By Joseph E. Seagle, Esq.

👋 Happy Friday! Today is National Nothing Day (it’s a real thing). It’s one day out of the year when everyone is allowed to not recognize, celebrate, mourn, remember, commemorate, or otherwise think about anything or anyone special.

❗Situation Awareness: Our offices will be closed on Monday, January 19, in observance of the MLK holiday.

Another new White House housing pivot could reshape how first-time buyers fund home purchases—especially younger professionals and small business owners squeezed by high prices and limited inventory.

The Trump administration has paused its exploration of 50-year mortgages and is instead drafting an executive order that would allow Americans to use 401(k) or 529 plan funds for home down payments without penalty, according to recent reporting. 

The 50-year mortgage idea briefly gained attention late last year after President Trump publicly floated it as a way to lower monthly payments. Housing economists quickly pushed back: longer loan terms reduce monthly costs, but dramatically slow equity buildup and fall outside existing qualified mortgage rules.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte confirmed the concept has been shelved, saying the administration has “other priorities.” Those priorities now appear focused on unlocking upfront capital, not extending debt timelines. 

Allowing penalty-free access to retirement or education savings could help buyers overcome the single biggest barrier to homeownership: cash for a down payment.

For high-earning professionals—physicians, dentists, lawyers, practice owners—this approach offers flexibility without relying on family gifts or risky secondary financing. For younger buyers, it could accelerate entry into ownership years earlier — so long as they have any such savings available.

The tradeoff is long-term. Pulling from retirement accounts shifts risk from the housing market to personal balance sheets, potentially weakening retirement readiness if home values stagnate or buyers overextend.

The same draft order reportedly includes restrictions on large institutional investors buying single-family homes, plus a directive for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities—moves that briefly pushed mortgage rates below 6%. 

This shift favors liquidity over leverage. Business owners and professionals should reassess balance-sheet strategy, retirement planning, and entity structures before tapping protected assets for housing.

The bigger picture: federal housing policy is moving toward faster market access—not cheaper homes. Buyers who plan carefully can benefit. Those who don’t may simply be trading one long-term risk for another.

Watch how lenders, plan administrators, and regulators implement any retirement-fund changes—and whether Congress steps in to set guardrails once details move from draft to decree.

Go deeper: HousingWire

A new White House directive aims to influence mortgage rates directly — by ordering Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) as the Federal Reserve continues pulling back from the housing finance market. (HousingWire - temporary gift link)

The move signals a more aggressive, government-driven strategy to stabilize borrowing costs as housing affordability remains strained nationwide — and especially acute in fast-growth states like Florida.

Mortgage rates remain stubbornly high, hovering above 6%, even as inflation has stabilized. One reason: the Federal Reserve has sharply reduced its purchases of mortgage bonds, removing a major source of demand.

By directing the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to step in, the White House is attempting to replace the Fed as a stabilizing buyer in the MBS market. According to the article, Fannie and Freddie’s combined MBS holdings have already surged at a 77% annualized pace in recent months and are nearing regulatory caps. 

For Florida business owners, physicians, dentists, lawyers, and real estate investors, the implications are practical:

But this is not a structural fix. The article makes clear that the strategy relies on balance-sheet expansion at institutions already operating near policy limits — not on increased housing supply or zoning reform. 

This directive reflects a broader policy shift: using housing finance tools to manage economic pressure in an election-year environment, rather than waiting for markets to self-correct.

In the short term, mortgage rates may ease. Long term, uncertainty remains about how far the GSEs can — or should — go without triggering regulatory or political backlash.

Lower rates may be coming — but they’re being engineered, not earned.

Florida entrepreneurs and professional practice owners should treat this as a tactical window, not a permanent reset: opportunities may open for refinancing, acquisitions, and expansion, but policy-driven markets can change quickly.

The smartest move now is flexibility — and a close eye on Washington’s next housing play.

The estate of the late billionaire software magnate Robert Brockman has agreed to pay a $750 million settlement to the Internal Revenue Service, resolving a civil dispute to collect back taxes and penalties tied to what federal authorities characterized as the largest individual tax fraud case ever pursued in the United States. The case highlights the limits of ultrawealthy taxpayers’ ability to shield assets offshore, the IRS’s enforcement powers, and how complex structures designed to defer or obscure tax liabilities can unravel when challenged by authorities. 

Why it matters: A U.S. Tax Court judge signed off on the settlement late in 2025. Under the agreement, Brockman’s estate will pay $456 million in back taxes and $294 million in penalties for tax years 2004 through 2018, concluding a legal fight that continued after Brockman’s death in 2022. The IRS had originally pursued nearly twice that amount, seeking around $1.4 billion when including interest. So it’s somewhat of a posthumous win for the dead billionaire.

Key takeaways:

Bottom line: The $750 million settlement marks a rare and significant victory for the IRS in enforcing tax liabilities tied to offshore income and complex wealth structures. It underscores that even well-funded estates with sophisticated planning can face steep financial consequences when enforcement priorities and evidentiary strength align. It also shows that offshore trusts — while an asset protection device — are not a tax-avoidance structure for U.S. citizens.

Most small business owners benchmark forward. They study best practices, industry leaders, and shiny success stories. That’s useful—but incomplete. Reverse benchmarking flips the lens. Instead of asking “What are they doing well?”, you ask “Where are they weak—and why does it still work for them?” That question is pure leverage.

Reverse benchmarking is how disciplined entrepreneurs outmaneuver bigger, louder competitors without burning cash or focus.

It’s a structured way to analyze competitors’ constraints—their blind spots, inefficiencies, cultural baggage, and scaling problems—and then design your business to exploit them. This fits beautifully inside EOS thinking: clarity beats hustle every time.

Look for what their customers complain about but tolerate anyway.

Every competitor has priorities (their Rocks), but also legacy anchors.

Don’t copy their strengths—neutralize them.

Reverse benchmarking trains you to stop admiring competitors and start diagnosing them. You’re not chasing. You’re positioning.

Growth doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from doing what others can’t—or won’t. Identify the cracks. Align your team. Set Rocks that exploit reality, not theory. You don’t have to outrun the bear; you just have to run faster than the other guy the bear is also chasing.

That’s how small businesses outgrow bigger ones—with focus, accountability, and a little strategic mischief.

We hope you found this helpful — any feedback is appreciated and can be shared by hitting reply or using the feedback feature below.

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