National Mortgage News recently reported that, according to the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will not implement the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) for its mortgage insurance programs. According to the article, FHA Commissioner David H. Stevens met with a delegation from NAMB and discussed a variety of topics. After talking with HUD, NAR believes it is clear that FHA supports much of what the Code has accomplished. FHA is currently reviewing its appraisal policies and may adopt changes that take HVCC into account. NAR's HVCC Web pageFederal Housing Ad ...
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The Arizona Senate and House of Representatives moved to sine die the 49th Legislature- 3rd Special Session on Tuesday at approximately 1:45pm. This gives Governor Jan Brewer an additional ten days to act on the budget bills sent to her last Thursday. She is to resume talks with Democrats at 3:30pm this afternoon. They are asking for changes in education, DES, DHS and AHCCCS in exchange for their support of the three-year 1-cent sales tax referral. Majority Leadership has said that the Democrat's price tag is just too high and will not receive bipartisan support at this time. HB 2008, which includes the repeal of SB 1271, is among the budget bills that are still awaiting the governor' ...
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©2009 California Farm Bureau FederationBy Kate CampbellAssistant Editor  Water-related activity swirled through the state Capitol last week, but there was little agreement on what the solutions should be and who should pay for them. With less than a month left in the current legislative session, time for fixing California's water woes could quickly wash away.   "We must act now," Danny Merkley, California Farm Bureau Federation director of water resources, told a joint legislative hearing last week. But he noted it's "equally important that we act correctly."   Referring to five hastily ...
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As mentioned previously in the Capitol Insider, language to repeal SB 1271, the anti-deficiency statute change, has been included in one of the budget bills, HB 2008. The bill has passed the Senate and is awaiting transmittal to the Governor.   It is rumored that the Governor will veto any budget bill package that does not include a sales tax increase or referral for public vote. Since the budget bills passed do not include either of these options, our concern is that she will veto HB 2008.   The change to Arizona’s anti-deficiency statute is a very important issue with serious consequences for Arizona homeowners. We continue to communicate with the Arizona House, Senate and ...
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On Friday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed HR 3200, the House healthcare bill 31-28 with all Republicans and 5 Democrats on the committee voting no.  This ended a long couple of weeks of negotiations, but there was still an agreement to revisit the bill and pending amendments when the House returns to Washington in September.  House Members have gone back to their districts now for the August recess and expect quite a bit of conversation with their constituents about the issue. Meanwhile, the Senate remains in session this week, and health care observers are waiting to see if The Senate Finance Committee can reach a bi-partisan agreement on a bill before they le ...
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Sen. Steve Pierce, sponsor of SB 1271, feels the bill needs to be fixed due to the unforeseen and unintended consequences of the legislation.  He has asked the Legislature and the Governor’s office to repeal the bill so that legislators and industry stakeholder groups can work on a new bill to accomplish the original objective of 1271- to help small community banks in Arizona.  Pierce met with AAR and other stakeholders yesterday to discuss changes to the legislation. The consensus was that there is a more direct way to assist local Arizona banks, who were not eligible to receive any TARP funds, on the ever-growing foreclosure issue.  AAR will continue to ...
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As a direct result of NAR's recent meetings with the New York Attorney General’s office, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and Fannie Mae, both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae this week issued new guidance to all lenders on the Home Valuation Code of Conduct.  The alert clarifies two very important points that we raised in our meetings with officials.  First, it states that lenders should use appraisers who have clear experience in the geographic area.  Second, it clarifies that appraisers are not prohibited from talking to real estate agents.More >>

Request for the Governor’s Assistance On Friday, the Arizona Association of REALTORS® (AAR) had a preliminary conversation with Governor Brewer’s staff regarding the impacts of SB 1271 and the need for an immediate fix to this legislation that becomes effective on September 30, 2009.  AAR requested that the Governor amend her current Call for Special Session to include a fix to SB1271 with an emergency clause.  Governor Brewer called the legislature into Special Session to deal only with the historic budget deficit.  The Governor’s staff was receptive to our request and voiced a wiliness to work with AAR, but requested that we provide specific examples of ...
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One of over 200 bills pushed through the legislature in less than a month was a big change to an existing law that provided protection to borrowers in some cases against a deficiency judgment when their property went through foreclosure.  Below is some background information on the legislation that has the lending and real estate industries a buzz with its intended and unintended consequences.    SB 1271 – Serious Changes to Arizona’s Anti-Deficiency Statute SB 1271 was sponsored by Senator Sylvia Allen, a REALTOR® from the White Mountains area of our state.  The legislation started out in January as a bill dealing with jail districts and property tax ...
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While Congressional health reform hearings, markups and closed door discussions continue on a daily basis, the aggressive timelines set out in May by the Senate and House committees at the center of the health reform debate have slid. Each of the five committees with jurisdiction over health reform failed to meet the self-imposed deadlines for completing consideration of health bills prior to the July recess. In the House, a joint committee bill has been introduced but not yet marked up. In the Senate, the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee began markup in mid-June but has yet to consider a number of contentions issues such as whether to include an employer mandate that would req ...
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