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Real estate firms push to preserve carried interest tax break

2025-04-29T20:22:57+00:00

The real estate industry is at the forefront of a lobbying blitz to sway Congress to preserve the carried interest tax break that President Donald Trump wants to abolish in a giant tax bill pending in Congress.The real estate industry — representing affordable housing and construction jobs as economic anxiety mounts — presents a more sympathetic case to lawmakers than the other main beneficiaries of carried interest: private equity and venture capital.RELATED: Builders hint at price hikes as market pressures mount"When you have a development that a member of Congress can see or can imagine in their district, that resonates," said Greg Brown of the National Apartment Association, who oversaw an 800-member lobbying event in March to press Congress on carried interest and other issues important to his group. "The president himself having talked about carried interest, you have to take it seriously," he said.Putting real estate at the center of the influence campaign is a key prong of the strategy that greatly boosts the effort to fend off changes to the valuable tax break, those focused on the lobbying effort say. The industry has emphasized that the housing sector is comprised of many mom-and-pop ventures, not large financial firms.But the lines between the real estate sector and billionaire buyout executives have blurred in recent years. The biggest alternative asset managers — including Blackstone Inc. to KKR & Co. Inc. — run both private equity and real estate funds. Big Wall Street-backed landlords have drawn the ire of Democrats for buying up swathes of single family homes, sparking debates about housing affordability.The White House has listed carried interest — a tax break that allows certain industries to pay the lower 20% capital gains rate on portions of their income — as well as ending unspecified tax breaks for sports team owners as ways to raise some revenue to offset portions of a multi-trillion-dollar tax bill. Republicans have also considered a tax increase on millionaires, a concept Trump said he loves, but isn't inclined to pursue because of potential political ramifications.The relatively short list of potential tax offsets, and a long tally of new priorities to jam into a bill where they have to abide by strict limitations on the total cost, puts carried interest in a precarious position."We have heard from interest groups from around the country and we want to do right by them," House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Tuesday, adding that he wouldn't discuss the details before the House Ways and Means Committee releases their plan. "All boats are going to rise."Lobbyists are trying to front-run any efforts by House Republicans to eliminate the provision by convincing lawmakers that economic development in their districts will suffer without the break."It would especially be felt in projects involving cleaning up contaminated land, building in low-income or neglected neighborhoods and other projects that have more risk but more potential upside," said Ryan McCormick of The Real Estate Roundtable, an industry trade group.An April study circulated on Capitol Hill by the industry predicted that a nearly 4% long-run contraction in the real estate industry if the tax break goes away."That is something we have heard a lot about from people in opposition. The real estate industry, venture capitalists are concerned about the carried interest proposal," New York Republican Nicole Malliotakis told Bloomberg Television. McCormick said that real estate investors take the same type of risks in their projects as long-term equity investors and their "sweat equity" should be taxed at the 20% capital gains rate, rather than at income rates that top out at 37%.He said that lawmakers he's talked to understand arguments that small real estate entrepreneurs take on significant risk when developing low-income areas."Housing will become significantly more expensive without this provision," said Matthew Berger of the National Multifamily Housing Council. "Basically, it is a tool real estate partners use to make sure the economics of the deal work."Two-decade battleThe battle over carried interest has been fought for close to two decades, but the finance and real estate industries has largely succeeded in fending off any significant threats to the break. It was scaled back in Trump's 2017 tax package to require a three year holding period, up from one year, in order to qualify for the lower tax rate.Under former President Joe Biden, a provision eliminating the tax break was scrapped at the last minutes from the Democrats' signature climate and tax law at the behest of Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who was seen as being a lone ally of the venture capital and private equity industry in her party.Lobbying firms advocating on both sides of the carried interest issue reported spending $8.7 million in the first quarter of 2025, according to federal lobbying disclosures. That's up from $7.7 million in the same quarter last year. Key players outside the real estate industry include the American Investment Council and National Venture Capital Association. Proponents of changing the carried interest provision say wealthy investors are just trying to create a distraction to keep the benefit."All the defenders of the carried interest loophole are saying is that if you don't let us get richer, we will not serve low-income communities, which is not an argument so much as it is extortion," said Caroline Nagy, a housing policy specialist at Americans for Financial Reform.David Kass of Americans for Tax Fairness, who advocates ending the carried interest, said increasing low-income housing credits are a more efficient way to spur construction for affordable homes.He said that trying to make the issue about real estate is a sophisticated ploy by well-paid lobbyists. "These folks are incredibly wealthy and they have an army of lobbyists running around for them," Kass said. "It is always an uphill battle."

Real estate firms push to preserve carried interest tax break2025-04-29T20:22:57+00:00

Amerant Mortgage shrinks footprint via layoffs

2025-04-29T20:23:00+00:00

Amerant Mortgage, a subsidiary of Florida-based Amerant Bank, trimmed its workforce in mid-April. Over four dozen employees, 58 workers, were let go, according to a WARN notice filed by the company on April 24.The move was made following the firm's decision to limit its national footprint and focus on the Florida market. Amerant noted it is "executing on a plan to reduce the size and scope of our mortgage business, transitioning from being a national mortgage originator to focusing on in-footprint mortgage lending to support Amerant's retail and private banking customer base," in its first quarter earnings.Prior to the restructuring, Amerant had 78 mortgage-related personnel, which were "progressively reduced" to a mere 20 employees. Its blueprint to downsize shows it will pull out of offering mortgage services in 30 states. The firm expects the restructuring to result in lower vendor-related operating costs and personnel costs, amounting to a drop in non-interest expenses of approximately $2.5 million per quarter starting in the third quarter of this year, it said.Amerant originated a total of $418.4 million in single-family residential and construction loans, amounting to $6.9 million in mortgage-banking income. The bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.Other banks have also moved to shrink their footprint in mortgage lending in recent years, spurred on by volatility in the market. WaFd Inc., the parent company of Washington Federal Bank, announced in January it is exiting mortgage lending, citing impacts from the business' commoditization and technology, as well as the regulatory burden, in its decision.For the period that ended Dec. 31, 2024, WaFd originated $156.1 million of residential mortgages. This compared with $138.2 million for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2024; for the full fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, 2024, it was $430.3 million.Ally Financial also announced its decision to get out of residential mortgage lending in January.But the steady trickle of banks exiting mortgage lending following the Great Recession may come to a halt, as the Trump administration has expressed interest in loosening regulations that govern originations and land use. In recent weeks, heads of JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America made statements calling for more favorable regulations pertaining to loan origination, servicing and securitization. All have argued that doing so will lower the cost for borrowers to own a home.

Amerant Mortgage shrinks footprint via layoffs2025-04-29T20:23:00+00:00

For Mortgage Rates, It’s One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

2025-04-29T20:22:46+00:00

It’s been a pretty solid week or two for mortgage rates.The 30-year fixed, which unexpectedly breached the key 7% psychological threshold in mid-April, is back closer to 6.75%.It’s still a lot closer to 7% than 6%, but after the worsening trade war sent rates flying, they’ve since calmed down a bit.The problem is when you zoom out, the good days haven’t offset the bad days.We’re in a worse place than where we started, similar to the stock market, which recovered some but not all of its losses.Mortgage Rates Are Higher Than They Used to BeOne of the core “problems” with mortgage rates is that they go up faster than they go down.The old adage is elevator up, stairs down. Lenders are happy to raise them for any given reason (or no reason at all), but hesitant to lower them, even if a good reason exists.For stocks, it’s the opposite. Stairs up, elevator down. In other words, your portfolio value can plummet in a day, but take weeks to climb back up.Such is life I suppose, but it’s pretty relevant today with what we’ve seen of mortgage rates lately.While things have calmed down lately, the 30-year fixed is still higher than it used to be as recently as March.For much of that month, the 30-year fixed was in the 6.70% range. For much of April, it has been hovering near 7% (or above).Now we’re slowly (keyword) moving back to those lower levels, which is the point I’m trying to make.Our so-called progress is merely a return to the very recent past, when things were better.A tidy way to sum it up is one step forward, two steps back.Bessent Says Mortgage Rates Are LowerDuring a press briefing today at the White House, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke about President Trump’s first 100 days in offer.He touched on prices and progress, saying, “Since January 20th, uh, interest rates, mortgage rates, are down.”And added that, “We’re expecting the, uh, further decreases.”He’s correct in that assertion, though if we’re honest, the 30-year fixed has only improved by about 0.25% since that time.On a $400,000 loan, that’s a difference of roughly $67 per month. Hardly a lot to get excited about.In addition, one could make the argument (I already did) that mortgage rates were lower before Trump entered office.Look, it’s no secret that both Bessent and Trump have been focused on getting mortgage rates down.Trump campaigned on it, and once Bessent came into the picture, he too has echoed that stance.But lower mortgage rates have proved elusive, perhaps because of tariffs and a larger trade war, which have fueled uncertainty and big market selloffs, including bond selloffs.There’s even been fears of foreign countries selling our mortgage-backed securities (MBS), which would lead to increased supply and higher rates.But yes, this past week has been a nice reprieve, and perhaps things could get even better.Unfortunately, the way these things tend to go, it might be yet another head fake, and another two steps back sometime soon.So if you’re mortgage rate shopping, be ready for it. And don’t be surprised if/when it happens.Mortgage Rates Went Up 37 Basis Points, Then Down 26 Basis PointsA simple way to look at it is by checking out this chart from Mortgage New Daily.In March, the 30-year fixed was 6.70%. It had been steadily falling since the inauguration in late January, albeit by a relatively small amount.Then the trade war rhetoric ratcheted up and rates went up with it. As noted, things seemed to cool down and rates came back down.But all told, rates went up more than they went down. So we wound up in a worse place than where we started.If you want to get even more critical, you could argue we are well above levels seen pre-election.The green arrow last September was when mortgage rates were nearing 6%. Then they jumped on a strong jobs report in October, the orange arrow.Then they kept climbing once Trump became the frontrunner to win the election, as many expected his policies to be inflationary in nature.So sure, rates are lower today than the inauguration, but not by much. About a quarter of a percent.And if you zoom out, they’re higher than they were pre-election. Unclear how much progress we’ve really made here.Perhaps the one silver lining is they’re about 0.625% lower than they were a year ago, which arguably should boost home sales this spring.But with all the uncertainty, that remains to be seen.(photo: Quinn Comendant) 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)

For Mortgage Rates, It’s One Step Forward, Two Steps Back2025-04-29T20:22:46+00:00

Home price growth stalls as market cools

2025-04-29T17:22:57+00:00

Home price growth just about froze this winter. Two leading reports Tuesday showed sluggish home price appreciation nationwide from January to February, alongside modest year-over-year growth. The Federal Housing Finance Agency found home prices rose just 0.1% monthly in February, while the S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller index recorded seasonally adjusted 0.3% growth. Both indexes described a 3.9% national annual home price gain in February. According to Case-Shiller, that was slower than the 4.1% year-over-year home price growth in January. Nicholas Godec, head of fixed income tradables and commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a press release that prices were showing resilience."Buyer demand has certainly cooled compared to the frenzied pace of prior years, but limited housing supply continues to underpin prices in most markets," he said. Shoppers dealing with steep unaffordability enjoyed a reprieve in February, when earlier economic uncertainty briefly sent mortgage rates tumbling. The market has since shown mixed signals with climbing mortgage rates and see-sawing purchase activity.Home prices retreated to start the year in the Pacific and Mountain regions, where the FHFA showed 0.8% and 0.7% monthly price declines. Only the New England region enjoyed home price growth greater than 1%, at 1.3% between January and February. Gains were healthier on an annual basis. Homeowners in the Middle Atlantic region recorded the largest annual home price appreciation in February of 7%, according to the FHFA. The Case-Shiller Index reported prices in New York and Chicago climbing 7.7% and 7% annually, respectively. Perennial hotspot Tampa, Florida meanwhile posted the lowest return on annual home price appreciation, with values falling 1.5% for February according to Case-Shiller. Recent research by Redfin suggested home prices are softening in some of the nation's most populous metros over economic uncertainty and increasing inventory. 

Home price growth stalls as market cools2025-04-29T17:22:57+00:00

Why this economist bet big on seniors' home equity

2025-04-29T17:23:00+00:00

Christopher Mayer has navigated a career that has seen him serve as a self-described policy wonk and Ivy League professor, managing to apply his collected knowledge into his role as a mortgage CEO today.  With a doctorate in economics, the leader of reverse mortgage lender Longbridge Financial started his career to "make the world a better place" through research and policy, later realizing the business world could help him achieve the same goal. Prior to joining the lender in the early days of its launch over a decade ago, Mayer worked at the Federal Reserve of Boston, before becoming a faculty member at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and later, Columbia University, where he still occasionally teaches classes.  Jorg Meyer Photography Today, he leads operations at Longbridge, which merged with real estate investment trust Ellington Financial in 2022. During his tenure, the company has turned into a leading issuer of government-backed home equity conversion mortgages, with a growing number of proprietary reverse products for older Americans in its portfolio as well. In a recent interview with National Mortgage News, Mayer discussed the importance of making HECMs and other reverse products available, the opportunities and challenges of serving older homeowners and ways his academic experience has helped Longbridge develop risk mitigation and market strategy. The conversation, including Mayer's comments and questions asked, has been edited for clarity and length.

Why this economist bet big on seniors' home equity2025-04-29T17:23:00+00:00

Two and Roundpoint eye opportunities for diversification

2025-04-29T15:22:38+00:00

Two, the real-estate investment trust that owns Roundpoint Servicing, is considering more expansive moves for its mortgage business lines as persistent volatility in the capital markets presents a mix of challenges and opportunities for its investments.The company formerly known as Two Harbors Investment Corp. recorded a first quarter loss of $92.24 million under standard accounting principles, compared with net income of $264.95 million the previous quarter. However, Two's comprehensive income was a positive $64.93 million compared to a loss of $1.62 million the previous quarter. The company reported $25.09 million in earnings available for distribution for the latest period, compared to $21.18 million in EAD the previous quarter."While overall spreads have widened in the second quarter, they have been variable day-to-day, and we have actively managed the portfolio and our risk to take advantage of any market dislocations," President and CEO Bill Greenberg said during the company's earnings call.Two's diversification strategyGreenberg said the company's goals for 2025 center on activities that diversify beyond its investments in agency securitizations and mortgage servicing rights.These include "fully scaling" its direct-to-consumer origination platform, an expanded presence in the subservicing market, and product set expansion in second lien, Ginnie Mae and non-agency markets."We view the Roundpoint platform as an expansion of our opportunity set, providing additional benefits for our shareholders," Greenberg said.When asked about the impact of the planned combination of industry giants Rocket Mortgage and Mr. Cooper, Greenberg said he viewed it as most likely to make the bid for MSRs "a bit more competitive that it was at the margins."Greenberg confirmed during the call that William Dellal has been promoted to permanent chief financial officer from acting CFO. Dellal previously had planned to resign but the company announced a change of plans earlier this month.Chief Investment Officer Nick Letica said in a press release there have been upsides for Two as the market's volatility has widened spreads on agency mortgage-backed securities that the REIT invests in and boosted levered returns on the bonds.Outlook on mortgage servicingHe added that the company's investment in mortgage servicing rights should remain stable because its portfolio has lower coupons, protecting it from the risk borrowers will refinance into lower interest rates and cause runoff.Net interest and servicing income improved on a consecutive-quarter basis, rising to a rounded $133 million from $128 million. The mark-to-market loss for the period fell to $9 million from $48 million. Other income, a category that includes earnings from originations, was stable at $1.4 million for both quarters. Operating expenses increased to $47 million from $41 million.The REIT settled flow-sale acquisitions of mortgage servicing rights with an unpaid principal balance of nearly $175 million during the quarter. The REIT reported that after the fiscal period ended, it committed to buy two bulk packages of MSRs with a UPB of $1.7 billion.Analyst consensus was generally that Two's bottom line was weaker than anticipated, but its revenue outperformed expectations and its stock price was wavering but generally trending upward immediately after its earnings call on Tuesday morning.Its shares had opened at $12.30, dropped to $11.70 then rebounded to $12.43 at deadline.

Two and Roundpoint eye opportunities for diversification2025-04-29T15:22:38+00:00

SoFi reports strong performance in first quarter 2025 earnings

2025-04-29T15:22:39+00:00

SoFi Technologies, Inc exceeded analysts' expectations across the board in the first quarter of 2025.SoFi posted a net income of $71 million in the three months ended March 31, down 19% from $88 million in the same period last year. Analysts polled by S&P had expected $38 million.SoFi reported $770 million in revenue, up 33% compared with $580 million in the same period a year prior. That number exceeded expectations of analysts polled by S&P, who expected $739 million of revenue for the first quarter. Chief Executive Officer Anthony Noto on the earnings call Tuesday morning said it was the highest net revenue in five quarters."Our strong financial performance is the direct result of our continued investments in brand building and product innovation," Noto said. "These investments attract new members and clients into our digital one-stop-shop ecosystem and lead them to adopt more products over time. This virtuous cycle — which we call our Financial Services Productivity Loop or FSPL — fuels our growth and ultimately our returns as we scale."SoFi reported an increase of 6 cents on a per-share basis, beating analysts' expectations by 100%. Analysts polled by S&P had expected earnings of 3 cents per share.Chief Financial Officer Christopher Lapointe said on the call that SoFi exceeded in every metric guided on its last call and accelerated growth led to "our sixth consecutive profitable quarter."Membership grew 34% to a record 10.9 million users with 800,000 new members. The company also reported 1.2 million new product sales, up 35% from the prior year, to a total of 15.9 million products. The company reported revenue doubling in the financial services segment compared to a year ago to $303 million, which it attributed to strong member adoption of the SoFi Money product as well as expansion of the loan platform business, adjustments for improved user experience in SoFi Invest and expanded partnership with Templum, allowing members access to more investment opportunities.SoFi reported its expanded loan business led to more than $7.25 billion in new loan originations. The company in 2025 finalized deals with Blue Owl, Fortress and Edge Focus and it attributed $1.6 billion in originated loans in the first quarter solely to third party partners. Personal loan originations were up 69% from the first quarter of last year with student loan originations up 59% and home loan originations up 54% compared to the same period.The company was optimistic for the remainder of the year for its loan business with plans to unveil a new personal loan product for prime credit card customers with revolving balances as well as a new student loan refinancing product, SmartStart. SoFi pointed to its aggressive marketing strategy as a reason for increased brand awareness and new customers. More than 20 million viewers watched the inaugural season of "TGL presented by SoFi," a new golf league launched by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in partnership with the PGA Tour that plays at the SoFi Center. Its SoFi Invest promotion tied to player performance in the playoffs led to "record engagement" for the investment arm, Noto said. The company also recently partnered with the Country Music Association's CMA Fest. "A significant amount of our marketing investment goes towards building the SoFi brand name via broad scale, high reach branded marketing," Noto said. "This investment is centered on building SoFi into a trusted household brand name, which we measure based on unaided brand awareness. Having a strong brand creates a halo effect that makes our performance marketing of each product more efficient. Our unaided brand awareness continued to be very strong through the quarter at 7%."Noto also said the "evolving regulatory landscape" is providing SoFi with "an opportunity to reenter the crypto and blockchain space more comprehensively." He said in addition to letting users invest in cryptocurrencies, the company plans to enter other areas of the sphere in the next six to 24 months, "but potentially much sooner via acquisition or if the changing regulatory landscape allows.""Our aspirations over time are as broad and deep as they are for our existing SoFi business, including developing crypto and blockchain offerings across borrowing, investing, paying and saving in our Technology Platform services for third parties," Noto said.All told, Noto said the company's strategy has delivered "great results" and SoFi decided to increase innovation while increasing its full year guidance."Our value proposition has never been more relevant to the members and clients we serve," Noto said. "We are stepping on the gas to launch new products faster and iterate to improve our existing products at an even more rapid pace. The opportunity in front of us is too massive to risk underinvesting to capture it."

SoFi reports strong performance in first quarter 2025 earnings2025-04-29T15:22:39+00:00

Borrowers sue Vanderbilt Mortgage for claims raised by CFPB

2025-04-29T12:22:29+00:00

Mortgage borrowers are suing Vanderbilt Mortgage for risky lending, reviving claims the Trump administration dropped against the lender earlier this year. Christopher Stockton of Alabama and Tracy Taylor of Tennessee accuse Vanderbilt of violating the Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z's minimum underwriting standards. The lender, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway-owned Clayton Homes, has allegedly ignored red flags in underwriting since 2014. The lawsuit filed last week in a Tennessee federal court comes two months after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped its TILA complaint against Vanderbilt which was filed in the waning days of the Biden administration. Under acting director Russell Vought, the new-look bureau has dropped enforcement actions against numerous firms and is seeking to revoke a redlining settlement with another mortgage lender. The new complaint was first reported by Law360.Stockton and Taylor's lawsuit repeats prior allegations from CFPB attorneys, specifically that Vanderbilt's residual income model relied on unreasonable calculations. The borrowers said Vanderbilt disregarded evidence of debts in collection and made loans to borrowers who had negative net residual income.In a statement Monday afternoon, Vanderbilt said it intends to vigorously defend itself against the claims. In a January response to the CFPB's lawsuit, the lender called accusations about its underwriting untrue, and said it exceeds legal requirements to assess a borrower's financials.The new plaintiffs said they were unaware of Vanderbilt's poor underwriting practices until the CFPB's Jan. 6 filing. Taylor and Stockton, who applied in 2013 and 2023, respectively, said they both had debt collection actions at the time of their applications and have missed at least one mortgage payment.Their complaint suggests unspecified damages exceeding $5 million, and more than 100 putative class members. Plaintiffs want to bar Vanderbilt from underwriting using its "unlawful Living Expense Estimate."Attorneys for the plaintiffs didn't respond to requests for comment Monday.Vanderbilt, headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee, had $4.03 billion in origination volume in 2024, according to a Richey May database of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. Much of that lending was based in the Southeast, with a leading 18% of production in Georgia. The CFPB dismissed its case against Vanderbilt with prejudice, meaning the lawsuit cannot be refiled. The decision was part of Vought's vision for a dramatically defanged bureau, which includes less oversight of both nonbank lenders and of fair lending practices. The regulator in an April memo said it would leave state regulators to pick up enforcement duties. States in recent years have prosecuted mortgage lenders, and the Ohio attorney general recently sued industry leader United Wholesale Mortgage for alleged predatory business practices.

Borrowers sue Vanderbilt Mortgage for claims raised by CFPB2025-04-29T12:22:29+00:00

2025's Top Producers ranked 150-51

2025-04-29T12:22:34+00:00

The 2025 countdown of the National Mortgage News Top Producers list continues by featuring the loan officers ranked 51 to 150.The originators in this portion of the listing did between $35 million and $70 million of volume in 2025.Success in marketing is what helps these originators become Top Producers during 2024 and several provided their plans for 2025."I worked hard to grow relationships every chance I had organically, be that asking listing agents for business, collecting reviews, writing reviews [and] marketing to past customers," said Gabe Winslow of C2 Financial in San Diego.During 2024, targeted digital marketing and referral partnerships played a key role in Jesus Vasquez' success at City Lending in McLean, Virginia. Leveraging social media as well as providing educational content helped to position his business as a trusted advisor. "In 2025, we plan to enhance these strategies by incorporating more video content, customer segmentation, and deeper community engagement to strengthen client relationships and drive business growth," Vasquez said.Amanda Seesa, a vice president and senior loan officer at SWBC Mortgage in Boulder, Colorado, said, "I feel like I increased my branding on social media and I would like to continue that path. I would also like to solidify our brand more across the board."The Top Producers ranked 151-to-250 can be found here, with the listings for Nos. 1-to-50 and the complete list to follow. Other cuts of the data will also appear shortly.

2025's Top Producers ranked 150-512025-04-29T12:22:34+00:00

Lost equity from tax foreclosures sought in new suit

2025-04-28T21:22:27+00:00

Several individuals are behind a Wisconsin class action lawsuit retroactively seeking recourse after government agencies kept surplus proceeds from sales of their tax-foreclosed former properties, an act the Supreme Court has previously deemed unconstitutional.In the case filed in the Eastern District federal court of Wisconsin, attorneys representing the class allege that local jurisdictions unlawfully garnered hundreds of millions of surplus dollars in equity that belonged to the original homeowners after the properties were sold. The suit includes more than two decades-worth of foreclosure transactions. Listed as defendants are the state of Wisconsin, all 72 of its counties and the city of Milwaukee. While state laws were rewritten in 2022 forbidding governments to retain surpluses from tax-foreclosure sales above the unpaid amount, the decision "came too late for many former Wisconsin property owners and their descendants, whose funds remain seized without recourse," lawyers representing the proposed class said. The state "has not provided any mechanism through which plaintiffs and the class members may recover just compensation for the surplus funds that defendants took prior to April 2, 2022," the suit stated. Instances of sales proceeds retained by local government offices go back as far as January 1989, the attorneys also noted, describing the actions as "a trespass" on plaintiffs' properties.The suit is reminiscent of the "home equity theft" case Tyler v. Hennepin County, in which the Supreme Court found that local officials in Minnesota had unlawfully kept excess amounts after a sale. The plaintiff in that lawsuit first filed the claim in 2020, two years before Wisconsin's law went into effect, following the foreclosure of a condominium unit due to nonpayment of an approximate $15,000 tax lien. Hennepin County later sold the unit for $40,000.Although the case was initially dismissed, the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on appeal and later ruled in favor of the former condo owner with a unanimous decision in 2023, deeming it unconstitutional for local governments to keep the surplus funds from a tax-foreclosure sale. The Minnesota plaintiff's attorneys estimated more than $860 million in surplus proceeds have been retained by states and counties across the country. In the Wisconsin filing, legal counsel for the plaintiff is seeking relief of "equitable restitution" or to place "members of the class in the financial position they would have been in had there been no takings or other unlawful conduct."Last week, the Supreme Court declined to review a 2024 judgment in a Florida case, which would have had broader implications for how Tyler v. Hennepin might be interpreted. The Florida suit involved a homeowner, who claimed his property had been undervalued at the time of the foreclosure sale, thereby denying him any gains. 

Lost equity from tax foreclosures sought in new suit2025-04-28T21:22:27+00:00
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