Politics & Government Archive
Meeting Promises Productive Relationship with Fannie, Freddie Regulator
NAR President Steve Brown in a meeting yesterday with new Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mel Watt shared REALTORS®’ concern over the continued availability of safe and affordable mortgage financing and thanked the director for postponing a decrease...
February 13, 2014
Philadelphia REALTORS® Show Their City Some Brotherly Love
Philadelphia has the ninth largest municipal economy in the world, by some measures, but despite its size, it’s struggling with budget matters like many major cities. Among other things, it has some 40,000 buildings and 10,000 lots that are...
February 5, 2014
Mortgage Availability Tightening? QM Takes Effect Today
NAR has been working with federal regulators since Congress in 2010 passed massive banking reform legislation, part of which created the qualified mortgage and qualified residential mortgage rules. Today is an important day in the timeline of those rules,...
January 10, 2014
Health Reform: NAR President Steve Brown on What You Need to Know
Since the federal government enacted health insurance reform in 2010, NAR has put out a considerable amount of information on the law, including on the basics of signing up for insurance under the law based on a one-hour webinar...
December 30, 2013
Veissi: Pause Needed on Flood Ins. Changes
NAR and many lawmakers in Congress are pushing for a time-out in the federal government’s efforts to eliminate flood insurance subsidies over time and phase in premium rates that reflect properties’ actuarial risk of flooding. NAR’s Call for Action...
November 20, 2013
Thomas Presses on Gov’t Backing, Loan Limits
NAR President Gary Thomas in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee this week again took aim at a proposal floated by a federal regulator to reduce the size of loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can handle. Although...
October 30, 2013
Busting a Health Care Reform Myth: Penalties Can’t Be Recouped With a Lien on Your House
A false Facebook post is making the rounds claiming that if you don’t pay the penalty for not buying health insurance, the IRS can file a lien against your home. The health care reform law requires individuals who don’t...
October 23, 2013
Showdown With the Shutdown: Tales of How the Government Closures are Affecting Real Estate
The effects of the government shutdown are rippling through the real estate industry, and practitioners are feeling the pain all over the country. Most of the complaints we’re fielding are about USDA loans, which have been entirely frozen. Real...
October 9, 2013
Yun on Debt Ceiling: 450,000 Lost Sales with 1% Mortgage Rate Rise
If the federal government fails to increase its borrowing authority prior to when the U.S. Treasury says it will run out of money to pay its bills, debt default is not necessarily the first consequence we’ll see, says NAR...
October 9, 2013
Flood Subsidies Phasing Out Unless Congress Acts, FEMA Chief Says
UPDATE: Read NAR’s Oct. 10 letter to Craig Fugate outlining steps his agency could take to mitigate the sting of rising flood insurance premiums. Any chance of the federal government delaying the phase-out of flood insurance subsidies coming down...
September 19, 2013