Your Property Rights are Still Intact, today..

The Senate “Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010″ failed to pass yesterday.  Chances are, it will be voted on again today.

The Senate goal yesterday was to vote for cloture, passing the bill without debate, and needed a vote of only 60 to achieve it. They fell short of their goal with a vote of 57 to 41. Two Senators did not vote and Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) was the sole Democrat or Independent to vote against cloture.

With a large majority of the Senate favoring the bill, supporters vowed to continue working to bring the bill to the floor and pass it.

The main reason for this legislation is to regulate Wall Street and the mortgage industry from unscrupulous lending practices that have hurt the public.  Good intentions.  We agree.

What concerns us with these bills is Read more…

Day on the Hill, follow-up

US Capitol

Thank you to everyone for the fabulous comments to my post Protecting Your Property Rights, Our Day on the Hill.  The comments are so well said and so varied that I’m going to re- post many of them here.  This legislation is huge and I want my readers to know that many of us are concerned for and passionate about what’s happening in/with/to our government.

If you haven’t read the original post, please take a moment to do that so these comments make sense to you.  And, please, add your comments to the end of this article.

Read more…

National Real Estate Investor 3rd Annual Day on the Hill

National Real Estate Investors Association’s 3rd Annual Day on the Hill was officially deemed a success but it is important to point out that our fight is not over! Our efforts to connect and communicate with legislative officials from across the country were targeted and we were able to conduct nearly 30 meetings we had scheduled with confidence and veteran-like poise.

During the meetings with legislators and many staffers we discussed several pieces of legislation, including the Senate Finance Reform legislation, S 3217 – Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010, which is currently being debated in the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, under the direction of Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT). This is 1,400+ page legislation.

HR 4173 – Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is the current bill in which that text can be found, in Title VII.  The specific language that has investors across the country worried is in Section 101(3)(e):
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Protecting Your Property Rights, Our Day on the Hill

US Capitol

Jim and I just got back from D.C. where we were working to protect your property rights during a day on the hill, meeting with our Congressmen and Senators or their representatives.

Why? The National Real Estate Investors Association (National REIA) informed our local Triad REIA of some upcoming legislation that could be harmful to our business practices as well as to property owners across the country.

What we found out right away that amazed me is how available and open most of our legislators are to hearing from their constituents. Did you know that, with an appointment, you can see almost any of your local House Representatives or Senators? Possibly more difficult in Washington, D.C. than while they are at home in your state but, even then, if they don’t have the time to speak with your personally, you can make appointments to meet with their aides.

Did you know that a representative may change their vote after hearing from as few as only two of their constituents? They, for the most part, do represent you and want to hear from you, it’s just that so few of us ever express our needs and/or concerns to them directly.

So, we did. First, we met with a number of National REIA members in D.C. Because we had registered ahead of time, National REIA had scheduled appointments for us to meet with the legislators from our home states and, where possible, our own districts. National REIA members from approximately 12 different states attended, 10 members were there from North Carolina alone.

Here’s the problem we went to address; Read more…

EPA New Lead Paint Rules

Paint

Here it comes!  Beginning April 22, Earth Day, the EPA is instituting new rules regarding lead based paint.  This will affect homes built before 1978.

Remodeling?  Repainting?  You must get approval for your work by the Environmental Protection Agency or face fines of up to $37,500 per day.

What are the rules and how do we comply?
Read more…

The IRS is Liening Hard


When times are good and cash is flowing, Congress tends to pick on the IRS.  Times, like now, when the government is out of money, Congress prefers to ignore any IRS pursuit of the public.

Look out, here comes the IRS.

To give you an idea of their added zeal, in 1999, the IRS issued 168,000 liens.  Last year, in 2009, they issued 966,000.  Your odds of hearing from the Internal Revenue Service have improved.

Here in Greensboro, Uncle Sam just put 20 more agents in the field.  Timothy Geitner said the government is going to spend $250 million for tax compliance to generate $2 billion worth of revenue this year.

Right. According to the US Treasury, the IRS is going to spend $250 million going after people who have under-paid on their taxes and believe they will be able to raise an additional $2 billion from their efforts.

Publicly filed tax liens can destroy your credit as well as wreck careers and businesses.  They can attach to your car, home, other real estate, even accounts receivables if you own a business.  The IRS is ahead of anyone else who may file a lien against you.

Many employers use credit histories to screen applicants, even though credit reports are meant to determine credit-worthiness, not job-worthiness. Repossessions, collections, high credit card balances could cost you the job you want.

Recorded tax liens can seriously hinder your ability to earn a living, pay off your debts, even stay off government assistance!  Once you do the right thing and pay off your tax lien, it can stay on your credit for 7 years.

This is not the news any of us wants to hear, however, our growing monetary deficit is pressuring the IRS to get even tougher.

If I can make a suggestion, pay your tax bills before you pay anything else.

Fed Stopped Buying Mortgages

Federal Government

As of March 31, 2010, the Federal Government stopped buying mortgage-backed securities.

Which means…?

Well, the way these mortgages are often bought and sold is by being bundled together into mortgage-backed securities.   Institutions such as pension funds, hedge funds, banks and investors then buy these large pools of mortgages.  Once the financial crises hit and the sub-primes began collapsing, it became harder and harder to sell these pools.

Compounding the problem, as the market began to slide, these same institutions began racing to sell off their packages which threatened to make the recession even worse.

In an effort to slow the values decline, the federal government began buying up these packages.  By early March 2010, the Fed and Treasury together became the largest mortgage-backed security investor in the world.  They have purchased more than $1.2 trillion dollars worth even though, as with any home loans, they come with some risks.

So far, their efforts to control the slide have worked.  Interest rates dropped for millions of homeowners which, of course, helps our economy.  It appears that the government is currently making money on the loans they hold.

So, what happens now that they’ve stopped buying?  We’ll soon find out.  Predictions are that, to begin with, interest rates will climb.

Many analysts believe that, without this government intervention, the housing market would have “imploded” and we could have actually entered into a financial depression.

Bottom line, should we be grateful for the governments efforts to prop up our housing market?

Opinions?

National Landlord Tenant Guides

Scales of Justice

Thanks for viewing my site.  I put a lot of time and effort into getting important information that I really believe will be helpful for you.

Have you ever clicked on the “LINKS” tab located in the upper right hand corner of this page?  You’ll find a ton of great links.

The one I want to talk about here is the National Landlord Tenant Guides.  This is a FABULOUS site for landlord/tenant laws.

I just used it again, this time to see if tenants are allowed to simply call and tell me they’ll “be out by the weekend”.  That’s better, of course, than when they don’t say they’re leaving or when they simply don’t pay and we have to go through the eviction process, but I did wonder when it happened again recently.  I’m pretty lenient with anyone who has been a good tenant and a good payer, but I want to know my rights as the landlord.

So, I clicked the tab on the links section of my site and here’s what I read:

Abandonment of Lease:

Read more…

Caution: Your credit score may sink when you sign up for mortgage relief

Credit Drop

According to the Washington Associated Press,  if you sign up for the government’s mortgage assistance programs, there’s a chance you may get something  you don’t expect – a lower credit score.

What are these mortgage assistance programs?

  • Home Affordable Refinance: This option can help you refinance into a more affordable mortgage if you’re paying your mortgage on time but you’re unable to refinance to a lower rate because you owe more on your mortgage than your home is currently worth.
  • Home Affordable Modification: This option can help you get mortgage payments you can afford if you’re delinquent in making your monthly mortgage payments, in the foreclosure process, or current on your payments but have recently experienced hardship and you are about to miss a payment.

There are many pitfalls showing up with these programs.  One very important one is this, if you are struggling to continue making your payments on time so you sign up for a government loan modification program,your credit score could immediately reduce by as much as 100 points!    What?  Why?

Read more…

HUD SAFE Mortgage Act

HUD

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new bill out there called the HUD SAFE Mortgage Act. From what I understand, it passed and became law in the summer of 2009, but states were given up to two years to implement the bill. This legislation makes Owner Financing illegal. If you are not a licensed broker, you will not be able to do owner financing.

This bill is huge. They are considering Lease to Own as a possible owner finance and, if determined to be so, this bill could immediately outlaw lease to own. So many buyers are not able to buy a home with traditional financing and this could eliminate options to those wanna be homeowners.

If you have ever purchased or sold a property using seller financing, you need to take a few moments to read the following message. After you have reviewed the information, send your comments to HUD per the instructions to help stop this devastating proposal. Please, get involved and make your voice heard. Please, help us Make a Difference.

Read more…