U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough has appointed two “special masters”—third parties granted significant authority over witnesses, evidence and testimony—to audit JND Legal Administration’s billing in the Burnett and Gibson commission lawsuits against the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), capping months of scrutiny over the settlement administrator’s finances. The July 27 order names Chris T.…
A judge dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Zillow and a real estate brokerage, saying that lawyers representing homebuyers who used Zillow’s mortgage services or were referred to agents through the portal’s lead-selling service did not meet the legal standard to move forward. Plaintiffs had alleged that Zillow’s practices were deceptive, violating RESPA, racketeering and consumer…
Editor’s note: The COURT REPORT is RISMedia’s weekly look at current and upcoming lawsuits, investigations and other legal developments around real estate. Federal lawmakers investigate MRED-Compass partnership A federal congressional committee sent letters to Compass CEO Robert Reffkin and MRED CEO Rebecca Jensen in relation to their partnership, scrutinizing the relationship between the nation’s largest…
Editor’s Note: The Mortgage Mix is RISMedia’s biweekly highlight reel of need-to-know mortgage-industry happenings. Watch for it every other Friday afternoon. – During the back half of July, mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels since August 2025, with the 30 year fixed rate hovering above 6.5%. Despite this rise, attributed to renewed escalation…
The battle over private listings is playing out nearly everywhere—from statehouses and courthouses to brokerage offices and Wall Street boardrooms. As opponents and supporters of the practice make their cases, the debate looks vastly different depending on the venue. But one tool that is nearly always effective is data. And as the practice draws more…
When the market is hot, residential real estate can still be a cold business. Perhaps even more so when rain enters the picture. There are all kinds of things you can do to make a home look its best as a seller agent, and all kinds of good features to point out to buyer clients.…
The post Beating the Rain: How to Offset Its Dampening Effect On Clients appeared first on RISMedia.
Earlier this month, it was reported that sales of existing homes fell during June, but the latest report on sales of newly constructed homes offers modestly more positive indicators for housing. According to the latest findings from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), new single-family homes sales were…
Zillow research released in May found that home sellers lost a combined $1.49 billion to same-agent dual agency and $1.36 billion to off-MLS listings between 2023 and 2025, based on an analysis of more than 15 million transactions. Two sources with no role in the study—a Chicago broker/owner and a real estate economist—reviewed the findings…
If the last few years have taught real estate practitioners anything, it’s that the housing market is anything but predictable. The COVID-19 pandemic threw what can only be described as a massive wrench into many of the “typical” trends of the market. So many ways in which housing worked, behaved or cycled shifted, or went…
As climate change continues to impact housing markets, there are some indications that buyers aren’t immediately dissuaded by long-term climate risks when home shopping. The new 2026 Realtor.com® Housing and Climate Risk Report corroborates this while also delving into the specifics of climate cost burdens. The report, which analyzes listings across Realtor.com from the past…
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