A new CFPB director is named, New York City nuns address the affordable housing shortage, and Alec Baldwin tries once more to sell his Hamptons estate. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the week of June 8-12.
Hit and Miss: Filling the CFPB Void. After failing to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), President Trump put forth a nominee to run the agency, which has not had a permanent director since February 2025. But the manner in which the nomination was revealed was dismal. The White House website published a news statement with the vague headline “Nomination Sent to the Senate,” and the statement consisted of exactly one sentence: “Brian Johnson, of Ohio, to be Director, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection for a term of five years.” There was no mention of Johnson serving as deputy director of the CFPB from 2018 to 2020 during the first Trump term, nor did it mention that he is currently an executive with Capital One and a highly respected attorney. Johnson gets a Hit for being the right man for the job, but the White House communications office gets a Miss for the shoddy manner in which the nomination was announced.
Miss: Loving Inflation? And while we’re on the topic of the president, his behavior on Wednesday left many people confused. When the latest data showed inflation rising to 4.2%, the highest level since April 2023, he told reporters, “You know what I really love? I love the inflation.” When asked by reporters if he was bothered by the data, he answered, “The numbers were great.” Well, considering that he previously called affordability concerns a hoax, we shouldn’t be surprised at his unusual responses to dismal economic data.
Hit: The Anti-Pulte. While Trump might seem tone-deaf on inflation, he certainly heard the unhappiness over his decision to shoehorn Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, into the role of Acting Director of National Intelligence. On Thursday, Trump nominated Jay Clayton, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the current US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to become the next Director of National Intelligence. However, Pulte is still slated for the interim intelligence job on June 19, when current director Tulsi Gabbard steps down. Oh, and as an aside, Pulte conspicuously failed to congratulate Clayton on his appointment.
Miss: Going Up? If we can circle back to inflation for a minute – on Thursday, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced a quarter-point rate hike that raises its key interest rate to 2.25%. “The war in the Middle East is generating inflation pressures, and the decision to raise rates is robust across a range of scenarios mapping out how the shock might evolve and affect the medium-term outlook for the euro area,” said the ECB in a statement. This cannot be good news for Kevin Warsh as he prepares to chair his first meeting of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors next week. But if the US economy doesn’t do a quick turnaround, the Fed may be following its European counterparts with rate hikes.
Miss: Misplaced Missouri Priorities. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas is proposing legislation that would dedicate up to $235 million in special obligation bonds to expand the two-year-old CPKC Stadium and the surrounding Berkley Riverfront area. The 11,500-seat stadium is home to the Kansas City Current of the National Women’s Soccer League, and it is notable as the first privately financed stadium purpose-built exclusively for a professional women’s soccer team. The expansion project could cost $1.4 billion, though it is unclear how the budget would be divided between public and private funding. But, seriously, aren’t there more pressing issues that deserve the mayor’s attention? It is astonishing how politicians view sports stadiums as a priority when more important social and economic concerns are constantly ignored.
Hit: A Second Look at Crypto. Kudos to the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) for their new advertisement calling attention to how unregulated cryptocurrency products could affect communities and consumers. The advertisement warns: “Polls consistently rank crypto at the very bottom of issues important to American voters. But crypto insiders are pushing for less accountability – and more risk. American families don’t want experiments with their money. They want jobs, growth, and available credit. When crypto gets a free pass, communities pay the price.” Considering the growing presence of crypto in the mortgage process, perhaps it is time that regulatory oversight is aimed at this rapidly expanding sector and its impact on the economy.
Hit: The Sisters of Housing Mercy. New York City’s housing market has become so expensive that nuns are helping people find an affordable place to live. The Wall Street Journal profiled several convents in the city offering housing to cash-strapped residents. In a market where furnished short-term rentals can cost $5,000 a month, the nuns-turned-landlords are charging in the range of $800 to $1,650 a month. Some of the accommodations also include a meal, but they also come with rules including curfews (because the nuns don’t want to stay up very late waiting for tenants to come home), a ban on alcohol, and a ban on male visitors to convents that only rent to women. Check out the story, and say a special prayer for the nuns doing good work.
Miss: Who Wants to Live in Alec Baldwin’s Home? Actor Alec Baldwin was back in the real estate news headlines with yet another attempt to sell his 8.28-acre Hamptons mansion that no one seems interested in buying. The five-bedroom, 5.5-bathroom residence in Amagansett, New York was first listed for $29 million in 2022 and was price reduced over time to $18.9 million before being withdrawn from sale. In January 2024, Baldwin tried to drum up buyer interest by posting a YouTube video of the property, but that failed. The property was delisted in October 2024 and relisted in December 2025 at $21 million, but it is now down to $19.9 million. If it does sell, he will eventually make a profit – he acquired the property for $1.75 million in 1995. Of course, that’s if it sells. After four years, multiple price cuts and an owner with a significant reputation problem, that’s a very big “if.”
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
Photo: Screenshot from Alec Baldwin’s home sale video
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