COVERAGE INFORMATION:
California Department of Real Estate (DRE) NEWS CLIPS service coverage:
Monday through Friday (except state holidays) each week includes electronic format articles retrieved from newspapers or news services that report real estate related news in California and some national services. Coverage is for California newspapers that are available electronically via the Internet - and any significant related breaking news.
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Copyright © , California Department of Real Estate
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Friday, July 18, 2025
Top Stories
January fire victims face little used mediation in faceoff with insurers
LAURENCE DARMIENTO, Los Angeles Times (Subscription)
After receiving more than 1,000 complaints from Jan. 7 fire victims about how insurers are handling their claims, state regulators are considering referring hundreds of the cases to mediation — a little used practice that some consumer advocates fear could hurt policyholders. The Department of Insurance has been bombarded with complaints from property owners since the Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed more than 16,000 structures and damaged more than 2,000 others, causing up to $45 billion in insured damages by one estimate.
Zillow pushes back against Compass’s claims of conspiracy, monopoly
BROOKLEE HAN, HousingWire (Subscription)
A little over two weeks after Zillow filed letters responding to Compass’s motions for preliminary injunction and expedited discovery, the listing portal giant is officially firing back with its response to these motions. Zillow filed its response and related declarations from company executives, including Chief Industry Development Officer Errol Samuelson, CEO Jeremy Wacksman and CFO Jeremy Hoffman, on Thursday, the day before the deadline to file a response.
National News
The Push to Make Tiny Homes in Backyards Easier to Finance
REBECCA PICCIOTTO, The Wall Street Journal (Subscription)
A pair of congressmen from California and New York plan to unveil a bill on Friday that would create a government-backed loan program for homeowners to finance the construction of tiny homes on their properties. The bill aims to boost building of accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, in a new effort to tackle the nation’s severe housing shortage. These add-ons are small, studio-style housing units, usually between 600 and 1,200 square feet, that can supplement an existing home in the backyard, garage or basement.
Realtors Relief Foundation sends $500K to Texas flood victims
JONATHAN DELOZIER, HousingWire (Subscription)
The nonprofit Realtors Relief Foundation (RRF) has allocated $500,000 to assist residents in south central Texas following recent floods that took the lives of more than 130 people and displaced families across the region. The funding — distributed through Texas Realtors and eight local associations — will be used to help affected residents cover housing payments as recovery and relief efforts continue.
Colorado officials push to save property tax breaks for seniors
FLÁVIA FURLAN NUNES, HousingWire (Subscription)
Government officials in Mesa County, Colorado, urged state legislators in an open letter this week to preserve a property tax exemption for older adults and disabled veterans amid the state’s ongoing budget constraints. Colorado’s senior property tax exemption, which has been in place for the past 25 years, cuts 50% from the first $200,000 of a home’s value for qualified homeowners — typically reducing their annual property tax bills by about $500. The program helps seniors cope with rising property taxes.
California News
Altadena’s rough real estate market: Slower sales, lower prices, lottery winner plucking up properties
TERRY CASTLEMAN, Los Angeles Times (Subscription)
As more and more Altadena residents choose to sell their fire-ravaged properties instead of rebuilding, owners are encountering a softening real estate market in which prices and the rate of sales are declining, according to data and interviews. It’s impossible to know the long-term prospects of the market, but real estate agents and others say property sales are slowing as inventory grows and owners list their properties at lower prices.
Affordable housing savior, or neighborhood destroyer? Meet the developer behind San Diego’s biggest ADU projects
DAVID GARRICK, The San Diego Union-Tribune (Subscription)
To many critics of a generous backyard-apartment incentive San Diego is poised to rein in, most of the problems with the controversial program trace back to one man — a local developer named Christian Spicer. Spicer and his investors, they say, are responsible for scores of large-scale projects that defy common understandings of what an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, is supposed to be.
Industry News
New single-family housing continues to struggle in latest Census data
MATT SEXTON, Mortgage Professional America
Continued affordability challenges combined with elevated interest rates continued to burden the single-family housing market in June. Numbers released by the US Census Bureau on Friday showed a sharp decline in single-family building permits, housing starts, and housing completions from May. Overall, building permits and housing starts increased in June, indicating a surge in the multifamily construction market.
Fed's Powell denies perjury amid Congress probe on $2.5bn headquarters renovation
CANDYD MENDOZA, Mortgage Professional America
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is facing a criminal referral to the Department of Justice (DOJ) by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who alleges that Powell may have committed perjury in his testimony to Congress about the $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed’s headquarters. The referral, announced Thursday on X, follows weeks of public criticism over the cost of the project, which has grown by roughly $600 million since it was initially approved. Luna cited concerns over what she called “his crazy $2.5BN building.”
Is REX bringing its legal fight to the Supreme Court?
BROOKLEE HAN, HousingWire (Subscription)
Although REX Real Estate may have been denied a rehearing of the appeal of its suit against the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Zillow, the discount brokerage doesn’t seem to be giving up yet. On Tuesday, an entry into the court docket for the lawsuit indicated that REX had applied for an extension of time to file a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court. Last week, Justice Elena Kagan reviewed the request and extended the deadline for REX to file its petition to Aug. 15.
Wells Fargo accused of charging undisclosed float fees to mortgage borrowers
SARAH WOLAK, HousingWire (Subscription)
A new lawsuit filed in California accuses Wells Fargo of concealing that it improperly charged undisclosed float fees to mortgage borrowers during loan origination.
US foreclosure activity continued to rise in first half of 2025, ATTOM says
SARAH WOLAK, HousingWire (Subscription)
Real estate data provider ATTOM on Thursday released its Mid-Year 2025 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 187,659 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — in the first six months of 2025.
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