New leaders for the FHFA and HUD, the status quo at the CFPB and State Farm staying out of the TV spotlight. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the week of Jan. 13-17.
Hit: The Right Man for the Job. Perhaps the most positive real estate news of the week was President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Bill Pulte to become the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Pulte is the CEO of the private equity firm Pulte Capital Partners and he’s the best candidate to bring the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of federal conservatorship where they’ve been since September 2008. There has been talk that the Trump team wants to privatize the GSEs, and what better choice than a private equity leader to make that happen?
Hit: Also the Right Man for the Job. Scott Turner, President-elect Trump’s choice to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), offered a wonderful presentation of his ideas and concerns during his Senate confirmation hearing this week. “HUD, if you will, is failing at its most basic mission and that has to come to an end,” Turner said, pointing to a recent HUD report noting the 18.1% increase in homelessness. “As a country, we’re not building enough housing,” he added. “We need millions of homes, all kinds of homes: multifamily, single-family, duplex, condos, manufactured housing, you name it.” After four years of a misdirected HUD obsessed with climate change, it will be refreshing to have a HUD secretary who will be focused on housing.
Miss: The Wrong Man Still on the Job. The Trump transition team seems to have missed the continued presence of Rohit Chopra as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Unlike other Biden appointees, Chopra is not resigning ahead of Monday’s inauguration and will continue as the regulator unless he is fired by Trump. Chopra is an ally of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and he believes in rushing into lawsuits rather than trying to settle perceived problems without courtrooms. Obviously, Chopra does not align with the Trump focus of smaller and saner government, and the CFPB would benefit from the appointment of a new director who will be in step with the new administration and bring fresh ideas to this regulatory agency.
Miss: So, What Happens Now? On Monday, the US Supreme Court has declined without comment to consider an appeal by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to stop the US Department of Justice (DOJ) from reopening an investigation into NAR’s Participation Rule and Clear Cooperation Policy that was resolved in a December 2020 settlement during the first Trump administration. The DOJ defended its action by claiming that “although the division agreed to close its investigation, the words ‘close’ and ‘reopen’ are not mutually exclusive.” Neither President-elect Trump nor his choice for Attorney General, Pam Bondi, have publicly commented on the issue, so the question remains whether the new iteration of the DOJ will continue the questionable actions begun by Merrick Garland’s department.
Hit: Unexpected But Welcomed Support. Two entities that are mostly viewed by Americans with discomfort or worse have shown a sympathetic side to the residents of Los Angeles County impacted by the wildfires. The Internal Revenue Service extended tax deadlines in Los Angeles County, with the filing deadline for those in the impacted region pushed back from the traditional April 15 date to Oct. 15. The Wall Street Journal reported the IRS is also delaying the deadlines for quarterly estimated tax payments for the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first three quarters of 2025 to Oct. 15. Also offering to lend a hand was the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran – The Diplomat in Spain reports the ayatollahs offered humanitarian aid and firefighting teams to help put out the fires and support its victims. Hey, could this be the start of a new era of US-Iran relations?
Miss: Off the Air. The insurance company State Farm announced that it dropped plans to run an advertisement in this year’s Super Bowl. According to The Wall Street Journal, this decision was because the company did not want more attention to its handling of the California market. Lest we forget, the company stopped selling new home insurance policies in California in 2023 because of wildfire risk and rapid inflation in construction costs and then announced plans in 2024 not the renew 30,000 property policies in the state, including more than two-thirds of those in Pacific Palisades where the wildfires have been most severe. State Farm has spent $23.2 million on national linear TV since Jan. 1 – yes, they have money for self-promotion, but not for California homeowners.
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
Photo: Vicnt / Getty Images
