🐐Foreclosures Rise, Fraudsters Disguise, Anal Retentive Underwriter Cries
Title Underground (18-Jan-2026): The creative policy shifts continue as the market sends conflicting signals, WFG unveils in-house agency operations, and will pre-payment pentalties make a come back?
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📜Educational Resources
🌍 Foreign Tax CPA: ITIN Processing Updates in 2026: What Foreign Sellers Should Know
🎥 Navigating the New Massachusetts Real Estate Withholding Rules (MA)
🎓 Bankruptcy, Foreclosure, REO (MS) (CE) ($)
🎥 Money Laundering in Escrow: Risks, Red Flags, and Compliance Responsibilities
🕵️♂️Underworld Intel
Are markets going up or down?
📰 Banks seize 367,000 homes as housing pain spreads across US... and it is about to get much worse
🎥 2026 CRE Forecast: What’s Next for Office, Retail, Industrial & Multifamily
📄 The recent analysis by Realtor.com indicates a significant shift in the U.S. housing market, with homeowners holding mortgages at rates of 6% or higher now outnumbering those with rates below 3%, suggesting a potential loosening of the lock-in effect that has constrained market mobility.
🎥 2026 Residential Market Outlook: Rates, Inventory & Buyer Shifts
📰 Shares of mortgage insurance companies fell significantly amid concerns over a proposed reduction in Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance premiums aimed at improving housing affordability
📰 Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has proposed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offer “non-prepayable” 30-year loans with prepayment penalties to lower mortgage rates, suggesting that this change could reduce borrowing costs for homeowners by approximately 65 basis points.
Supporters of the Ackman’s idea said that removing borrowers’ free option to refinance could compress MBS spreads by as much as 100 basis points over time, and potentially would amplify the rate savings that Ackman highlighted.
Critics said there’s a risk of trapping households in higher‑rate loans during future downturns or life changes, despite the appeal of lower upfront pricing.
⚖️Regulatory & Policy Updates
National
📰 Will Fannie and Freddie’s bond-buying spree derail IPO plans?
🎥Donald Trump versus Federal Reserve — what you need to know
📰 Experts: How Will Trump’s $200B Mortgage Buying Spree Impact Rates? - impact may be minimal in the long term due to the vast size of the mortgage bond market.
📰 Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) is pushing back against proposals to allow a single-bureau credit pull in mortgage underwriting, as Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte presses for changes aimed at increasing competition in the use of credit scores.
📰 Trump pauses 50-year mortgage plan, eyes 401(k)s for down payments - The Trump administration has abandoned its proposal for 50-year mortgages and is now considering allowing Americans to use retirement and college savings for down payments to enhance housing affordability.
📰 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Justice have retracted a joint statement concerning fair lending practices for noncitizen borrowers to realign with existing laws that allow creditors to consider immigration status in lending decisions.
The original statement suggested that such considerations could violate ECOA’s prohibition of discrimination based on protected classes.
The withdrawal was intended to align with the express language of ECOA and Regulation B, allowing lenders to consider lawful residence status and other relevant information.
Disparate Impact
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) dropped disparate impact enforcement in April
Followed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in July
📰 Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Wednesday proposed eliminating disparate impact rule regulations under the Fair Housing Act
💬 Public comments on HUD’s proposed rule are due by Feb. 13. Submit your comments here.
📰 Fair housing advocates warn proposed HUD rule could erode civil rights guardrails
📰 Fed’s inflation fight collides with Trump’s power play on monetary policy - The Federal Reserve’s ongoing efforts to combat inflation remain stagnant, while tensions escalate between the central bank’s independence and President Trump’s attempts to influence monetary policy amid legal challenges faced by Fed officials.
State Regulatory Changes
📰 Missouri Insurance Data Security Act Requirements - Effective January 1, 2026. This act requires a licensee to notify the Director that a cybersecurity event has occurred.
🎥 AB 723 and Altered Images: New Legal Risks for Real Estate Marketing (CA)
📰 Maryland AG announces $850K settlement with title company, JVs for RESPA violations - Maryland’s Attorney General announced an $850,000 settlement with KVS Title and several joint venture companies for violating RESPA by unlawfully paying referral fees to real estate agents, leading to the dissolution of the JVs and restrictions on KVS’s future operations.
📰 Lawmakers move to restrict private listings in Washington (Bill 6091)
📰 New York’s FAIR Business Practices Act: What the Final Bill Changes and Why It Matters - (Bill)
🤖PropTech, Cyber Security & Fraud
🎥🔒Closinglock: Deepfakes, AI, & the New Era of Real Estate Crime
Seller Impersonation Scams
Mortgage Fraud
🎥 California Strikes Back Against Title Fraud | What SB 255 Means for Homeowners and Real Estate Pros
💼 Job Postings
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