ISSUES - LEGISLATIONWed, Jul 21Attorney General Advisory: SB 1070 and Fair Housing LawsSome residents and landlords in Arizona may have questions or concerns regarding their rights and obligations under the fair housing laws and the potential impact of SB 1070 on those laws. To help address these concerns, the Attorney General’s office has created a review guide of Arizona and federal fair housing laws and answers to some questions related to SB 1070.ATTORNEY GENERAL ADVISORY: SB 1070 and Fair Housing Laws ... More >> Fri, Jul 16House passes flood insurance reform bill that extends program to 2015Yesterday, the U.S. House approved a flood insurance reform bill that would reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program to September 30, 2015, a provision strongly supported by the National Association of Realtors®. Passage of H.R. 5114, the Flood Insurance Reform Priorities Act, would strengthen the NFIP and bring certainty to many real estate markets that are much in need, NAR said, and commended Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) for marshalling the bill through House passage. "This longer-term reauthorization of the NFIP is critical to millions of taxpaying American families who rely on the program for flood insurance, which is required to obtain a mortgage in nearly ... More >> Thu, Jul 15Is your voter registration current?In order to vote in this Fall's Primary election, you must be registered to vote or make sure your voter registration is current no later than July 26. If you have moved, changed your name or political party you must update your voter registration as it must match thhe information on your picture identification. You can register online through Service Arizona EZ Voter registration at https://servicearizona.com/webapp/evoter/ Or you can request a mail in form from your county recorders office at http://www.azsos.gov/election/county.htm As a reminde ... More >> Wed, Jul 14Privacy debate touches real estate©Inman News 2010 A battlefront is forming over online privacy issues, and the National Association of Realtors has weighed in on its members' ability to collect some user data. Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., in May announced draft legislation that seeks additional protections for the privacy of consumers' personal data, both online and offline, and would require many companies to provide "clear" and "understandable" privacy policies about how information is "collected, used and disclosed." < ... More >> Mon, Jul 12FHFA directs GSEs to take actions regarding PACE program energy retrofit loansLast week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs) and the Federal Home Loan Banks to take specified actions related to loans under Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs. PACE programs offer loans for residential and commercial property energy retrofits, to be paid back through the tax assessment system of counties and cities. FHFA raised safety and soundness concerns when PACE is structured so the loan repayments are given first lien status, like routine local tax obligations, ahead of first mortgages owned or guaranteed by the GSEs. FHFA directed the GSEs to take several actions:1. For any homeow ... More >> Thu, Jul 08FHA Commissioner Addresses RESPA Home Warranty GuidanceLast week, Assistant Secretary for Housing/FHA Commissioner Dave Stevens laid out the guidance on the appropriate circumstances under which brokers and agents can be compensated on a per transaction basis for selling home warranties in a recent update from the Commissioner. NAR and industry partners have been working for more than two years to get HUD to accept legitimacy of these of these arrangements after an earlier intepretive letter raised great concerns for real estate professionals and their partners in the home warranty industry and led to class action lawsuits. While HUD has accepted that agents and brokers can be paid on a per transaction basis and that review of transactions ... More >> Tue, Jul 06Arizona Association of REALTORS® Releases 2010 Election EndorsementsThe Arizona Association of REALTORS® has released its list of endorsements for the upcoming 2010 election. This follows nearly six weeks of interviews of the candidates running for both statewide and legislative district offices. Endorsements are based on voting records, interviews and scrutinized questionnaires. Candidates were asked their positions on issues important to homeowners, REALTORS® and the real estate industry. All Democratic and Republican candidates who submitted a completed questionnaire for office were interviewed. Once the process was complete, the Arizona Association of REALTORS® Political Action Committee determined its top choice ... More >> Thu, Jul 01A double win! Tax credit closing date & Flood Insurance extensions pass!After a close brush with the deadline, Congress has passed an extension of the Homebuyer Tax Credit closing deadline, the Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act (H.R. 5623). The extension applies only to transactions that have ratified contracts in place as of April 30, 2010 that have not yet closed. The legislation is designed to create a seamless extension the new closing deadline for eligible transactions is now September 30, 2010. There is will be no gap between June 30 and the date the President signs the bill into law. Additionally, the United States Senate has passed the National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2010 (H.R. 5569) an extension of the National ... More >> Wed, Jun 30Latest update on the home buyer tax credit extensionSenate Democrats are planning on extending the home buyer tax credit by combining it with a bill to extend unemployment insurance. Democrats hope to pick up Republican support for the bill by combining the two provisions. They have been trying for weeks to pass an extension of unemployment benefits as part of a larger tax and spending package, but the larger bill died in the Senate last week. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., filed a motion Tuesday to end debate on the bill and force a vote by Thursday — if Democrats can round up the necessary 60 votes to end a Republican filibuster. As the Associated Press notes, "The homebuyer tax credit is a much eas ... More >> Tue, Jun 29180,000 home sales could fall through if Home Buyer Tax Credit is not extendedIf Congress does not vote to extend the closing period, NAR states that close to 200,000 homebuyers will lose out on the tax credit through no fault of their own. According to Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, "Approximately 180,000 home buyers who signed a contract in good faith to receive the tax credit may not be able to finalize by the end of June due to delays in the mortgage process, particularly for short sales."He added that "many potential sales are being delayed by an interruption in the National Flood Insurance Program. Florida and Louisiana, also impacted by the oil spill, have the highest percentage of homes that require flood insurance." ...
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