GA Blog: National issues

7.5.11 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Advisor Meets with Realtor® Leadership

The Beverly Citizen recently reported that Professor Elizabeth Warren, an advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), recently joined Congressman John Tierney at the Salem State Enterprise Center to conduct a conversation with local community bankers, mortgage professionals, and Realtor® leaders.

The discussion covered the mission of the CFPB and how it will affect the local real estate and financial sectors in its efforts to protect consumers via reforms to the mortgage process. The CFPB’s goal is to protect Americans who are in the market for consumer financial products or services.

“Professor Warren continues to listen to consumers, bankers, realtors and other industry representatives to ensure that financial reform is as transparent and effective as possible,” said congressman Tierney. “It is imperative that community bankers and local realtors who understand the needs of our community are not trampled by the big banks that oppose the new consumer protection bureau.”

Read the entire Beverly Citizen article.

5.16.09 NAR Mid-year Legislative Meetings

This last week, leaders of North Shore Association of REALTORS® met in Washington, DC with state and national Realtor® leaders and the offices of Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy and with Representative John Tierney at the NAR Mid-year Legislative Meetings.

The meetings were attended by 2009 President David Kres, President-Elect, Bert Beaulieu, Immediate Past President, Marilyn Jarvis, 2007 President, Kim Sandler and CEO, Susan Kline.  The overall message of the Realtor® Association was that a full economic recovery is impossible without a housing recovery leaving the way.  Here is a summary of the Realtor® legislative agenda:

1.    Move the Housing Market Forward and Safeguard Our Communities by:
a.    Restructuring Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac: The federal government must have a continued key role to ensure capital for mortgage lending throughout all mortgage markets and in all market conditions.
b.    FHA & GSE Loan Limits: Congress should make permanent the 2008 loan limit formula and loan limit cap.
c.    Homebuyer Tax Credit: Congress should expand the $8000 first-time homebuyer tax credit to include all homebuyers at all income levels.
2.    Preserve the Mortgage Interest Deduction: NAR opposes any changes to current law. The MID is a remarkably effective tool that facilitates homeownership and community stability. More than 75% of homeowners utilize the deduction over the period they own their home.
3.    Enact Health Care Coverage for the Self-Employed and Small Businesses: NAR urges Congress to pass health care reform legislation that addresses the inequities faced by the self-employed and small businesses in the nation's health insurance delivery system.
4.    Adopt Reasonable Approaches to Energy Efficiency: NAR supports commercially reasonable, incentive-based approaches to help our nation's commercial and residential buildings become more energy efficient. NAR strongly opposes energy labeling requirements which are imposed at time of sale or impose undue economic burdens on property owners or managers.
5.    Stabilize and Provide Liquidity to Commercial Real Estate Markets: The freeze in our nation's credit markets has adversely affected commercial and investment real estate. Property owners seeking to refinance existing loans, including land and residential development loans, are finding access to credit limited. Restoration of the orderly functioning of financial markets is essential.
a.    NAR supports an expansion of the duration of loans offered to investors, by the Federal Reserve through the Term Asset-Backed-Securities Loan Facility (TALF), from the current 3-year term to at least five years to better accommodate the longer loan terms of commercial mortgages. (Most commercial mortgages have a loan term of seven to 10 years).
b.    NAR supports the retention of current capital gains rates.

Additional information about NAR's Legislative and Regulatory Advocacy efforts is available at:  http://www.realtor.org/government_affairs

For more information about the Mid-year Meeting visit: http://www.realtor.org/government_affairs/gapublic/mym_home

3.16.09 Finally, a Major Victory for Realtors®

On Wednesday, March 11th, President Barack Obama signed H.R. 1105, the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, into law. In doing so, he ended our nearly eight-year battle to preserve the separation between banking and commerce.

Specifically, this new law permanently bans large national banking conglomerates from entering the real estate business by preventing the Treasury and Federal Reserve, by rule, order, or any other way, from opening the door to such activities.

Click on this link for additional information.

3.2.09 No More Negotiating Commissions on Fannie Mae Short Sales

The Government Affairs Committee has learned that a new Fannie Mae regulation will prohibit pre-foreclosure mortgagee from negotiating or reducing real estate commissions for short sales with Fannie-Mae serviced mortgages - unless the fee exceeds 6% of the sales price.  Fannie Mae's recent change to Part VII, Section 504.02 states the folllowing:

"Effective March 1, 2009, closing of preforeclosure sales may not be conditioned upon a reduction of the total commission to be paid to real estate agents to a level below what was negotiated by the listing agent with the borrower, unless the fee exceeds 6 percent of the sales price of the property in aggregate. Servicers are reminded that they must continue to obtain any approvals that may be required by interested third parties in connection with preforeclosure sales."

This regulatory change should have significant benefits for Realtors® assisting consumers in short sale transactions.  To date, it is not unclear whether Freddie Mac or any other mortgage loan lenders or services have adopted a similar policy.

11.28.08 ALWAYS Identify the Square Footage Source in Your Listings

The National Association of REALTORS® recently reported on a lawsuit decided by the Texas Court of Appeals that all REALTORS® should pay attention to. In the case, the trial court and appellate court decided that a REALTOR® could be held liable for Misrepresentation and Deception Trade Practices (our version of c. 93A) for incorrectly listing a property's square footage on an MLS, that the REALTOR® obtained from the county's appraisal district. The basic facts of the case are this:

• REALTOR® obtained a property's square footage from the county appraisal district.
• REALTOR® listed the property on MLS with this square footage, and the MLS automates the price/square foot (like MLS-PIN).
• The source of the Property's square footage was NOT a required field on this MLS, but testimony at trial showed that it was standard practice in the industry to identify this source. Because of a clerical error, THE SOURCE OF THE PROPERTY'S SQUARE FOOTAGE WAS NOT IDENTIFIED ON THE MLS LISTING.
• Buyers purportedly based their valuation (at least in part) in the property being listed under the average price/square foot.
• Buyers actually did their own search and verified the county appraisal's office sqaure footage number.
• Before the purchase, Buyers did sign a form provided by REALTOR® that said "I/we have not relied upon any statement given to me/us by the REALTOR and/or his/her associates with regard to the property, and my/our decision to make an offer on the property and to subsequently purchase the property is based on my/our independent decision with or without legal counsel." The form also said, "The Buyer is advised to verify all information important to him/her and to ask the appropriate questions of the appropriate authorities himself/herself or through an attorney with respect to important issues such as . . . size of structure . . . . Any statements with respect to problems or with respect to the availability or existence of any of these items which were made by the REALTOR and his/her associates were made based on information given to the REALTOR by the Seller/Owner and/or government agencies, and/or others, and there is no intention that the Buyer rely on the statements of the REALTOR and his/her associates, and the Buyer is urged to confirm any such statements on his/her own."
• In this case, Buyers actually lived in the Property prior to the purchase and even made making improvements to the house, including painting the interior walls and replacing the flooring in the kitchen and master bathroom.
• Following receipt of a copy of the lender's appraisal, which calculated the square footage as less than the that listed in the MLS, Buyers sued REALTOR® on misrepresentation, and deceptive trade practices and won.

Bottom line, ALWAYS, ALWAYS IDENTIFY THE SOURCE OF A PROPERTY'S SQUARE FOOTAGE WHEN YOU ARE LISTING A PROPERTY OR REPRESENTING A BUYER. Click here to read the Texas Court of Appeals opinion.

11.4.08 Get Out and Vote!

Realtors®, today is election day. We encourage you all to do your civil duty and get out and vote. If you do not know where your polling place is, check www.wheredoIvoteMA.com. Also, there are three ballot initiatives on the ballot.

• Question 1 would repeal the State Income Tax.
• Question 2 would decriminalize first offense possession of marijuana.
• Question 3 would ban greyhound dog racing.

Click here for additional information.