Scaling from Freelancer to Business Owner

Recent high-profile ethics violations by senior Federal Reserve officials, including new revelations concerning stock trades by former Fed Gov. Adriana Kugler, have sparked debate over the effectiveness of the central bank's oversight, even as some observers stress such cases remain rare. View the full article

After three consecutive weeks of increases, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped 0.3 basis points to 6.23% this week, according to Freddie Mac. View the full article

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its union filed legal briefs Friday after a district court judge asked if a preliminary injunction aimed at preventing a mass layoff is still in effect. View the full article

Bank of America was the leader in this study, with Rocket as the only nonbank mortgage lender which got a score higher than the industry average. View the full article

US consumer spending stalled in September, suggesting Americans were already stretched going into the government shutdown in the face of stubborn inflation. View the full article

Home Depot Inc. is offering cautious preliminary guidance for next year, a sign that the home-improvement retailer doesn't anticipate the housing market to rebound in the short term. View the full article

Overall performance is stable but inflation and unemployment have hurt newer borrowers in some cases, according to Transunion's 2026 consumer credit forecast. View the full article

Sen. Hassan sent letters to corporate owners of manufactured housing communities, looking for answers on affordability and living conditions for their residents. View the full article

On Thursday, prosecutors unsuccessfully tried again to ask a grand jury in a different Virginia court to return an indictment. View the full article

ETHZilla partnered with Zippy to bring manufactured home chattel loans on-chain as tokenized real-world assets. View the full article

After home equity surged in 2023, average gains slowed last year before falling into negative territory over the past 12 months, Cotality said. View the full article

Rising labor and material costs could weigh on final expenses, despite a slower summer for hurricane and tornado claims, according to Verisk. View the full article

The home purchase market, which competes for consumers with rentals, should remain subdued in 2026 because of high mortgage rates and low affordability. View the full article

The bank regulator is proposing to strengthen national preemption in the wake of conflicting decisions in related court cases. View the full article

Patrick Terrance Donlon, CEO of Trusted American Mortgage, settled allegations from 21 states another person took industry education courses for him. View the full article

Kind Lending, Class Valuation, also add CFOs, Mortgage Capital Trading boosts artificial intelligence efforts and Acra welcomes an industry veteran. View the full article

After the ceremony on Thursday, Mamdani announced three executive orders focused on housing affordability to kickstart his agenda. View the full article

The merger of equals, which received a chilly reception from investors when it was announced in July, closed faster than analysts had expected. View the full article

US mortgage rates fell last week to the lowest level since September 2024, a hopeful sign for the sluggish housing market to start the new year. View the full article

The real estate data firm said the merger will support efforts to scale and plans to ramp up development of enterprise technology products. View the full article

A retail channel veteran, Promisco has spoken frequently about the potential of AI to bring efficiency and lower costs in the loan origination process. View the full article

Propy, a real estate technology company, tapped the private credit market for the first time, securing $100 million to support the startup's acquisition strategy. View the full article

Former Fed Gov. Kevin Warsh is a relatively known quantity to financial markets, but his embrace of President The President's agenda and the White House's own contentious relationship with the central bank make it hard to know with certainty where — or even whether — he will lead the Fed. View the full article

Preemption would hurt affordability for many, the Conference of State Banking Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators said. View the full article

The Senate-approved bill that hadn't yet cleared the House at the time of this writing would fund agencies like HUD through the end of the fiscal year. View the full article