Florida teen murdered Real Estate Agent for $1000
This is a tough story to write. The untimely death of anyone working in housing and mortgage finance always feels like it hits very close to home. Yes, this is a tough one.
Because it’s days like today we are reminded how dangerous selling real estate can be. We were saddened to learn that a Florida teen forced a real estate agent to drive to an ATM to take out $1,000 at gunpoint before the teen fatally shot the man inside a car in Fort Lauderdale last month, police said.
The victim, later identified as 37-year-old Stefano Barbosa, had been shot in the chest and had his wallet next to him with his Bank of America debit card sticking out, the report said.
According to his obit, Stefano loved his job: “Working in real estate made him feel as if he were not working a day in his life.”
It’s just a senseless tragedy and our prayers go out to the Barbosa family.
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Zillow facing trouble in more ways than one
In the suit filed in U.S. federal court in Seattle, real estate startup Real Estate Exchange (Rex) alleges that Zillow and
its affiliate Trulia are illegally favoring listings by brokers who belong to the National Association of Realtors, the most prominent U.S. real estate trade association.
Home listings by non-NAR agents are now relegated to a “hidden tab” on the websites, the startup says.
The change by Zillow and Trulia forces all non-NAR listings to have “permanent low visibility,” Rex general counsel Mike Toth said in an interview with Politico. “This is the real estate web returning to this old vision of data segregation rather than data democratization for consumers.”
And according to another great emailed note from Mike DelPrete, the lawsuit isn’t the only trouble facing Zillow.
In 2020, the two largest iBuyers, Opendoor and Zillow, lost a total of $607 million buying and selling houses. That’s a loss of about $40,000 on each home bought and resold, about $1.6 million every single day, or about $1,100 per minute in 2020, DelPrete claims.
“Despite their staggering financial losses, the evidence suggests that Zillow and Opendoor remain staunchly pro-consumer,” DelPrete states. “Both businesses are determined to pass a financial benefit on to consumers alongside a streamlined experience:
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Opendoor lowering its service fee for homeowners, now down to 5 percent.
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Zillow Rewards offers savings when consumers bundle its services together.
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Opendoor offering savings when using its in-house services.
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Both iBuyers paying very close to fair market value.”
DelPrete compares this to Compass, which is more concerned with the success of real estate agents instead of homebuyers.
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Churchill Mortgage gets the greatest charity idea going, ever
Rise&Shred has to take a moment to give some love to Churchill Mortgage, which does conventional, FHA, VA and USDA residential mortgages across 47 states.
Listen to this: Churchill Mortgage will purchase 20,000 Sackcloth & Ashes blankets – estimated at up to $2.5
million in total – to offer as closing gifts to homebuyers over the next two years.
That’s nice, right, but that’s not all!
For each blanket Churchill Mortgage purchases, Sackcloth & Ashes will donate a blanket to a local homeless shelter in the homebuyer's area, helping the nonprofit reach its goal of providing one million blankets to homeless shelters by 2024 through its “Blanket the United States” campaign.
“Our ongoing partnership with Sackcloth & Ashes reflects Churchill Mortgage's steadfast commitment to serve our communities and make a positive impact,” said Kevin J. Hanna, president of the Northwest Region of Churchill Mortgage in this statement. “We are honored to help Sackcloth & Ashes provide support to people experiencing homelessness and extend their reach across the United States.”
Churchill Mortgage homebuyers may select their gift from approximately 50 blankets on the Sackcloth & Ashes website—which are made from 100% recycled material, eco-friendly, good for the environment and ethically made and produced in Salem.
Each blanket is delivered to the homebuyer in a customized box, with an encouraging message to refill it with essential items—like toiletries, snacks, first-aid kits and water—and donate it to a local homeless shelter.
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