A fake image of Brad Pitt was used to scam a woman out of $850,000. (Hopefully every lender has set up policies and procedures regarding events like the CFO receiving an email from the CEO asking to blindly wire money for a “secret acquisition.”) Remember when you could buy a great house for $850k? Although Los Angeles will be under great strain for years, in many areas you still can buy a house for that, but home builders are reporting a rise in cancellations due to increased mortgage rates, which surpassed 7 percent for the first time in seven months. While builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes improved slightly in January, concerns about inflation, tariffs on building materials, and government deficits persist. The National Association of Home Builders forecasts modest growth in housing starts for 2025, but the ongoing impact of high mortgage rates is leading some builders to cut home prices, with 30 percent offering average discounts of 5 percent. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Lender Toolkit’s new Prism. Experience a quantum leap in accuracy and efficiency as you streamline workflows, reduce errors, and close loans faster. Prism’s advanced OCR boasts 99 percent accuracy across 1,450+ document types. Effortlessly index, analyze, and underwrite crucial data with their intelligent system. Today’s has an interview with Lender Toolkit’s Joe Sorbello and VanDyk Mortgage’s Lindsey Kuhnle on how companies can properly onboard and implement new tech offerings.)