In this March 22, 2013 file photo, the exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. As millions of Americans file their income tax returns, their chances of getting audited by the IRS have rarely been so low.
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Trump should repeal Dodd-Frank legislation
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know anything mentioning the president’s name is going to cause back and forth between Democrats and Republicans. This column is not intended to be political in any way, but rather my own commentary on the Dodd-Frank legislation, its effects and why doing away with it will be a positive for our industry.
Senate confirms Carson, Perry for housing, energy posts
Two of President Donald Trump’s former rivals for the GOP White House nomination won Senate confirmation Thursday to join his administration. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was confirmed as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development on a vote of 58-41.
9 ways drones are changing real estate
As the spring homebuying season gets underway, drones may be a more common sight above homes about to go on the market. More and more real estate professionals are turning to drone photography and videos to better market their listings.
Twitter mocks Democrat response
Twitter lit up late Tuesday night to mock former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, who delivered a stilted response to President Trump’s speech from a coffeehouse. Beshear appeared to be picked to respond because he’s from a working-class state that Democrats are now desperately looking to win back.
Business news in brief
The glut of corn that’s been driving down prices is finally starting to ease, and hedge funds are betting that will help spark a rally for the commodity. U.S. corn inventories are expected to drop before the 2018 harvest as farmers curb plantings and demand stays robust, the Department of Agriculture said Friday.
Donald Trump
President Donald Trump toasted the nation’s governors Sunday night, welcoming state leaders to a black-tie ball at the White House ahead of discussions about his plans to repeal and replace the so-called Obamacare law. Trump welcomed 46 governors and their spouses to the annual Governors’ Ball at the White House, the first major social event of his administration.
Trump toasts nation’s governors ahead of health care talks
President Donald Trump has toasted the nation’s governors, welcoming state leaders to a black-tie ball at the White House ahead of discussions about his plans to repeal and replace the so-called Obamacare law. Trump welcomed 46 governors and their spouses to the annual Governors’ Ball Sunday evening at the White House, the first major social event of his administration.
RBS posts 6.96bn loss
Royal Bank of Scotland reported a sharp rise in losses on Friday as higher misconduct charges and restructuring costs underscored the challenges facing the lender nine years after it was bailed out in the world’s biggest bank rescue. RBS, which has not made an annual profit since 2007, booked 6.96 billion pounds of losses for 2016, against a 1.98 billion pound loss in the same period a year earlier.
Fundraiser starts for urban farm resource center in Detroit
State economic development officials and a nonprofit urban farming group have launched a crowdfunded campaign to turn a vacant Detroit building into a community resource center. The campaign to raise $50,000 was launched Tuesday by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and Michigan Urban Farming Initiative.
Not Over: Trump Ban still ruining life of Iraqi Interpreter for US Military
In 2006, when I arrived at Camp Taqqadum in Iraq to embed with the U.S. Marines, I was immediately invited for tea by the unit’s interpreter. A quiet, exceedingly courteous father of three young girls, Haider told me how he spent three months at a time away from his family, but didn’t dare carry their pictures.
Real Estate Consequences of the GOP Tax Reform
The Trump Presidency is off to a very lively start, and tax reform is one of the big issues. Last summer Speaker Paul Ryan put out a plan called ” A Better Way ” that set forth a number of significant changes to the U.S. tax code.
RBS to Miss Target for Asset Sale – Takes $920 Million Charge
The bailed-out lender is exploring an alternative plan after saying it will miss an EC target to dispose of assets, including Williams & Glyn, and repay state aid Bailed out British lender, Royal Bank of Scotland said Friday that it will miss a European Commission deadline for selling off assets, including its Williams & Glyn division, and repaying taxpayer aid given to it during the financial crisis. It will report a A 750 million exceptional charge when it reports full-year results on Feb. 24 and is now considering an alternative plan for repaying state aid.
Mika Brzezinski puts mansion on sale for $2million
Mika’s moving on: Morning Joe co-host puts her New York mansion on sale for $2million after divorcing her husband The MSNBC presenter’s three-storey home, on a third of an acre of land, has six bedrooms and four bathrooms Morning news anchor Mika Brzezinski has put the New York mansion she bought with her ex husband on the market. The 102 year old Tudor-style home in Bronxville is on sale for a cool $2.09 million, $200,000 more than she and former spouse James Hoffer paid for it in 2012.
Records dispute Treasury nominee’s denial of mortgage-crisis ‘robo-signing’
A bank founded by Steven Mnuchin, President Donald Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, engaged in ethically questionable foreclosure practices in Washington state-including so-called “robo-signing” of documents. OneWest Bank employees robo-signed numerous foreclosure-related filings in the Seattle area, documents show.
Trump, GOP move to quash tighter financial rules
Just three weeks into his administration, President Donald Trump and his allies are moving quickly to dismantle the web of regulations the government passed after the 2008 financial crisis to tighten oversight of banks and protect consumers and taxpayers. Trump has branded the 2010 Dodd-Frank law – which imposed many of the rules – a “disaster.”
Phoenix urban garden mysteriously closes amid land dispute
The sprawling urban garden on a vacant lot where Phoenix… . This Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017 photo shows some of the dozens of individual gardens at a 15-acre public gardens, in Phoenix.
Detroit Tigers, Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch dies at age 87
Ilitch, the owner of the Detroit Red Wings and Tigers, who founded the Little Caesars Pizza empire, … The legal fight over President Donald Trump’s ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations remains on hold after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to block a lower-court ruling that… The legal fight over President Donald Trump’s ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations remains on hold after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to block a lower-court ruling that suspended the ban. A new report says the world’s first atomic bomb test caused generations of New Mexico families to suffer from cancer and economic hardship.
Sacrificing California spillway may avoid emergency releases
State engineers on Thursday discovered new damage to the Oroville Dam spillway in Northern California, the tallest in the United State… . Water flows through break in the wall of the Oroville Dam spillway, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017, in Oroville, Calif.
‘There’s my Kevin’: McCarthy emerges as Trump’s trusted link to Capitol Hill
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy introduces Steven Mnuchin, President Trump’s nominee for Treasury secretary, during a Jan. 19 Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing. McCarthy has staked out a crucial role as a trusted Trump loyalist on Capitol Hill.
Donald Trump delays RBS toxic mortgage fine
Sacking of acting US attorney general Sally Yates could further delay RBS’s efforts to agree fine for its sales of toxic mortgage debt The sacking of acting US attorney general Sally Yates could further delay Royal Bank of Scotland’s efforts to agree a fine for its sales of toxic mortgage debt. President Donald Trump fired Yates, 56, when she refused to defend his travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim countries.
Major commercial players split on state of the RE cycle: survey
Major stakeholders are split on whether the market has already hit its peak, according to a survey conducted by one of the country’s largest commercial real estate trade groups. The report from the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council , whose members include giant asset managers like BlackRock and New York developers like Fisher Brothers, noted that 55 percent of respondents at the group’s annual conference concluded that the real estate market has already passed its high point, while another 43 percent said the market is still moving through the middle of the cycle.
To sidestep boycott, Senate committee changes rules to approve Mnuchin, Price
Republicans on a Senate committee have approved Steve Mnunchin, Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, and Tom Price, the nominee for health secretary. To sidestep a Democratic boycott of the committee, the GOP members on the Senate Finance Committee changed the rules to allow the confirmation to proceed to the Senate floor.
What does President Trump mean for housing?
It’s early days in President Donald Trump’s administration, but he’s already moving fast to make changes in the housing market. What does President Trump mean for housing? It’s early days in President Donald Trump’s administration, but he’s already moving fast to make changes in the housing market.
Elections Have Tax Consequencesby Kevin D. WilliamsonIf you have…
If you can’t – well, the view from Santa Monica is very different from the view from is very different from the view from Elmira in upstate New York. Progressivism in the United States used to be a school of political action, but today it is mainly a highly refined lifestyle – one that Republicans may be on the verge of making a little more expensive.
Royal Bank of Scotland earmarks further A 3.1bn for US mortgage mis-selling claims
Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing for further costs from claims of mis-selling mortgages in the US. Picture: Philip Toscano/PA Wire Royal Bank of Scotland has set aside another $3.8bn to settle claims from US authorities that it mis-sold risky mortgage securities in the run-up to the financial crisis.
UPDATE 2-RBS sets aside $4 bln for ‘painful legacy ‘ of US loan mis-selling
LONDON, Jan 26 Royal Bank of Scotland has taken a 3.1 billion pound provision as it prepares to settle claims in the United States that it mis-sold toxic mortgage-backed securities in the run up to the 2008 financial crisis. The provision means that state-backed RBS is unlikely to make a profit in 2016, the ninth straight year the bank has failed to make an annual profit.
Elizabeth Warren, Hater of Banks, Skirts Ethics Rules to Protect Sweet Deal With A Bank
There’s nothing more nauseating than a politician who does a whole lot of grandstanding, finger-wagging, and who has massive bouts of self-righteousness. It’s even worse when information is discovered to reveal the finger-wagger as a big fat hypocrite, and that is what happened with Elizabeth Warren.
Nation-Now 7 mins ago 1:23 p.m.What Trump’s first executive action on …
President Donald Trump is joined by the Congressional leadership and his family in the President’s Room of the Senate, at the Capitol in Washington, January 20, 2017. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite – Pool/Getty Images) President Donald Trump blocked an Obama administration policy Friday that would have reduced the cost of mortgages for millions of home buyers.
What Trump’s first executive actiona
President Donald Trump is joined by the Congressional leadership and his family in the President’s Room of the Senate, at the Capitol in Washington, January 20, 2017. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite – Pool/Getty Images) President Donald Trump blocked an Obama administration policy Friday that would have reduced the cost of mortgages for millions of home buyers.
President Trump’s First Hours In Office
Within hours of taking the oath of office, new President Donald Trump signed his first executive order in the Oval Office while the press looked on. Making good on his promise to get started on “Day 1,” President Trump and his administration got right to work on Friday, taking steps to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and announcing the reversal of their predecessors’ plans to reduce mortgage insurance premiums on federally insured home loans.
Pen is put to paper on filling Cabinet, repealing health law
Later, with a swift stroke of a pen, Trump signed an executive order on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that his spokesman, Sean Spicer, said would require government agencies to “ease the burden of the law.” The order declares that Trump’s administration will seek the “prompt repeal” of the law and that the government should prepare to “afford the states more flexibility and control to create a more free and open healthcare market.”
Trump’s Treasury pick Stephen Mnuchin facing criticism over foreclosures
Donald Trump ‘s pick to lead the Treasury Department, Stephen Mnuchin , built his reputation and his fortune as a savvy Wall Street investor. But one of those investments has put him in the crosshairs of Democrats as he heads into his confirmation hearing Thursday: sub-prime mortgage lender IndyMac bank.
One more day: Obama in his final hours in the White House
Eight tumultuous years at the helm of American power have come and gone, and for President Barack Obama, this is finally the end. The president is spending his last full day at the White House on Thursday before becoming an ex-president.
Trump’s Treasury pick facing criticism over foreclosures
Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Treasury Department, Stephen Mnuchin, built his reputation and his fortune as a savvy Wall Street investor. But one of those investments has put him in the crosshairs of Democrats as he heads into his confirmation hearing Thursday: sub-prime mortgage lender IndyMac bank.
Your expat vote can make a difference to those back home with skin in the game
My return to America came after five years in Tokyo, a drop in the bucket next to many of my “lifer” expat colleagues who had accrued wives, kids and mortgages. Their lives weren’t fully checked into either Japanese or American existence, and I was somewhere in the middle myself.
DOJ: Deutsche Bank Agrees to Pay $7.2 Billion for Misleading Investors an hour ago
Deutsche Bank AG reached a final settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over its handling of mortgage-backed securities before 2008, resolving one of its biggest litigation risks. The bank agreed to pay $7.2 billion and admitted to misleading investors, according to the Justice Department.
The 5 craziest hours in the White House
The most frenzied American ritual you’ve never seen is called the “transfer of families,” a five-hour tsunami of activity that transforms President Obama’s home into President Trump’s. “I call it organized chaos,” said Gary Walters, who choreographed several transfers of families in his 21 years as the White House chief usher.
National View: Economic brinkmanship
On March 4, 1933, at the bottom of the worst financial and economic crisis to afflict the United States since the Civil War, Franklin D. Roosevelt took office as president. Two days later, Roosevelt acted to stanch the collapse by suspending gold payments, imposing a four-day “bank holiday” and arranging emergency assistance for banks when they reopened.
In tearful farewell, Obama awards Biden the Medal of Freedom
At the dusk of both of their political careers, surrounded by teary friends and family, President Barack Obama on Thursday bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Joe Biden, the man he called “the finest vice president we have ever seen.” The vice president winced in shock as Obama announced he was conferring the nation’s highest civil honor on his right-hand-man for eight years.