Steve Thompson is a staff reporter for RealtyWire, where he covers residential real estate, mortgage trends, home sales, housing market data, real estate finance, industry regulation, and the issues affecting Realtors, buyers, sellers, lenders, and property owners.
Before joining RealtyWire, Steve worked as a mortgage broker, giving him direct experience with the financing side of real estate transactions. His background in the mortgage business gives him valuable insight into how interest rates, lending standards, affordability, buyer demand, and regulatory changes influence the broader real estate market.
Steve brings a practical understanding of home sales, market analysis, real estate trends, financing issues, and the laws and regulations that shape residential real estate. His reporting focuses on making complex market and mortgage-related topics clear and useful for readers across the real estate industry.
He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Central Florida and currently lives in Orlando, Florida.
Steve Thompson 
Treasury and the IRS designated 6,576 census tracts as Qualified Opportunity Zones effective Jan. 1, 2027, including 2,594 rural zones. California, Texas and New York have the most.
Every one of the week’s top sales was in Rock County, and the homes ranged from a farmhouse built in 1897 to a ranch finished this year.
A one-story ranch in West Lafayette led a week of suburban sales that also reached River Bluff, Concord Ridge, Chesapeake Pointe and Huntington Farms.
A farmstead dating to the early 1800s, a newly built Colonial, a home on a private lake, a condominium with its own theater room and a ranch on more than an acre made up the week’s top sales.
All five homes sold above their asking prices, in a week of Colonials and bungalows in Wauwatosa and a newer Colonial in Franklin.
Two ranch homes on several acres of open and wooded land shared the top of the week with a pair of two-story homes in Newark’s Park Trails neighborhood and a Leafy Dell home in Johnstown.
A working horse and cattle farm led a week of one-story homes that ran from country land to villa communities in Silvis and Moline.
A contemporary ranch in Cobblestone Pointe led a week in which every sale came in under $800,000 and two of the five homes were new construction.
Rural acreage in Linden and Mitchell, a custom home in Sheboygan’s Meadowood, a raised ranch in Howards Grove and an end-unit condominium at Point Elkhart made up the week’s top sales.
A Tudor in Hazel Crest, a wooded cul-de-sac home in Whitman Woods and a newer home on a corner lot in Matteson filled out a week led by Oak Forest.
A renovated ranch on a Panther Creek fairway led a week of spacious Springfield homes with finished lower levels, golf course settings and a fenced backyard pool.
Two properties on several acres of country land, a lakefront home in Richmond and two Saint Cloud homes with walkout lower levels made up the week’s top five.
Two lakefront homes, a single-story home on three acres and a pair of homes completed this year made up the week’s priciest sales.
Homes on and near Winona Lake, Pretty Lake, Lake Manitou and Lake Tippecanoe shared the week with a wooded property on the Yellow River in Plymouth.
Two country acreages, a lakeside home, a home on a golf course and a 2023 ranch in a Cedar Falls subdivision made up the week’s top sales.
A wooded country property, a lake-association home near Lake Ripley and a backyard built around a saltwater pool were among the week’s top sales, all priced between $570,000 and $659,000.
Two homes near Rib Mountain, a nearly five-acre spread in Amherst Junction, a Cape Cod in Conifer Estates and a ranch in Ringle make up the week’s top sales.
A Germantown Colonial, a pond-side home in Blackstone Creek and a custom home in Hartford led a week of sales across Washington County.
Four of the week’s five top sales were newly built homes, three of them in Waukee, and every one came with a three-car garage.
A waterfront home in Haslett led a week of sales that ran from new construction in Grand Ledge to wooded country land in Leslie.
A country home on three acres, a renovated lakefront ranch, a brand-new two-story and two homes on more than 10 acres each made up the week’s top sales.
Horse properties on country acreage open and close the list, with a lakefront home and two Newburgh subdivision homes in between.
Lake frontage ran through the week’s top sales, from Big Pelican Lake and Lake Sallie to 2nd Crow Wing Lake, alongside two homes set on acreage.
A lakefront ranch, a wooded Turnberry property, a cedar two-story in Wyndwood and a brick home from the 1930s made up the county’s top five.
Two two-story homes on wooded lots in Kalamazoo led the week, joined by a Belle Meade condominium built in 2024, an Augusta Craftsman farmhouse and a Portage condominium on a pond.
Three brand-new homes, a wooded ranch in Mackinaw Village and a century-old house in University Heights made up the week’s top sales.
Two newly built homes, an updated lake home in Suring and a ranch on more than two acres of woods made up most of the week’s top five.
A ranch surrounded by wooded ravines, a pond-side country property and a rebuilt 1907 home on the river were among the five top-priced sales, which ranged from $625,000 to $750,000.
Fairway views, a barn built for serious hobbies and an in-ground pool on more than eight acres turn up among the week’s top closings.
A ranch on open country land, a remade custom home with a koi pond and a farmhouse more than a century old were among the week’s top sellers.
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