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An outrageous claim to a landmark property, an overlap of real estate and politics, and a tuneful agent begins his new job. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the week of May 20-24.

Miss: Beyond Belief. The weirdest real estate story of the week – and, perhaps, the year – involved an effort by Naussany Investments and Private Lending to conduct a foreclosure auction for the sale of Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate in Memphis. The company claimed the music legend’s daughter, the late Lisa Marie Presley, signed a Deed of Trust in 2018 securing a $3.8 million loan by using Graceland as collateral. Danielle Riley Keough, Presley’s granddaughter, went to court to block the auction, accusing the company of using forged documents in its spurious insistence of Graceland’s ownership. Naussany abruptly withdrew its ownership claims, and it is impossible to understand how the company believed it could have gotten away with such a cockamamie scheme.

Hit: NAR Fights Back (Finally). The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is appealing a court ruling that enabled the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to reopen a probe of the organization’s Participation Rule and Clear Cooperation Policy that was resolved in a 2020 settlement. In a filing this week with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., NAR requested a rehearing in front of the original three-judge panel and the ability to present its case before all of the court’s judges. “It is a bedrock principle that the government must honor its word in those contracts, no matter who occupies the White House or leads the Antitrust Division,” said NAR in its filing. While the trade group deserves credit for pushing back at the DOJ’s astonishing actions, it is difficult not to wish NAR showed the same resolve in challenging the verdict in the Sitzer/Burnett case – which could have easily been overturned on appeal.

Hit: A Call for Common Sense. Kudos to Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) President and CEO Bob Broeksmit for calling out the Biden administration for working against the best interests of housing market professionals. Speaking before the MBA’s 2024 Secondary and Capital Markets Conference and Expo, Broeksmit stated his organization was “committed to working with regulators and lawmakers to benefit Americans,” but he also observed the administration’s regulatory policies regarding “junk fees” and Basel III are contradictory and serve to create more problems than solutions. “Sometimes feels like it is attacking you directly and injuring the Americans you serve,” he said, add that that “we don’t need regulators to build the car as they drive it at a hundred miles an hour.”

Miss: An Unhealthy Obsession. Perhaps the creepiest real estate news coverage this week involved the New York Times’ bizarre fixation regarding the flags on display at the primary residence and summer home of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. The Times’ coverage showed photographs of an inverted U.S. flag flown at Alito’s Virginia home in 2021 and the colonial era “Appeal to Heaven” flag at his New Jersey beach house in 2023. The Times’ articles insinuated these old photos showed right-wing political bias by Alito, who is joining his fellow justices in deciding upcoming cases involving the Capitol Hill riots in 2021 – and several too-loud progressive politicials and pundits began demanding that Alito recuse himself from those cases. The reality behind the photos told another story. Alito’s wife briefly flew the inverted flag – a nonpartisan symbol of distress – after an obnoxious neighbor hoisted an oversized anti-Trump banner facing their property while the colorful colonial flag has no history as a far-right symbol (despite the Times’ insistence) and was one of several flags on display, including a banner cheering the Philadelphia Phillies. The fact the Times’ reporters are digging up old photos of Alito’s private property for a smear campaign is a new low in unprofessional media shenanigans.

Miss: Is This Really Necessary? Politics and real estate overlapped again when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a $5 million notice of funding opportunity for research conducted by the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). HUD claimed these funds will be used to “conduct research projects on topics of strategic interest to HUD and produce research that provides evidence-based solutions to housing, community development, economic development, or built environment challenges in underserved communities.” No slur to the HBCUs, which are an asset to the American educational system, but this new federal giveaway sounds less like an attempt to solve serious housing policy issues and more like an effort to win Black votes for President Biden, who is witnessing the deterioration of support by this demographic as Donald Trump records rising levels of popularity with Black voters.

Hit: Singing a New Song. One of the newest members of the real estate profession is also one of the unlikeliest examples of career change: vocalist C.J. McMahon emerged from his acrimonious departure last fall from the Australian deathcore band Thy Art Is Murder to begin a new chapter as a real estate agent with the brokerage Harcourts. McMahon reinvented himself with an updated hairstyle, a new social media site and business attire that covers his heavily tattooed arms. “A new fresh start,” he announced on his Instagram page. “It took a lot for me to cut my hair after having long hair for 15 years … I have a new path and future in real estate and I want to hit the ground running.” Good luck, C.J., and here’s hoping for a great future for you in real estate!

Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].