FromAround TheWWW

Mortgage applications declined by 2.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ending June 28, according to data released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The trade group cited upward movement in mortgage rates as the key reason why. According to HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center, the average rate…

Christie’s International Real Estate Belgium is expanding its operation to Brussels, according to an announcement on Tuesday. The firm is already well established in Flanders, but the latest move expands its reach into the French-speaking southern region of the country. It is the brokerage’s 12th office in the country, and…

After being voluntarily dismissed from the Batton 2 homebuyer commission lawsuit in early March, things were looking up for Howard Hanna Real Estate Services. But the brokerage firm is once again finding itself under fire after homebuyer plaintiff Scott Davis filed a suit against the firm’s parent company, Hanna Holdings,…

As humans, we love projecting our emotions on non-human things like animals, objects and weather events. I’m told the psychological term for this is anthropomorphism, which is difficult to say three times super fast. We especially seem to label human-like characteristics for things that we can’t fully understand or have…

Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler sat down with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra for a podcast this week and the talk turned to technology and tech companies. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Listen to the whole episode here. Sarah Wheeler: Let’s talk about technology’s…