The big keep getting bigger: Real Brokerage announced that it is purchasing RE/MAX for $550 million, revealing that, including debt, the deal is worth an estimated $880 million. The name will be the Real REMAX Group (“a transformative opportunity to fuse REMAX’s strong brand equity with leading AI technology”) and it’s been reported that Motto Mortgage, owned by RE/MAX, will retain its current business model of a mortgage brokerage franchisor following the completion of this deal. REMAX doesn’t belong to the National Association of Realtors, although “they” say that 87 percent of real estate agents are NAR members. NAR tells us that 63 percent of its members are female. There are agents who are part-time license holders, people who got licensed but never entered the business, and even agents on a team where all deals are closed under the team leader. The 2025 NAR Member Profile paints a different picture. Among REALTORS® specializing in residential sales, only 5 percent reported zero transaction sides in 2024, the typical Realtor completed 10 transaction sides, and Realtors with two years or less experience reported a median of 3 transactions. LOs should be careful who they call on! (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s ‘casts are sponsored by Figure, which is shaking up the lending world with their five-day HELOC, offering borrower approvals in as little as five minutes and funding in five days. Figure has hundreds of partners in the Banking, Credit Union, Home Improvement, and of course, IMB space embedding their technology. Today’s has an interview with Seroka’s John Seroka on how brands are discovered by prioritizing credible, structured, and widely validated information over traditional SEO, making it critical for companies to build consistent digital authority and trust signals.)

United Wholesale Mortgage is one of multiple home lending partners Dan Sogorka and Mike Fawaz’s new company plans to bring on board.

Alongside a bill that gives homeowners a year of forbearance after state-declared emergencies, lawmakers will consider extending wildfire-related moratoriums.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said on Sunday that he no longer opposes Kevin Warsh’s nomination to serve as chair of the Federal Reserve following the Justice Department’s announced closure of its inquiry into current Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Real is acquiring Motto’s parent Remax in a deal valued at $13.80 per share, as the new Real Remax Group will have “two distinct models, one platform.”

Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig Trainor encouraged the real estate industry to reconsider advice received from DEI experts.

What happens if labor or materials become too expensive here in the United States? Despite the move toward rejuvenating the manufacturing-based economy in the United States by the current Administration, people will follow the money and go elsewhere, whether it be dental work, hair transplants, or… manufactured housing. With the high cost of home construction, more Americans are becoming curious about working with Chinese suppliers on their renovations. The price of home construction materials in the United States increased by 3 percent from last year, according to the National Association of Home Builders. And since 27 percent of those materials came from China (in 2023), some US homebuilders are thinking of skipping the middleman like Home Depot and local contractors. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s ‘casts are sponsored by Figure, which is shaking up the lending world with their five-day HELOC, offering borrower approvals in as little as five minutes and funding in five days. Figure has hundreds of partners in the Banking, Credit Union, Home Improvement, and of course, IMB space embedding their technology. Today’s has an interview with WSFS Bank’s Jeffrey Ruben on how homeowners can strategically tap their equity while navigating today’s rate environment, avoiding common renovation financing pitfalls, and understanding why many are calling this the “golden age” of HELOCs.) Lender and Broker Products and Services Your workflow is already built. Your systems are already in place. Your credit reporting partner should support that. Advantage Partners Solutions gives you access to two platforms: Credit Interlink and MeridianLink Mortgage Credit Link. Both are fully supported by the same team. You choose the platform that fits your loan origination system. Your process stays intact. Your team keeps moving. No disruption. No retraining cycles. No forced transitions. This is an industry-first kind of structure that aligns to your operation and scales with your production volume. It allows your team to maintain momentum while gaining the support of a partner who understands your environment. See how this fits inside your operation and how both platforms support your workflow without interruption. Review your setup and compare it to a model designed to adapt to you and move forward with clarity: Schedule an intro today.

Despite the elevated volatility risk heading into the weekend, mortgage rates are starting the week in exactly the same territory compared to Friday afternoon. As always, our rate tracking refers to top-tier 30-year fixed rates for the average lender. The absence of meaningful movement in the underlying bond market is a testament to an increasingly high bar of relevance for war-related news. Specifically, the Iran war is the main source of inspiration not only for oil prices, but also for the bonds that dictate interest rates.  Earlier in the war, almost any headline had a visible impact on bonds. But now it’s only the most significant developments. Those are harder to come by in late April as investors are basically waiting for either an official and permanent ceasefire, or a catastrophic re-escalation. Anything in between has proven to be fairly uninteresting when it comes to bond market influence.

Modest Weakness, But Range Persists

Bonds lost ground today, but not for any particular reason. Most importantly, there was no major reaction to the lack of progress in peace talks over the weekend (which would have been hard considering the talks didn’t happen). Earlier in the war, this sort of development would have had a more noticeable impact. At this point, markets are waiting on the biggest news. Until that news breaks, bonds are content to wander aimlessly in the same sideways range that’s been intact for the entire month. For those who insist on assigning blame for today’s modestly higher yields, the absence of peace talks was worth maybe a third of it. Beyond that, we’d consider things like the Treasury auction cycle and asset allocation among investors chasing all-time highs in stocks. 

Market Movement Recap

09:13 AM Bonds modestly weaker on stalled peace talks. 10yr up 1.4bps at 4.317 and MBS down 3 ticks (.09).

11:48 AM MBS down 5 ticks (.16) on the day and an eight from the highs. 10yr up 2.6bps at 4.329

02:22 PM 10yr up 3.3bps at 4.335 and MBS still down 5 ticks (.16)

The word of the day is “stalled.” You can’t get far reading top news stories over the weekend without seeing it in reference to the negotiations that looked at least somewhat possible on Friday afternoon. At that time, official word was that Witkoff/Kushner were heading to Pakistan on Saturday morning to meet with Iran’s FM Araghchi, but the US contingent never made the trek. Now this morning there are additional reports that a resumption of military operations is being considered. One would think this would make for a big hit to financial markets, but oil prices and bond yields are only modestly higher. And stocks are actually in slightly stronger territory, once again pushing new all-time highs.