The county has signed a five-year partnership with real estate infrastructure firm Balcony to digitize and tokenize its entire real estate deed system on the Avalanche blockchain. This initiative will migrate over 370,000 property records, approximately $240 billion in real estate, on-chain, marking what Avalanche describes as the largest blockchain deed tokenization project in U.S. history.
The National Association of Realtors will tackle the topic at its midyear Legislative Meetings next week, even after a Texas speech bill targeting NAR and other groups died abruptly on Wednesday.
The “Kendra Sells Hollywood” star and long-time Elliman agent said he was attracted to Sotheby’s International Realty’s stability in an industry that has been in tumult in recent years.
Compass has put forth a revised version of its seller disclosure form to clarify how its three-phase marketing strategy works — including when and how listings are shared with the public. The Compass 3-Phased Marketing Strategy Client Disclosure Form expands on a version first introduced in 2024.
Updates include language aimed at improving seller understanding of off-market phases and outlining the benefits and risks of pre-listing promotion, according to the company.
“We continue to advocate for homeowners’ right to choose how, when, and where their home is marketed,” said Compass CEO and founder Robert Reffkin. “This enhanced seller disclosure form builds off of Compass’ disclosure form launched in 2024 and represents another step we’re taking to promote greater transparency and professionalism in our industry.”
The disclosure form describes Compass’s phased approach to marketing homes — starting with a “Private Exclusive” period, followed by a “Coming Soon” stage and culminating in a public listing on the multiple listing service (MLS) during Phase 3.
It makes clear that sellers are not obligated to accept offers during the earlier stages and that the property will not appear on the MLS or public real estate portals until the final phase.
The company says the phased rollout allows sellers to generate early interest, refine pricing strategies and protect a home from extended time on the market that can affect perceived value.
Compass President Neda Navab said the document is part of the firm’s broader mission to support informed decision-making.
“Our goal is to empower agents to deliver the best possible experience for their clients,” Navab said. “By helping our clients make fully informed decisions and offering them strategic choices that best fit their needs, we’re raising the bar for what consumers should expect from their real estate advisor.”
The form also warns that delaying an MLS listing may reduce a home’s visibility and lead to fewer showings or offers. Sellers are advised that they can switch to an MLS listing at any point and are under no obligation to accept any early offers.
The form — previously required in some states — is now mandatory nationwide for all Compass seller clients before any pre-listing marketing begins.
The home at 75 Varro Rd, Lloyd Creek. Picture: Supplied
Stacey and Thomas Woolf have put their “perfect family home” on the market and will sadly say goodbye to hectares of space, modern living and a barely used man cave shed.
The couple have called the property at 75 Varro Rd, Lloyd Creek, home for the past four years, welcoming two kids along the way.
“It’s been magnificent,” Mrs Woolf said.
“It’s the perfect family home and we wouldn’t be selling if we didn’t have to move interstate.”
Set on 2ha, the property backs onto bushland, yet is only five minutes from the Humpty Doo shops.
The property includes a four-bedroom family house, a new shed, a pool and plenty of lawn space.
“I love the beautiful, modern home,” Mrs Woolf said.
“The cinema room is awesome for movie nights with the kids.
“The dining and living spaces open to the patio, so it’s great for entertaining and watching the kids play.
“We’ve had a third birthday party and Christmas here, and we often have friends over for barbecues.”
The living areas open to the patio. Picture: Supplied
The modern kitchen is family sized. Picture: Supplied
The house has a double garage, covered entryway and a separate media room.
The open plan living, dining and kitchen area has sliding doors opening to the covered outdoor entertaining area, while the kitchen has an island bench and top of the line appliances.
The main bedroom has a walk-in robe and ensuite, and the remaining three bedrooms have built-in robes.
The property also includes a family bathroom, internal laundry and a second living space.
The floorplan of the home would allow for the media room and second living area to be converted into bedrooms as well.
Outside, the in-ground pool is fenced and sits just off the patio, and there is plenty of established lawn space and gardens around the home.
“We’ve also cleared the back of the land and built a fully-irrigated veggie garden,” Mrs Woolf said.
The patio looks out over the pool and yard. Picture: Supplied
The big shed is near new. Picture: Supplied
The huge insulated shed is less than six months old and has a separate brew room plus a veranda off the front.
Mrs Woolf said the property allowed her family to make the most of the Top End lifestyle.
“We live outside most of the time and enjoy the lawns, the pool and playing on the patio,” she said.
“We’ve only got one neighbour and the other side backs onto bush.
“We’re keen runners, so we take the kids running though the bush a fair bit.”
The property is close to shops and schools, and is an easy commute to Coolalinga and Palmerston.
PROPERTY DETAILS
Address: 75 Varro Rd, Lloyd Creek
Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 2
Carparks: 4
Price guide: $1.2m
Agents: Daniel Harris, 0430 350 631, Ethan Lay, 0490 904 859
The post House of the week: Modern rural living appeared first on realestate.com.au.
A key decision maker in the federal housing apparatus, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) oversees the regulator of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) and the Federal Home Loan Banks.
But Bill Pulte has been anything but a conventional FHFA director (pardon the term, since we’re not talking about conforming loan limits just yet).
Floated as a candidate for HUD secretary in the second Trump administration soon after the 2024 presidential election, Pulte was instead nominated to serve as FHFA director days before Trump’s second inauguration in January.
The first hint that people may have gotten about Pulte’s unconventional nature as the head of a regulator likely comes from his background.
As the scion of a family that created one of the nation’s largest homebuilding companies, Pulte gained notoriety on social media for his philanthropic activity in giving cash to users on X, formerly Twitter, alongside his outspoken support of President Donald Trump.
Run-up to confirmation, early days on the job
Pulte filed his financial disclosure forms shortly before his Senate confirmation hearing in February. During that event — shared with other nominees, including a now-withdrawn name to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — Pulte laid out his vision for FHFA under a second Trump administration.
He briefly addressed the potential to bring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of conservatorship while primarily being grilled by senators about his support for existing housing programs.
In Senate terms, the body moved quickly to confirm and seat Pulte as FHFA director by mid-March. His confirmation was one of the few Trump cabinet nominations to receive at least some bipartisan support.
His first week on the job was an active one. He made immediate waves on March 17 by removing 14 board members across the two GSEs, adding several new ones while also appointing himself as chair of both boards.
A Fannie Mae board member with links to Elon Musk’s business empire and the U.S. DOGE Service who was appointed as a replacement ended up leaving the board only a day later.
He quickly pledged to scrutinize the GSEs by calling them “underperforming,” and to root out mortgage fraud. He alluded to reviews of remote-work policies and appeared on national TV to criticize the lack of workers at the Freddie Mac offices.
Staff cuts, board shakeup, unconventional comms
Soon afterward, Pulte started cutting staff, a consistent priority of many Trump-appointed agency leaders and cabinet members.
He championed a return-to-office mandate, and on the same day reports emerged about staff dismissals, top executives at the FHFA and Freddie Mac were dismissed. They included Freddie Mac’s CEO, chief operations officer and head of human resources, along with the FHFA’s COO and head of HR. Freddie President Michael Hutchins was named interim CEO.
Pulte soon afterward began to issue policy announcements via his X profile, consisting of photos of FHFA proclamations and other policy documents that were posted as tweets. Use of traditional communications channels dwindled, complicating the ability of news outlets — including HousingWire — to verify the information with other company or agency officials.
In one such slew of postings in late March, Pulte tweeted out housing orders that terminated special purpose credit programs (SPCPs) and rescinded a 2024 advisory bulletin detailing the agency’s enforcement against unfair or deceptive acts or practices (UDAP).
In that same series of posts, he also ordered the rescission of an advisory bulletin requiring the GSEs to model risk based on climate factors.
That same day, Pulte also indicated he would not cut the conforming loan limits for mortgages bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This ended speculation that the Trump administration would look to shrink the size of the GSEs by limiting the size of loans they could buy.
Targeting mortgage fraud and increased productivity
Housing groups chafed at the unconventional approach to key policy announcements. Senate Democrats questioned the legality of Pulte’s rapid moves.
In April, more than 100 workers at Fannie Mae were reportedly fired over what Pulte referred to as “unethical conduct.” The FHFA soon afterward set up a “tip line” to accept public information about possible mortgage fraud.
Over the next couple of weeks, Pulte declared that he was done making major leadership changes at the GSEs, and he shared a plan to improve their productivity in which he again highlighted a return to in-office work, went after mortgage fraud and projected cautious willingness to examine a release of the GSEs from conservatorship. Pulte maintained that the final decision would be made by the president.
More recently, Pulte made an explosive claim in an interview that North Korean and Chinese nationals had been working at the GSEs and were referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Pulte also referred New York Attorney General Letitia James, a political foe of Trump, to the DOJ over allegations of mortgage fraud.
The road to release?
In a public appearance this month, Pulte reiterated the president’s final decision making authority over GSE conservatorship. But he also labeled the companies as “obese” and shared more of his thinking behind the controversial shakeup of their governing boards.
Pulte also publicly questioned why the cost of FICO credit reports have increased so sharply — news that was quickly drowned out by Trump’s declaration that he was giving “serious consideration” to releasing the GSEs.
This week, Pulte called on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, a day before the president declared he would take the GSEs “public” with an implicit guarantee.
This week, FHFA announced a partnership between Fannie Mae and Palantir Technologies to root out mortgage fraud.
The U.S. housing market is telling two very different stories as pandemic-era boomtowns are cooling rapidly while the Sun Belt’s long-term growth outlook remains strong, according to John Burns Research & Consulting.
A surge in available homes is reshaping the market in regions that saw the fastest growth during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nationally, the number of resale homes on the market in April climbed 21% compared to a year ago. The increase varies by region — up 53% in the Southwest but just 16% in the Midwest.
The report points to pre-pandemic inventory as a clearer measure of pressure:
- North Florida: Currently has 38% more resale homes than in April 2019
- Texas: 37% more homes
- Southwest: 23% more homes
These regions are also where prices are softening.
In Austin, there are 91% more homes for sale than in 2019, and prices have dropped 2% year over year. By contrast, Orange County, California, has 41% fewer homes for sale than in 2019 — with home prices there rising 5%.
Builders are feeling the squeeze too.
In oversupplied areas like Texas and Florida, new-home inventories are at their highest levels since 2010 and price are falling, according to John Burns. In response, the report shows that builders are slowing construction activity to match weaker sales.
Sun Belt’s job, population growth remain strong
While supply is driving current market trends, the long-term picture hinges on where people are moving and where jobs are growing.
Domestic migration continues to favor Sun Belt cities.
Jacksonville, along with the North Carolina hubs of Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, remain as top destinations while traditional coastal hubs like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago are losing residents. But international migration has helped offset these losses.
Employment trends reinforce this divide:
- Northern Florida: +1.4% annualized job growth in April
- Texas: +1.3%
- U.S. average: +1.2%
- Southwest: +0.1%
- Southern California: 0%
Sun Belt metros have surpassed their pre-pandemic employment levels. Dallas is up 11% compared to pre-COVID peaks. Meanwhile, San Francisco’s job base remains 2% below pre-pandemic levels.
Oversupplied today, poised for growth tomorrow
Some markets may look weak now, but their long-term prospects remain bright.
“(In Austin, Texas), home prices are falling now due to oversupply. But the city’s population grew by 2.4% in 2024 — three times faster than the national average,” the report notes.
Similarly, Orlando’s housing market has cooled, but job growth is nearly double the national rate — suggesting the city’s future housing demand will rebound.
“These contradictions highlight why a longer-term perspective is essential for identifying opportunities,” the report explained. “The strong demand fundamentals (jobs and population growth) that drove Sunbelt growth during the pandemic haven’t disappeared — they’re just temporarily overshadowed by a supply glut.”
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 transactions.
The platform gives buyers an upfront “down payment boost” by redirecting a portion of the buyer’s agent commission — up to 2% of the purchase price — to the buyer.
“In today’s market, the biggest barrier to homeownership isn’t the mortgage, it’s the down payment,” Rishard Rameez, Zown’s co-founder and CEO. “Most middle-income earners are stuck paying someone else’s mortgage via monthly rent. At the same time, they earn too much to qualify for traditional assistance programs, but not enough to save for a down payment as home prices climb.
“That’s where Zown steps in. We’re setting a new standard for the industry by providing upfront, tangible support where buyers need it most, at the start of their journey.”
Rameez added that his own frustrations as a home seller led to the creation of Zown.
Platform features
Zown pairs buyers with a licensed agent who uses the company’s tools — such as artificial intelligence-powered pricing insights, real-time comparable data and predictive analytics — to help navigate the market.
Preapprovals are processed quickly, sometimes in under five minutes, either through a buyer’s preferred lender or Zown’s system, leaders said.
A statewide network of listing agents also allows buyers to schedule home tours on demand, avoiding the bottlenecks often associated with the traditional single-agent model.
Zown said it retains just 1% of the buyer’s agent commission and returns the remainder to the buyer as an upfront down payment boost — or to buy down mortgage rates and lower monthly payments.
“California’s housing market poses steep challenges for first-time and budget-conscious buyers. Sky-high prices and fierce competition make it hard for even well-qualified buyers to break in,” said Zown President Afraj Gill.
“In cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, average down payments have soared by 86% in under two decades,” he added. “Some buyers now face a 20-year uphill battle just to save enough to get started. That’s simply unsustainable. Zown’s model puts real cash back in buyers’ hands so they can compete and win in today’s market.”
Impact on agents
Agents are paid a salary rather than working solely on commission — a change that’s designed to encourage service over sales volume, Zown said.
“Buying a home is one of life’s biggest milestones, and you deserve an agent who sees you as more than just a transaction,” said Lisa Touney, Zown’s lead real estate agent for California.
“Zown’s technology was built to ensure fast, reliable, and human support every step of the way, so while Zown buyers of course praise the savings, just as regarded is the service they receive and the support they feel throughout the process.”
Zown agents also have access to proprietary tools that include consolidated data on factors such as commute times, school ratings and crime statistics — features the company said give agents deeper insights to guide clients through buying or selling.
Trump administration keeps up pressure on Fed, but investors don’t expect the U.S. central bank to cut short-term rates until September.
The good news is the preferred measure of inflation for the Federal Reserve keeps trending downward. The bad news is that the economic backdrop that could lead to lower rates keeps getting more complicated.
According to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index for April rose 2.1% on an annual basis, down from 2.3% in March and closer to the Fed’s target rate of 2%. It rose 0.1% compared to March, when it was flat month over month.
So-called core inflation — which excludes volatile food and energy costs — rose 2.5% year over year, the lowest annual rate so far in 2025. Housing costs remain the highest driver of consumer spending, with a rise of $24.7 billion on a seasonally adjusted annual basis.
In a vacuum, the falling rate of inflation would signal that the Fed is ready to cut interest rates, as Chairman Jerome Powell has long said he wants to see inflation at 2% before doing so.
But federal economic policy is a wild card that’s only getting wilder.
Two federal courts this week suspended the global tariff regime Trump announced on April 2, ruling that the law the president evoked to implement it — the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) — doesn’t give him unilateral power to do so.
However, a federal appeals court on Thursday granted the Trump administration a pause on that ruling, which will preserve the country-specific tariffs, at least for now. It did not rule on the legalities of them, and the case is expected to rise to the Supreme Court.
The rulings do not apply to tariffs on individual goods, and a 25% levy on steel and aluminum imports remains unaffected.
The tariffs are widely expected to cause some level of inflation, and Powell has repeatedly signaled that it is taking that possibility into account when deciding on monetary policy. This means that the Fed may take a more cautious approach toward cutting interest rates.
That’s bad news for the housing market, which has struggled since 2022, when the Fed implemented rate hikes to combat escalating inflation that stemmed from supply chain disruptions during the pandemic.
HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center currently shows a 6.99% rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage and a 6.82% rate on a 15-year conforming loan, down 4 basis points (bps) from a week ago and 8 bps lower than two weeks ago. Rates for 15-year conforming loans have shed 10 bps over the past two weeks and stood at 7.32% on Tuesday.
The Trump administration continues to press Powell on the topic. The president met with Powell on the matter Thursday, during which Trump told Powell that he’s making a mistake by not lowering rates.
Earlier in the week, FHFA Director Bill Pulte tweeted that Powell needs to lower rates, saying “enough is enough.”
Friday’s report from the BEA is just another in a series that shows inflation cooling, as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April rose by 2.3% annually. But it may not be a catalyst for the Fed if it continues to take a wait-and-see approach with regard to trade policy.
And it’s unclear how much of an impact the tariff announcement will have on inflation moving forward. Many companies have signaled that they are raising prices as a result of them — including Wal-Mart — but it may not be until the summer that any impact starts showing up in data.
JKDS is a licensed New York State real estate brokerage firm. #10351200205