Zillow continues to expand its reach into new real estate verticals, announcing today that it is buying ShowingTime for $500 million.
Good afternoon —
Zillow continues to expand its reach into new real estate verticals, announcing today that it is buying ShowingTime for $500 million. ShowingTime provides showing management and market stats for 950,000 real estate professionals in more than 370 MLSs across the U.S. and Canada. Cue the collective agent freakout? You can read all about the acquisition here.
In other news, we've been covering the ways regulation is changing under a Biden administration, and it's clear that fair servicing is going to be a key area of focus. Today we ran an article by two lawyers at Buckley Sandler that outlines what servicers should be focused on.
One of the key takeaways: Servicers need to confirm the sufficiency of outreach.
At least one study has shown that borrowers in regions with a higher likelihood of COVID-19-related economic shocks and minority populations were more likely to obtain debt relief, but such results may not be sufficient to quell previously expressed policymaker concerns that investor and agency response has been insufficient to assist minority communities.
The CARES Act forbearance requirements eliminated discretion regarding whether to offer forbearance, and on what terms, but servicers will undoubtedly be called upon to demonstrate that they engaged in sufficient outreach to offer borrowers of all races and ethnicities appropriate loss mitigation.
Read the whole article here. And stay safe (and compliant) —
Caliber Home Loans' Brandon Bialkowski and Vanessa Accra discuss Arizona's hot housing market, which is experiencing a significant uptick in homebuyer migration.
Today's cultural moment is potentially different than it was 10 years ago, and it is anticipated regulators will deploy the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Fair Housing Act, and even state anti-discrimination laws, in novel ways to nudge servicers to do their part to support the equity agenda.
HousingWire recently spoke with Mike Fierman, managing partner and co-CEO of Angel Oak, about what the non-QM market looks like moving forward. Presented by Angel Oak
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