Missourians could be faced with an extra housing tax unless action is taken.Currently, the Missouri Constitution allows real estate transfer taxes on homes and property. This means that when homeowners transfer ownership on their home, a tax is imposed, ultimately costing the homeowner extra taxes. This tax rate can be increased without a vote from the people.Elizabeth Mendenhall, president of the Missouri Association of Realtors, is currently heading up a campaign to adjust the Missouri Constitution to prevent this tax from being collected.“The one place that we have, the one place we call home, that place that’s so sacred to us, they’re trying to tap into it,” Mende ...
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The election of Republican Massachusetts state senator Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate seat long held by health-reform champion Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has changed the political dynamic of the ongoing health care debate. It remains unclear whether Congress will proceed with its efforts to merge recently passed House and Senate versions of reform legislation or take a new course, which could include pursuing a scaled-down version of legislation. In his State of the Union on January 27, 2010, President Obama urged Congressional leaders to continue to work on reform, citing the ongoing need to address rising costs and the growing numbers of uninsured Americans. While no single strategy has been ident ...
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©WSJ 2009  For the first time, government programs next year will account for more than half of all U.S. health-care spending, federal actuaries predict, as the weak economy sends more people into Medicaid and slows growth of private insurance.   The figures show how federal and state spending is taking a bigger role while Congress hesitates over a health-care overhaul. Over the next ten years, health spending is expected to balloon to $4.5 trillion. Despite this, the government's health overhaul has stalled, Peter Landers reports. Government health programs are a growing burden on the federal budget, which is running annual deficits of more than $ ...
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©CNNMoney.com 2009   Luckily for banks, the commercial real estate time bomb just keeps on ticking. Industry observers have issued dire warnings for more than a year, suggesting that lenders are on a collision course with potentially billions of dollars worth of commercial real estate losses.  But for all the gloomy talk, the fallout has remained relatively well contained. Banks have already recognized about $50 billion in losses, or about 60% of the estimated cumulative losses, according to real estate research firm Foresight Analytics. Read more. ...
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In response to a June 2008 joint letter from NAR and Washington RESPA attorney Jay Varon, HUD provided some informal answers to questions regarding what are often referred to as administrative fees or similarly named fees charged to consumers in real estate transactions. The letter discusses the ways to account for charges and circumstances where charges are appropriate or less appropriate. The letter notes that all charges to sellers and buyers must be disclosed on line 700 of the HUD-1 and that RESPA does not prescribe how an agent or broker determines the charge, noting it could be a flat fee, percentage, or combination of both. The letter concludes with the usual caveats that it does not ...
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NAR has issued a new brochure to help members understand the new Home Affordable Foreclosure Avoidance Program (HAFA) that takes effect on or before April 5, 2010. The purpose of the program is to help homeowners, who are unable to retain their homes under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), avoid foreclosure through a short sale or a deed in lieu of foreclosure. HAFA includes uniform procedures, standards forms, and deadlines. This program has the potential to revolutionize short sales, but its success will depend on the implementation by servicers and cooperation by investors and subordinate lien holders. Fannie and Freddie are tweaking the rules for their own programs—t ...
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© Reuters 2010Health research is a potential winner in the budget proposed by U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday, with the National Institutes of Health in line for an extra $1 billion for medical research. Obama's budget plan also would provide $25.5 billion for six months to help prop up Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance plan for the poor, $1.4 billion for food safety efforts and $3 billion for AIDS prevention. The budget also proposes an expansion of health and food aid to other countries, especially for research into AIDS and neglected tropical diseases. Read more.  ...
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© Reuters 2010 There is growing concern in Congress that the shaky $6.7 trillion commercial real estate market could implode, delivering a major blow to the economic recovery. A bipartisan group of 79 House members led by Representative Paul E. Kanjorski, Democrat of Pennsylvania, and Representative Ken Calvert, Republican of California, sent a letter to the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve on Monday urging them to take a more active role in keeping the commercial real estate market from ...
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The IRS has released IR-2010-006 providing a revised Form 5405 to reflect the changes to the tax credit made in the extension and expansion legislation enacted in November 2009. The release reminds taxpayers that all tax returns claiming the tax credit must be filed manually (i.e., they cannot utilize the IRS E-File automatic system). The revised form includes a section for those repeat buyers who are eligible to claim the $6500 tax credit. The HUD-1 or evidence of the transaction must be filed with all returns claiming the credit (both the $8000 and $6500 credits). Individuals who claim the repeat buyer credit must also provide evidence that they have owned and used the prior residence for ...
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Last week, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced major changes to ensure its long-term financial soundness. NAR has met with the FHA Commissioner on several occasions to discuss the state of the housing market and to underscore FHA's invaluable role. By all accounts the new changes are a victory for home buyers. FHA has carefully balanced the need to make financial reforms with the need to keep FHA available to a large segment of consumers. This is evident by retaining the 3.5 percent minimum down payment requirement and allowing the upfront mortgage insurance premium to be financed. FHA announced changes in the following areas: 1) The upfront mortgage insurance premium ...
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