Thought leaders saying the right thing, revenge seekers doing the wrong thing, and a new movie and book worth pursuing. From the wild and wooly world of real estate, here are our Hits and Misses for the week of Nov. 24-28.
Hit: The Right Words. James Fishback, the CEO of the investment firm Azoria, announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor of Florida with a platform that calls for the eliminating of property taxes. The 30-year-old Fishback made his announcement on X with a post that declared, “I’m running to succeed Ron DeSantis as Florida’s next Republican Governor to make life more affordable for you and your family. I’ll stop the H-1B scam, tell Blackstone they can’t buy our homes, cancel AI Data Centers, and abolish property taxes.” His anti-data center platform is especially interesting, since he argued these properties “would threaten our water supply and raise our electric bills.” We know there is a major movement to cut or erase property taxes, but who wants to bet that Fishback’s efforts to halt data center development resonate with voters?
Hit: The Right Words, Part 2. Also this week, Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) President and CEO Bob Broeksmit called for a federal investigation into recent price increases for credit reporting products. In a post on LinkedIn, Broeksmit stated, “Lenders are receiving their 2026 pricing for credit reports, and once again, costs are skyrocketing. The credit reporting industry continues to abuse its government-granted oligopoly to line its pockets at the expense of consumers and lenders. This must stop. We are renewing our calls for the administration to investigate and put a halt to these anti-competitive behaviors and for FHFA and the GSEs to end their requirement that all mortgage borrowers obtain a tri-merge credit report, a requirement that leaves lenders no options and enables this endless cycle of price increases.” Broeksmit is one of the most forceful and cogent thought leaders in this industry, and let’s hope the lawmakers respond accordingly.
Miss: Overplaying His Hand. Bill Pulte’s passion for using his role as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to uncover alleged mortgage fraud activities by some of President Trump’s political enemies finally blew up in his face this week. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) was the subject of the latest criminal referral by Pulte to the Department of Justice for alleged mortgage fraud, but Swalwell hit back by suing Pulte for violating the Privacy Act of 1974 and (according to the lawsuit) for running afoul of the First Amendment’s “bedrock prohibition on viewpoint-based retaliation.” Not surprisingly, Pulte has been uncommonly subdued on his X account this week, making no mention of the Swalwell lawsuit and mostly just retweeting pro-Trump messaging made by others. And that leads us to our next entry…
Miss: Reckless Revenge. This week, a federal judge has dismissed the Trump administration’s indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James on alleged mortgage fraud, stating the prosecutor in the case was unlawfully appointed. US District Judge Cameron Currie, a Clinton administration appointee, ruled that Lindsey Halligan, the US attorney named by Trump on Sept. 22 to prosecute James, was ineligible to assume the position because the 120-day period for interim appointments expired during the tenure of Erik Siebert, who was named interim US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia on Jan. 21. That period lapsed on May 21, but the district judges at the time unanimously voted to retain him until he received Senate confirmation. However, Siebert was not confirmed and he resigned under pressure from Trump after complaining there was insufficient evidence to prosecute James, whose case was the first of the Pulte-fueled mortgage fraud referrals.
Hit: A Film Worth Watching. If you have time over this holiday weekend, please consider viewing David Goldblum’s 30-minute documentary “Big Rock Burning,” which explores the aftermath of last January’s wildfires in the Big Rock community of Malibu. The film offers startling input from residents who lost their homes to a tragedy that was easily avoidable – and, no, it had nothing to do with climate change. The film also explores the wholly unsatisfactory response by local elected officials to the disaster. “Big Rock Burning” is now on Vimeo and it deserves to be seen.
Hit: A Book Worth Reading. Also deserving of your attention is Kevin Hawkins’ new book “The Real AI Guide for Real Estate Agents.” Everyone’s talking about artificial intelligence, but how many people truly realize the depth and scope of the technology’s potential to enhance how real estate professionals conduct their business? This compact 100-page book is user friendly and provides some truly fascinating information that might someday strengthen your bottom line.
Phil Hall is editor of Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
