The former chief financial officer of cloud-based real estate firm The Real Brokerage has filed a federal lawsuit alleging she was pushed out of the company after becoming pregnant and taking maternity leave.

Michelle Ressler, who was relieved of her role as CFO in April, claims in the suit that Real orchestrated her termination under false pretenses and replaced her with a less qualified male employee.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

“This case involves textbook claims for gender discrimination, pregnancy discrimination and retaliation,” said Allison Van Kampen, an attorney for Ressler and a partner at Outten & Golden LLP. “It’s infuriating that, in 2025, men in leadership still seem to believe that women cannot be effective executives if they have a baby at home.”

Real did not immediately respond to HousingWire‘s request for comment.

Ressler joined Real in July 2020 as vice president of finance and was promoted to CFO three months later. According to the complaint, she was a key figure in the company’s growth, helping to drive annual revenue from $16 million to $1.3 billion over a four-year period.

The lawsuit alleges that after Ressler informed company leadership of her pregnancy, she was increasingly sidelined. She claims that business units were taken away from her, she was excluded from critical decisions, and her male subordinate was groomed to take over her role.

Ressler also alleges she was required to work during her maternity leave, in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Her leave began on Aug. 15, 2024, and ended on Jan. 21, 2025. Three months later, Real terminated her employment.

The company cited an internal audit that reportedly found she had charged personal expenses to a corporate credit card, according to Ressler’s attorneys.

Ressler disputes that claim, arguing in court documents that the charges were minor and unintentional. She also alleges that male executives who submitted personal charges or engaged in similar conduct were not disciplined.

According to the lawsuit, the audit was used to justify a predetermined decision to remove her from the role.

“This lawsuit is about the truth,” Ressler said in a statement. “As CFO, I consistently led with a commitment to sound governance, transparency, and performance — grounded in quiet, strategic leadership. In an industry where women comprise a majority of the workforce but too few of the decision-makers, we need more leaders willing to challenge outdated, discriminatory norms and lead with integrity.

“I’m coming forward not just to right Real’s wrongs against me and hold it accountable, but also to demonstrate what resilience looks like when it’s rooted in principle, precision, and results.”

Ravi Jani, who joined Real in September 2023 as vice president of investor relations and financial planning and analysis, stepped into the CFO role upon Ressler’s departure.

Ressler was named a HousingWire Finance Leader on multiple occasions, while Jani recently earned a nod as a 2025 HousingWire Rising Star.

As the economic situation for many Americans continues to evolve due in part to the cost of housing, one Democratic member of the House of Representatives used her time on the floor Tuesday to call for more action to address rising housing expenses.

Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) on Tuesday introduced a House Resolution calling for “urgent, coordinated federal action to address the nation’s worsening housing crisis by preserving and expanding access to affordable housing,” according to a statement from her office.

The resolution is co-sponsored by fellow Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty (D), who currently serves as a senior member on the House Financial Services Committee.

“In Northeast Ohio and across America, our housing crisis is pricing families out of stability,” Brown said in a statement. “It’s harder than ever to find a place to live, pay the bills, keep our families safe and secure and build wealth.

“Housing isn’t just having a roof over your head —  it is the foundation for safety, security, and opportunity.”

The housing crisis — felt with varying levels of severity in localities from Washington state to Vermont — serves to widen “the wealth and racial gaps we’ve been trying to close for generations,” Brown added.

“I am proud to introduce this resolution with Congresswoman Beatty because it is time that we put the House of Representatives on record on this important issue.”

The accelerated need for action, Brown said, stems from the idea that housing issues permeate congressional districts nationwide. A coordinated federal response is the only way that Congress and the federal government can adequately address it, she said.

But the issues stemming from affordability challenges disproportionately strike those in lower-income economic brackets and people of color, Brown said. This makes it “virtually impossible for millions of families to stay healthy, pursue higher education, maintain steady employment or achieve financial stability,” she added.

“This resolution recognizes the urgency of addressing the housing crisis in America and affirms a commitment to advancing federal legislation to support rental assistance and housing development so that every American family has a safe, affordable place to call home,” Brown said.

Data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) shows that the U.S. currently faces an affordable housing shortage of roughly 7 million units for “extremely low-income renters.” Three-quarters of these people spend more than 50% of their income on housing alone, well above the recommended standard of 30% or less.

The racial homeownership gap also remains wide, according to recent data published by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and cited by the lawmakers.

While the homeownership rate for white Americans stands at 72%, the rate falls to 44% among Black Americans. Data from the Urban Institute illustrates that the homeownership rate among Blacks is lower than it was in the year 2000.

A federal judge on Tuesday refused to block a landmark New York City law that will shift responsibility for paying broker fees from renters to landlords — clearing the way for the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses (FARE) Act to take effect on Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Ronnie Abrams denied a request by the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), the New York State Association of Realtors and several brokerage firms for a preliminary injunction that would have halted implementation of the law while their legal challenge proceeds.

“Plaintiffs’ discontentment with the Act stems not from its effects on their constitutional rights, but from a fundamental disagreement with its underlying policy,” Abrams wrote in her ruling. “The law is clear, though, that whether the legislation is wise or unwise as a matter of policy is a question with which (the Court cannot be) concerned.”

The ruling marks a significant blow to the real estate industry’s effort to derail the policy and a major victory for tenant advocates.

“This has been years in the making,” said Allia Mohamed, CEO and co-founder of openigloo, a New York-based rental platform. “The premise is, whoever hires the real estate broker is responsible for paying this broker fee.

“From our perspective, the best thing to happen is for it to go into effect tomorrow. Renters need immediate relief when it comes to their apartment hunt in New York City.

“It’s going to save renters thousands of dollars upfront. It’s going to give them that freedom of movement and flexibility to actually move apartments if they want. This is a freedom and a liberty that New York City renters have not had.”

Under the proposal, landlords or brokers who charge a tenant without a prior agreement would face a $750 fine for a first offense, $1,800 for a second offense and $2,000 for each subsequent violation.

Additional penalties include $750 for failing to clearly disclose all tenant fees in listings and $375 for not providing an itemized list of charges.

Opposition to reform

Under long-standing practice in New York City, tenants are often required to pay broker fees — even when the broker was hired by the landlord. These fees can range up to one to two months of rent, making moving prohibitively expensive for many renters.

The FARE Act seeks to change that by aligning payment responsibility with the party that hires the broker.

Opponents of the law — including REBNY — argue that the costs will be passed along to renters in the form of higher rents.

“New Yorkers will soon realize the negative impacts of the FARE Act when listings become scarce, and rents rise,” REBNY President James Whelan said in a statement provided to Bloomberg. “We will continue to litigate this case as well as explore our avenues for appeal.”

REBNY and several brokerage firms filed a lawsuit in December seeking to block the measure — just days after it passed a New York City Council vote with overwhelming support. REBNY previously led a successful 2020 legal fight against a similar broker fee ban.

Mohamed pushed back against opposing narratives, saying they amount to “fear mongering.”

“I think the most common rebuttal is that it’s going to cause rents to skyrocket,” she said. “The way that I interpret that rebuttal is it’s a bit hyperbolic, because they think that landlords are just going to pass along the costs on to renters.

“My counter argument to that counter argument is supply and demand and market conditions is what dictates prices on apartments, not what landlords’ costs are.”

She also cited New York City’s rent regulations as a limiting factor on rent increases.

“Nearly 50% of the housing stock is rent stabilized, meaning there are legal caps on what can be charged,” Mohamed said. “That eliminates almost half of the housing from being able to actually pass those costs through.”

Even in the market-rate sector, Mohamed noted, landlords face pricing pressure.

“Those landlords need to keep their inventory competitive with the rent-stabilized inventory,” she said. “So it can’t be super out of step, or they’re not going to be able to fill their units fast enough.

“Even if some of the costs are passed through, our argument and position is it’s still better off for renters for them to pay a $20 or $30 rent increase, as opposed to having to find $10,000 upfront to be able to move into a new apartment.”

Renter ramifications

According to data from openigloo, around 70% of renters had postponed their apartment searches in anticipation of the FARE Act. Mohamed believes the judge’s decision will now provide clarity and momentum for these individuals.

The lawsuit opposing the legislation will continue, but for now, the law will stand.

Mohamed hopes that the decision will shift the conversation toward constructive policy solutions rather than prolonged legal battles.

“What I would love to see happen is for the brokerage community to come together, express their concerns and their fears in a solutions-oriented way,” she said. “This broker fee has been put on the renter, moments where the renter didn’t necessarily want those services or even get the services that they should have gotten.

“It’s paying a fee to an agent who represents the landlord’s interest. And that is not a healthy market in any type of city. At the end of the day, New York City is one of the most challenging, expensive, broken housing markets in the country — if not the world — and we really welcome creative solutions from policymakers who are trying to make people’s lives better.”

The wave of migration set off by the COVID-19 pandemic pushed home prices through the roof in towns that had previously been relatively sleepy. While data shows that some narratives at the time proved to be a bit overstated, there’s no question that it reshaped housing markets across the country.

A recent study from Point2Homes analyzed population data from the U.S. Census Bureau and found that a number of suburbs experienced significant shifts in renter rates before and after the pandemic.

The suburbs with the highest percentage-point increases in their shares of renters between 2018 and 2023 tend to be part of metropolitan areas that received an influx of new residents looking to buy houses, or those that have otherwise seen home prices rise rapidly.

Eleven of the top 20 suburbs for renter growth are in California or Texas — with Texas being a common destination for expats of California. There are also two suburbs in the Miami metro area and two more in Seattle.

Interestingly, many of the top 20 suburbs that saw the biggest declines in their renter rates — or, inversely, an increase in their homeownership rates — were also markets that boomed during the pandemic.

Seven are in Florida, while the Phoenix, Denver and Seattle metro areas each account for two. The fact that renter rates declined rather than increasing in these suburbs might suggest that the people buying homes there were coming from within, rather than from outside.

Between 2018 and 2023, 15 suburbs became majority-renter areas, which brings the total across the U.S. to 203. Ten of these new majority-renter suburbs are on the East Coast and in areas where home-price appreciation has been rapid. Four are in New Jersey, two are in Florida and two are in Massachusetts.

Of the 15 that flipped, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, had the highest percentage-point increase at 10.9 points, followed by the New Jersey cities of East Franklin (+9.7 points) and Bound Brook (+8.3 points).

The Crown penthouse, on levels 81 and 82 of the Barangaroo tower, has finally sold for circa $80m to a buyer rumoured to be from Sydney’s east.

The circa $80m buyer of Crown’s six-bedrooom penthouse at Barangaroo is rumoured to be from Sydney’s east.

Sources have confirmed that the stunning apartment, which occupies levels 81 and 82 of the Barangaroo tower, exchanged on Tuesday via The Agency’s head of projects Steven Chen and Colliers director of residential project marketing Luke Hayes.

Chen and Hayes had no comment when contacted, though other sources confirmed the deal was done at “circa $80m”. Though separate sources had said the result was between $70m and $75m.

At any rate, it’s the highest price for a completed apartment in the country.

Although there was a $142m transaction in 2019 — for the Lendlease Tower 1 development next door — that was off-the-plan and also an amalgamation of two apartments.

MORE:

Home listed with shipping container in living area

It’s the most expensive sale of a completed apartment in Australia.

The property exchanged yesterday.

This latest sale (if $80m) for the 849sqm double-storey space equates to more than $94,000 per sq m.

Designed by Meyer Davis, it includes a small pool with balcony. All up there are four balconies, with views to Darling Harbour, North Sydney, the heart of the CBD and the iconic harbour.

Other features include a gym, wine cellar for 300 bottles, a butler’s pantry, two guest bedrooms, a separate entrance for nannies and chefs and a wet bar.

The panoramic views, taking in the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, can never be built out.

Although one of Sydney’s best apartments, it’s understood James Packer’s double storey apartment on levels 65 and 66 of Crown is even more impressive.

“Packer’s is just spectacular, with more than 1000sqm of space and two designers have worked on the interiors,” one source said.

James Packer’s double-storey apartment levels 65 and 66 is understood to be even more impressive.

The penthouse has six bedrooms and views that can’t be built out.

“He had the choice of the apartments when he bought his for $60m off-the-plan in 2017, but he chose the lower level because it had more space and more intimate views.”

The Crown tower was finished just three years ago but the penthouse has languished on the market, with hopes as high as $110m originally.

The price dropped to $90m in December and the space was tricked up at a cost of $500,000 to try to attract a buyer.

It’s been confirmed that the purchaser is an Australian resident.

“There was a lot of interest from the Chinese market, but ultimately it was an Australian citizen who bought it,” a source advised.

The purchaser of the $142m apartment next door is understood to be from Asia.

The post $80m unit smashes all records appeared first on realestate.com.au.