Just before Thanksgiving, the Senate collected the required 60 votes to invoke cloture (stopping a filibuster or talk-a-thon) and begin debate on their healthcare bill.  This week, they commenced debate on the various amendments to the legislation.  The bill, a merged version of both the Senate Finance Committee’s and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee’s bills, will address individual and small group health insurance markets – an issue very important to self employed REALTORS®.  Debate is expected to extend throughout December.  A summary of each of the bills and their provisions is now available on the NAR healthcare page on REAL ...
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© LA Times 2009 Thousands of Southern California home buyers, and millions nationwide, will have to come up with more cash and reach higher minimum credit scores to get a government-backed mortgage under changes unveiled by the Federal Housing Administration.Some loans might require more than the current 3.5% minimum down payment, but the Obama administration is resisting calls for an across-the-board hike. Instead, it is looking at other ways to increase the amount of cash at closing, such as requiring borrowers to pay more of their mortgage insurance premiums up front.The FHA, which insures mortgages with low down payments, is scrambling to balance its increasingly important role ...
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    Volume I / Issue XVIII   The House of Representatives passed SB 1004, the anti-deficiency fix, early this afternoon with a vote of 53-0. SB 1004 included the repeal and replacement of ARS§ 33-814 essentially returning the statute to its original status prior to the passage of SB 1271. With this fix, Arizona will continue to operate as a deed of trust state with the protections that have been in existence since 1971.  SB 1004 did pass both the Arizona State Senate and House of Representatives with an emergency clause, and it will go into effect upon Governor Brewer’s signature. We will continue to work with th ...
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The APS electric line extension issue will be featured on this evening’s Horizon program, on Channel 8, KAET-TV at 7:00 p.m.     Guests are Sandy Barr of the Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Chapter, and Bobby Miller, a west side REALTOR® known as “Dr. Dirt” who has been active with the grassroots group Arizonans For Fair Power Policy.   In the past, to encourage growth, landowners were not charged by APS for the first $25,000 of costs to extend power lines to their properties. The Arizona Corporation Commission has reversed that policy. Now, landowners must pay the complete cost of connecting their properties to a source of power. Critics sa ...
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     Volume I / Issue XVI November 20, 2009   4th Special Legislative Session Update The introduced version of SB 1004: ANTI-DEFICIENCY STATUTES, PROPERTY AMENDMENTS included the repeal and replacement of ARS§ 33-814 with an additional subsection (H) that would not provide deficiency protection for speculative construction projects. This proposed addition to the statute was compromise language agreed to by both the Arizona Bankers Association and AAR. However, there was some concern by the Homebuilders of Central Arizona that the language would not provide the protection to their buyers. We attempted to continue to negotiate to ...
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Realtors, you did it! You’ve succeeded in achieving a huge victory for real estate! Congress heard you on the need to both extend and expand the homebuyer tax credit to continue stimulating the housing sector of the economy. The President signed the legislation into law on Friday! Thank you for making this victory happen! Your letters in response to our Call for Action made a very big difference, as did the thousands of REALTOR® phone calls, visits by Federal Political Coordinators—all members of NAR—in getting this legislation passed. This is a great victory for the economy, for homebuyers, and for all of you in real estate.  You made ...
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The latest update from NAR is that the Senate is expected to pass the Unemployment Insurance bill that contains the Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension this evening. The House will take up the Senate passed bill possibly as early as tomorrow, November 5.  After it is voted out of the Senate, the bill would then go to the White House for the President's signature. ...
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The Senate just passed a cloture motion, 85-2, to end debate on extending the benefits contained in the Unemployment Compensation Act of 2009. Also included in that legislation is the extension of the homebuyer tax credit into April of 2010. The bill should find its way through floor votes in both Senate and the House by the end of tomorrow, if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has his way. But the credit will not just be extended, it will also be expanded.   Homebuyers who have lived in their prior residences for at least five years could receive a credit of $6,500 under the plan. Couples earning as much as much as $225,000 and individuals earning up to $125,000 would also qu ...
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The extension and expansion of the homebuyer tax credit is the pending business in the Senate. After a long week of negotiation on the credit, an agreement on the scope of both expansion and extension has been reached. The extension is part of a larger bill that has not yet gone to a vote, however. A Senate vote on the underlying bill will occur in the Senate during the week of November 1. The package will then go back to the House. The House is expected to accept the Senate amendments, vote on the package and send it to the President for signature. The underlying bill is an extension of unemployment benefits. Other provisions in the bill include expansion of the net operating loss carryback ...
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**NAR ARIZONA CALL TO ACTION**  Early next week the U.S. Senate will be voting on an amendment that would extend the first-time homebuyer tax credit.  NAR is supporting the Dodd-Lieberman-Isakson amendment because this amendment will:  --Provide the $8,000 tax credit to any buyer (not just first time).--Set income limits at $150,000/$300,000 for single/married buyers.--Make the credit available until June 30, 2010.  NAR is asking for your help in generating phone calls from Arizona REALTORS to the offices of Senator McCain and Senator Kyl  in Washington, DC.    Please request to speak to each Senator's Tax Legislative Assistant and ask them to ...
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