Today’s Daily Download episode features an interview with James Kleimann, HousingWire’s newest mortgage editor. In his new role, Kleimann will be helping HousingWire’s newsroom cover topics related to housing finance as well as real estate, appraisal, title and escrow and more. 

Kleimann got his start as a reporter right out of college in Burlington, Vermont covering cops and crime. After moving back to his home state of New Jersey, Kleimann held various roles across different news outlets, eventually landing at The Real Deal where he most recently served as managing web editor. 

“HousingWire is the leading publication for housing professionals, and has a rich history of producing great journalism,” said Kleimann. “But its ambitions are so much greater than that. I’m beyond thrilled to work with Clayton, Diego, Sarah and the rest of the editorial staff to dig even deeper into the mortgage space and break into new subjects during this exciting, uncertain time.”

Kleimann added that he's excited to bring his knowledge on a lot of other components of real estate to this mortgage editor position  

As mortgage editor, Kleimann will be covering the ups and downs in the housing industry, as well as watching trends in the real estate market. One area of focus Kleimann said he’s looking forward to is coverage on mortgage brokers.

“This is such a pivotal player in the housing market, and one that was really pilloried during the housing crisis of 2008 and nearly driven to extinction,” Kleimann said. “And now, they're back in a pretty big way.” 

Kleimann said he wants to look into how the mortgage broker has evolved, examine how they've adapt to changes in technology and how they've improved their reputation with customers.

In the interview, Kleimann also touches on topics like the coastal exodus, his recent article on Realtor.com’s flood risk disclosures and how new emerging trends like migration will impact realtors and brokers.

The Daily Download examines the most compelling articles reported by the HousingWire newsroom team. Each afternoon, we provide our listeners with a deeper look into the stories coming across our newsroom that are helping Move Markets Forward. Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd and Victoria Wickham

HousingWire articles covered in this episode: