Sweeping financial services legislation has passed the House and could be taken up by the Senate shortly, although passage of the 2,000-page bill isn't certain. In a short video to help you understand what the bill's impact could be should it pass, NAR Legislative Analyst Tony Hutchinson looks at what the legislation contains and what it doesn't contain. Among other things, a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will take over administration of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) and the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), although this move by itself won't necessarily change settlement related rules. New oversight requirements of subprime and other exotic mortgage loans aim to reduce the likelihood of future abuses of the kind that helped precipitate the mortgage meltdown while minimizing impact on processing of conventional mortgage financing.  Click http://speakingofrealestate.blogs.realtor.org/2010/07/09/financia/ to watch 

Yahoo! Inc. has cut a deal with Zillow.com to manage its real estate sales listings. Zillow will manage a network to place home listings and other ads from real estate practitioners on both Yahoo.com and its own Web site. It also will place targeted ads purchased by practitioners in property search results on both sites.

This might lead to the companies, the second- and third-busiest real estate sites on the Web, to claim a larger combined audience than top-ranked site REALTOR.COM®.

According to Web traffic analyst Experian Hitwise, REALTOR.COM® had a 5.73 percent market share in the real estate category in June, while Yahoo Real Estate had 4.55 percent and Zillow claimed 3.75 percent.

Source: Inman News, Matt Carter (07/08/2010)

 On Thursday, the Senate defeated the third attempt to reach an agreement on the tax extenders bill (H.R. 4213) by a vote of 57 to 41.  Many of you have followed this bill because it contained an extension of the closing date deadline for the home buyer tax credit program to September 30 for homes under contract on or before April 30. 
Unfortunately, the bill failed to garner the needed 60 votes and has been pulled from further consideration.  

NAR is pursuing all possible options with senior congressional staff to determine what other legislation may be available for passing a June 30 extension.  Each of the possible options face difficult obstacles, but NAR's efforts to clear the way are on going.

   The Senate will NOT have any votes today (Friday, June 25) this will push the Tax Credit Extension deadline to the week of June 28, 2010.

   Should Congress extend the date, information will be posted on www.realtor.org/government_affairs as soon as it happens.

   The final outcome will be posted on www.realtor.org/government_affairs on July 1, 2010.

Some experts are saying that the next big real estate problem could be a shortage of homes.

Only 672,000 new homes were started in April. That’s less than half the number needed to meet the country’s average population growth.

In the past, an average of more than 1.3 million households have been built each year, creating demand for 1.5 million new homes. In 2009, only 398,000 new households were formed, according to the Census Bureau.

"The decline in household formation is artificial," says James Gaines, a real estate economist with Texas A&M. "The young are moving in with their parents. There's even doubling up among working-class people. There's a pent-up demand coming if and when the economy recovers."

Some economists believe this analysis fails to take into account the changing economy or the large inventory of vacant properties. But Gaines and others say these factors are unlikely to significantly drive down demand.

Source: CNNMoney.com, Les Christie (06/15/2010)

Housing and Economic Development Update
March 29, 2010

Administration Announces Changes to Modification Efforts

The U.S. Treasury and the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) departments announced adjustments to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) programs and to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). The changes come as the Administration pursues its goal of modifying the mortgages of 3 to 4 million homeowners by the end of 2012. The Federal portion of cost for these changes will come from $50 billion under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Under the new adjustments, eligible homeowners for modifications under HAMP must live in an owner-occupied principal residence, have a mortgage balance of less than $729,750, owe monthly mortgage payments greater than 31 percent of their income, and demonstrate a financial hardship. The new FHA refinance options apply as long as the borrower is current on the mortgage and the lender reduces the amount owed on the original loan by at least 10 percent. The new FHA loan must have a balance less than the current value of the home, and total mortgage debt for the borrower after the refinancing cannot be greater than 115 percent of the current value of the home.

February Existing Home Sales Decline

According to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales, which include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, declined 0.6 percent nationally to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.02 million units from 5.05 million in January. Although a decrease, these numbers are 7.0 percent higher than the 4.69 million-unit pace in February 2009. The decline came from weak numbers in the South and West which were slightly offset by modest figures in the Northwest and Midwest.

Total housing inventory increased 9.5 percent to 3.59 million existing homes available for sale, representing an 8.6-month supply. These figures compare to a 7.8-month supply in January 2010. The national median existing home price for all housing types was $165,100, which is 1.8 percent lower than February 2009.