Ar_home_b_search
 



fhfa: Obama's Expanded Mortgage Relief. A Shell Game? - 10/26/11 12:09 PM
Even the headlines is a lie - 'Obama offers homeowners mortgage relief'.  The revamped Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) announced by President Obama on Monday, was actually the work of the FHFA, but lets not quibble about who takes the credit during this election cycle. It's not like the program will do enough good to matter anyway, in all likelihood. 
But one can always hope. At least the 11+ million of us with underwater mortgages can hope. Well, maybe some subset of those can hope. After all, the original HARP was supposed to provide relief for 5 million homeowners but in … (12 comments)

fhfa: Terminate private transfer fees? Send your remarks here: - 10/25/10 01:56 PM
The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness Solicits Public Comment on Three Public Policy Issues Associated with the FHFA Proposed Private Transfer Fee Guidance  The Federal Home Finance Authority has proposed guidance which would terminate the use of Private Transfer Fees.  Private Transfer Fees are paid each time a property is sold and are often used for community benefit programs. Private transfer fees have also been used to provide a continual source of income for developers and investors. The FHFA has received in excess of 2,500 comments. While the FHFA is reviewing these comments  the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness is asking the public and … (3 comments)

fhfa: More HVCC Problems - Fraud up 46% over last year? How can that be? - 11/16/09 12:24 AM
My rant on the NAR program "HVCC Problems? Not According to the Government", stirred up quite a response from Realtors on AR, just as it did with Realtors at the NAR program. Nobody - NOBODY but the government and the people making money off the program think HVCC is working. It's not working for appraisers, it's not working for Realtors and MOST IMPORTANTLY IT'S NOT WORKING FOR THE PUBLIC - OUR CLIENTS, whom it was supposed to protect. One might almost think Andrew Cuomo was getting some kind of payback for this because in terms of a workable program, this one … (60 comments)

fhfa: At the NAR. HVCC Problems? Not according to the Government. - 11/13/09 11:04 PM
One of the seminars I attended today at NAR was entitled 'Managing the Risks and Opportunities of the New Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC)."
Let me say at the outset, I sat through the whole friggin thing and didn't note any opportunities - unless you count aggravation as an opportunity.  No shortage of risks, however.
NAR did a great job staging this - they had a panel in place that included spokesholes from FHFA, FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and an AMC. Oh, and they had two Realtors sitting in for balance. In my humble opinion, if I had … (47 comments)