active. That includes deals with First National Bank of Pennsylvania; Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp.; Draper & Kramer Mortgage; Citadel Federal Credit Union; American Bank of Oklahoma; and a $31 million consent order with City National Bank. A consent order with New Jersey-based OceanFirst Bank remains active, although an attorney last month recently applied to defend the bank in the long-dormant case docket. That attorney, nor a representative for OceanFirst, returned requests for comment Friday. Attorneys who spoke with National Mortgage News were hesitant to speculate on that movement but agreed an action could be imminent. "That to me signals something substantive is coming, otherwise there wouldn't be a need to substitute lawyers in and out," said Zachary Best, counsel at Washington, D.C.-based civil rights law firm Relman Colfax. "I think there are a couple (of cases) that there's probably something coming on the horizon." What could happen next in active consent orders?The Public Interest Law Center and National Fair Housing Alliance are among groups which have asked courts to reject the DOJ's efforts to rescind consent orders against ESSA and New Jersey-based Lakeland Bank. Prosecutors in the Lakeland case acknowledged the bank had not yet completed distributing a mandated $12 million loan subsidy fund. The Public Interest Law Center in a proposed filing argues Lakeland, should the consent order be terminated, could close the loan subsidy fund; shutter a required branch location; terminate LOs designated for the Newark community in question; and cease required community partnerships. "I don't believe simply paying out those [loan subsidy] funds is grounds to terminate all the other things," said Urevick-Ackelsberg.An attorney for Lakeland in a filing earlier this month said the lender would be ready to reply to the opposing brief should it have the opportunity to do so. The Public Interest Law Center on Friday also filed a notice of supplemental authority, notifying the court of the Townstone ruling. A federal judge last week issued a 15-page ruling rejecting feds' attempts to reverse a $105,000 agreement reached with the lender in November, suggesting a reversal would set a poor precedent. Ackelsberg said the Townstone decision was encouraging, but cautioned that the industry shouldn't draw too many conclusions on how other district judges would rule. Best, whose firm isn't involved in any of the above cases but is watching them closely, said he anticipated the Trump administration to scale back redlining enforcement, but thought the consent order terminations were extraordinary. He said the defendants in the redlining probes "stuck out like sore thumbs" in failing to serve minority communities. "There's no reason for the DOJ to take this affirmative step, other than, I think, to carry out an upside-down vision of civil rights enforcement," he said.

The National Fair Housing Alliance is pushing back against claims by the Trump administration that it's behind most of the nation's housing complaints, defending its role as budget negotiations threaten its funding.In a letter to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, the NFHA argued that the administration was using "erroneous information" to justify what they called "drastic and unjustified cuts" to programs designed to fight housing discrimination across the country.The dispute centers on a dispute around fair housing complaints and who is filing them. HUD has said about 75% of complaints filed last year came from agencies that are funded through its Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP), which gives money to state and local agencies. The NFHA, however, contends that HUD has it backwards, and that 75% of complaints are filed by local nonprofit organizations funding through the department's Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP).The proposed cuts come as Congress is debating the fiscal year 2026 budget. The current proposal includes about $43.5 billion in cuts to HUD, a 51% cut from last year's budget. Cuts would include ending grants to local and state organizations, trimming the department's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity by nearly a third, and eliminating the FHIP altogether."These harmful cuts will not result in efficiencies and instead will hurt everyday people trying to secure housing free of discrimination with the ability to live and thrive in well-resourced communities," said Nikitra Bailey, executive vice president of NFHA, in a statement.In her letter to Secretary Turner, NFHA president Lisa Rice warned that cuts to fair housing programs could affect vulnerable Americans across the country. In 2023, the group registered more than 34,000 complaints of housing discrimination nationwide, a 3.5% increase from the previous year, according to an NFHA report."Without local fair housing organizations on the ground serving their communities," she wrote, "everyday people will be unfairly denied housing opportunities, resulting in more people becoming homeless and/or facing housing insecurity."The budget proposal is part of a larger government-wide effort to slash programs, and in some cases whole agencies. DOGE, the cost-cutting effort formerly led by Elon Musk, has already cut hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts, even as HUD's own council has warned that it could disrupt important operations at the agency.

As President Donald Trump continues his push for tougher immigration enforcement and higher tariffs, Americans are increasingly split on how it will affect home prices, a survey from real estate firm Redfin found.In the survey, 51% of respondents agreed when asked if they thought that less immigration would lead to fewer construction workers and more expensive homes. These views are not uniform, though, with about 39% of Americans saying they believed that less immigration would actually bring down home prices by reducing demand.Americans are more aligned on the effects of tariffs. In the survey, 68% of respondents said they believe that tariffs will lead to inflation and high interest rates, while only 35% agreed with the statement that "tariffs will help boost the US economy so more people can afford homes." More than two-fifths of respondents believed tariffs will hurt home values.Americans were divided by political party in both cases, with Democrats more likely to see lower immigration and higher tariffs leading to higher home prices.Both issues will lead to higher housing costs this year, said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin. Tariffs create uncertainty, she said, which will likely keep the Federal Reserve from dropping interest rates, suppressing home construction and making homes more expensive in the near-term."The higher interest rates means that builders have to pay more money to finance their projects, so that impacts their bottom line," she said. "It also impacts the ability of homebuyers to buy new construction or just homes in general."The administration's harder line on immigration could push up home prices, said Melissa Cohn, regional vice president at William Raveis Mortgage. A large percentage of construction workers are undocumented, and if President Trump is successful in his plans for nationwide mass deportations, it could leave the construction industry without the cheap labor many builders depend on."If you lose 20% of your workforce, you'll have to pay more for the remaining 80% to come work for you," Cohn said.The survey comes as Americans are increasingly concerned about costs, both with housing and more broadly. Another survey from Redfin in April found that more than half of Americans are either delaying or cancelling a major purchase this year for fear of tariffs, with home sale cancellations spiking to near-record highs.A separate report from First American Financial Corporation found that the average monthly cost of owning a home has increased 17% since 2020, putting a strain on both current homeowners and those looking to buy. The pressure, the report said, is coming from all angles, including high mortgage rates, increased construction costs, and rising property taxes and insurance.Tariffs will add to this strain by pushing up materials costs for homebuilders, said Sam Williamson, a senior economist at First American who authored the report. He points to a survey by the National Association of Home Builders showing that building supplies have already gone up an average of 6.3%, adding as much as $10,900 to the building cost of an average new home, something the NAHB has been warning about for months. "While some builders may try to absorb these increases in the short term, persistent tariffs will likely force them to pass costs on to buyers, pushing home prices higher and worsening affordability challenges," Williamson said.Any policies that push up prices would throw a wrench into a market that has recently been shifting slightly in the favor of buyers. Home prices have cooled throughout the West and South, and home prices have fallen in 11 major markets, a report from Redfin last month found. Results from Fannie Mae's second quarter Home Price Expectations Survey predicted an average home price growth of 2.9% in 2025, a drop from 3.4% predicted in the first quarter.

Real estate professionals attending a recent Morningstar | DBRS panel discussion were optimistic about the new production prospects for residential transition loans (RTL), with about 60% saying they expected positive long-term growth, and around 32% expecting flat production from the sector.The financing environment is also positive, they said. Forty-four percent of industry professionals in attendance said they expect rates on the seven- and 10-year Treasurys to dip over the next 12 months, while about one quarter said they expected rates to stay flat.Attendees shared their outlooks during live polling at the panel discussion event covering the home equity investment and residential transition loan (RTL) industries Wednesday afternoon.The industry's biggest opportunities involve the evolving cost of capital, which will shift funding sources from the private, local lending markets to institutional sources, said Arvind Mohan, chief executive officer of Kiavi, a private real estate lender that has also sponsored several RTL securitizations."You're going to see a continued retreat from the banks, and it's going to be necessary," said Robert Wasmund, founder of Ascent Developer Solutions.As ubiquitous as the residential real estate market is, investors find it difficult to access for various reasons, according to Maksim Stavinsky, co-founder and chief executive officer of Roc360, a full-service real estate capital provider. Owning several homes can become operational complex or unwieldy if the properties are widely dispersed geographically.Known as fix-and-flip mortgages, residential transition loans are short-term, small-balance mortgages—often interest-only—that help investors buy and renovate commercial investment properties. Borrowers usually repay the loans after selling the properties. Bond investors are still on a learning curve about them."It's a very non-conforming asset that differs, even within the RTL sector," according to Mohan.When it comes to investing in bonds backed by RTL loans, the investor mix has expanded over the last 18 months. Insurance companies are generally still trying to get comfortable with the product, but the sector is attracting more active participation from sovereign funds and asset managers, Mohan said.Investors often need a fair amount of education on a property's as-repaired value, in particular, Stavinsky said, adding that the company often presents numerical examples to investors demonstrating the way that RTLs mitigate risk. "Whenever we do these pitches, that's a slide that we find ourselves going over again," he said.

The slow erosion in first-quarter home equity from a year ago equates to a four-figure decline in house value, according to Cotality's latest numbers.The new Cotality study, which follows an earlier report of home equity declines by Attom, shows the trend drove a typical house's value down by $4,200 at the beginning of 2025 compared to the first quarter of last year. During the equivalent period in the fourth quarter, the average homeowner experienced a $4,300 gain.While those numbers don't tell the whole story given that many other data points indicate home equity levels are historically strong, 12-month comparisons are telling because they adjust for seasonal variations and can point to longer-term trends.Why home equity is still high but the average value fellWhile the share of total underwater mortgages in the market rose 17% because of the aforementioned declines, just 2.1% of all homes are in this category. Although the average house did lose a few thousands of dollars in value, it still has $302,000 in equity left.The current negative equity or underwater mortgage share is a far cry from when it peaked at 26% in the fourth quarter 2009, according to Cotality data.In addition, while the average homeowner lost value between the first quarter of last year and this one, total equity in the market actually rose on a net basis, inching up by 0.7% or $115 billion to more than $17.3 trillion for mortgage borrowers, according to Cotality.When asked about the discrepancy between the net gain in total equity and the decline for the average home equity, Hepp said in an email that the difference reflects changes in the loan-to-value ratios of outstanding real-estate secured lending in the market over time.Over 1.16 million mortgaged properties have been added to the market since the first quarter of last year, and these have higher average LTVs than outstanding home loans. "So the total increase (up $115 million) gets spread over more properties than last year, which makes the total average equity per borrower lower," she explained.What happened to home values varied by regionWhile there was a loss in value for the average household, whether or not any particular home experienced one depended a lot on its location."Geographical differences are important here as the national average is being pulled down by weakening markets in the South — particularly in Texas and Florida — that are masking strong equity growth in the Northeast," Cotality Chief Economist Selma Hepp said in a press release.Changes in values in the state level were in the five figures when it comes to the largest declines and increases. Averages in Rhode Island and New Jersey were up $36,500 and $35,700, respectively. The averages in Hawaii and Florida fell $65,900 and $26,300.Over half of all states experienced losses in home value.The impact of a past boom, home equity loans and pricesOther drivers to keep in mind when looking at over trends is the extraordinary housing boom at the start of the decade, which is fading further into the rearview mirror, leading to a relative slowdown in what's been a more normalized market since then."At the peak of home price gains, annual equity increases surged to as much as $55,000. However, with price increases slowing considerably and appreciation remaining sluggish, home equity is unlikely to accumulate at the same pace as it did," Hepp said."In addition, recent declines also reflect that some homeowners are tapping into their equity to finance other activities," she added.Home price forecasts generally suggest unadjusted housing values will continue to rise, buoying national equity levels to some degree, but many measures suggest they've been softening.

Technology-backed real estate platform Realpha is expanding into Texas, the latest move in its attempt to establish end-to-end home buying services across the country. Already active in Florida, Realpha rolled out its platform to the Lone Star State through an agreement with national brokerage Continental Real Estate Group, allowing it to build a customer base in markets that have seen a spike in buyer interest this decade.     "This is an exciting next step in Realpha's national expansion," said CEO Mike Logozzo in a press release. "Texas is a high-volume, high-potential market that aligns perfectly with our integrated business model."The current broker partnership being used in Texas differs from Realpha's current strategy in Florida, allowing it to quickly move in and scale up to engage in real estate transactions. While Realpha employs brokers in Florida, the company also touts the capabilities of its artificial intelligence-backed purchase tools to automate the home buying process and remove the cost of agent commissions for sales transactions in the Sunshine State. "We aim to bring real value to home buyers by combining technology-driven convenience with cost savings, and Texas is just the beginning," Logozzo added. The latest announcement comes in an active period of growth for Realpha, which has multiple headquarters located in the Eastern U.S. Among its acquisition deals over the past several months are mergers with two mortgage brokerages, including Texas-based Be My Neighbor, an originator active in the state since 2018. The loan brokering services give the company the opportunity to keep Texas buyers in its mortgage pipeline, potentially serving them through to closing.The state reported more than 323,000 home sales transactions in 2024, according to data from Redfin. The median sales price came in at $347,000, with purchase volume totaling over $112 billion.Realpha followed up its Be My Neighbor merger with another deal to acquire California-based mortgage firm GTG Financial earlier this year. A late-2024 acquisition of USRealty Brokerage Solutions also laid the groundwork that paves the way for Realpha to obtain more than 30 state real estate licenses.Realpha's merger-and-acquisition strategy follows similar game plans employed this year by some mortgage lenders, namely Rocket and Lower, to build out their businesses into one-stop shops that can attract a home buyer and retain them as borrowers. Differentiating itself from those companies, Realpha has turned to mortgage brokers to grow lending operations, rather than originating loans in its own name.The company's current growth comes at the same time that  it is making several major executive appointments in 2025, including the promotion of Logozzo to CEO in early June. Prior to ascending to the top leadership post, Logozzo jointly held the roles of president and chief operating officer.  With Logozzo's promotion, former CEO and founder Giri Devanur moved into the position of executive chairman.  "With the foundation firmly in place, now is the right time to evolve our leadership," Devanur said at the time of Logozzo's promotion. "Mike has consistently demonstrated the operational expertise and strategic insight needed to execute at scale. I have great confidence in his ability to lead reAlpha into its next chapter." Also joining the company this year was Cristol Ripol, who took over as chief marketing officer. Prior to joining Realpha, she held the same title at technology firm Landed, which helps organizations establish down-payment assistance homeownership programs. Other C-suite moves at Realpha earlier in 2025 include appointments of a new chief financial officer and a chief crypto officer.