RPAC Auction Sneak Peek: Week 5 (pt. 2)

More great items continue to roll in to the GRRA offices for next week's RPAC Auction. Here's another taste of what's to come (hit the jump for more).

And don't forget to come out at 11:30 on Wednesday, June 2 to see the rest of our great inventory! It's a great way to support your REALTORS Political Action Committee!

Hand-carved table

RPAC Auction Sneak Peek: Week 5

We're exactly one week out from the 10th annual RPAC Auction here at the GRRA. There's still time to donate if you haven't already -- contact Barbara Gilliland if you have something to contribute!

Here are a few more items that will be on display when bidding opens at 11:30 a.m. June 2

Angel statue

Brian Casey on the changing Furniture Market

Brian Casey, president of the High Point Market Authority, spoke at the GRRA-REALTOR Commercial Alliance luncheon on Tuesday, and he had a lot of interesting things to say about the evolution of the market over the past few years. A few excerpts:

George Bell talks about the new Offer to Purchase

George Bell, WSRAR President and member of the NCAR forms committee, took a break from teaching his CE course on Thursday to give a quick update on the new Offer to Purchase form.

See more videos at the GRRA's YouTube Channel!

RPAC Auction Sneak Peek: Week 4

More new items for our blog readers this week, and stay tuned: We have some very exciting announcements on the horizon! Don't forget to mark your calendars for the start of bidding on Wednesday, June 2 at 11:30 a.m.

We'll be auctioning off original paintings by Nancy Radtke:

"Bill's Peonies"

Commercial mortgage market liquidity must be enhanced

This week, GRRA CEO Mike Barr and 2010 GRRA President Bill Guill are in Washington, D.C. talking with our representatives about several different issues. This is part of a series of in-depth looks at issues that affect the housing market in Greensboro and around the country.

Congress must take action to enhance liquidity in the commercial real estate market to avoid driving down economic recovery.

Liquidity challenges

Despite providing more than 9 million jobs and generating billions of dollars in federal, state and local tax revenue, the commercial real estate market is still in the midst of a serious financial crisis. Many property owners are underwater, and will face serious trouble refinancing the $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate loans that will mature by 2014.

Increase credit union lending caps

Credit unions are hampered by a business lending cap of 12.25% of total assets. Many commercial real estate owners have strong relationships with credit unions, which could help them refinance their properties but find the lending cap presents an obstacle.

Term extensions could save performing properties facing an equity gap

Instead of requiring a refinance at the end of a loan term (and having to deal with a troublesome equity gap), lenders should be encouraged to extend the term of the current loan for commercial properties that can support their current debt service. Currently, lenders do not offer term extensions because they are wary of regulatory oversight concerns.

House actions to date:

• 79 Members of the House, led by Reps. Kanjorski (D-PA) and Calvert (R-CA), signed onto a letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, urging them to take a more active role in addressing the problems facing commercial real estate markets.
• Reps. Kanjorski (D-PA) and Royce (R-CA) introduced H.R. 3380, the “Promoting Lending to America's

  Small Businesses Act,” to increase the credit union commercial lending cap from 12.25% to 25% of total

  assets.

  
  
  

What we're asking of our Representatives:

• Cosponsor H.R. 3380, increasing the cap on credit union business lending from 12.25% to 25%. Credit Unions can provide an important additional source of funding for small commercial properties that need to
  

  refinance.

  
  
• Support efforts to hold a House hearing solely focused on commercial real estate.
• Urge the Federal Reserve and Treasury to encourage banks to provide term extensions for performing

  properties.

Senate actions to date:

• Sen. Udall (D-CO) introduced S. 2919, the Small Business Lending Enhancement Act, to increase the cap

  on credit union commercial lending from 12.25% to 25% of total assets.

What we're asking of our Senators:

• Cosponsor S. 2919
• Support efforts to hold a Senate hearing solely focused on commercial real estate.
• Urge the Federal Reserve and Treasury to encourage banks to provide term extensions for performing

  properties.

Protecting affordable, safe financing for American families

This week, GRRA CEO Mike Barr and 2010 GRRA President Bill Guill are in Washington, D.C. talking with our representatives about several different issues. This is part of a series of in-depth looks at issues that affect the housing market in Greensboro and around the country.

Without FHA, our economy could not be on the verge of recovery.

The Federal Housing Administration is not a subprime lender, has strong underwriting criteria to protect American taxpayers, and has never required a federal bailout. FHA borrowers are not subsidized, and pay both upfront and annual premiums. In 2009, more than 50 percent of first-time buyers used FHA, and nearly 80 percent of FHA’s purchase loans were to first-time home buyers. FHA also serves those who need to refinance out of risky adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) or subprime loans with high interest rates. In 2009, approximately 835,000 borrowers refinanced into lower interest rate FHA insured loans, saving them an estimated $1.3 billion.

GSE reform and loan limits

This week, GRRA CEO Mike Barr and 2010 GRRA President Bill Guill are in Washington, D.C. talking with our representatives about several different issues. This is part of a series of in-depth looks at issues that affect the housing market in Greensboro and around the country.

The GSEs remain critical to ensuring mortgage market liquidity.

On September 7, 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) into

conservatorship. FHFA took this action “to help restore confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, enhance their

capacity to fulfill their [housing] mission, and mitigate the systemic risk that has contributed directly to the

instability in the current market.” At that point, it was expected that the debate on the future structure of Fannie

Mae and Freddie Mac would begin in earnest. However, with Congress attention focused elsewhere, legislation is

not expected to be enacted until 2011 at the earliest.

Higher loan limits need to be permanent and available in all markets.

Despite the higher limits being extended through year-end 2010, their temporary nature continues to make lenders

and investors wary of supporting them. Making the limits permanent at levels appropriate in all parts of the

country will provide homeowners and homebuyers with safe, affordable financing and help stabilize local housing

markets. Currently the higher GSE limits are set to expire on December 31, 2010.

Congressional action needed:

• Enact legislation to restructure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) in a manner that provides the federal
  government a continued role in the secondary market in order to ensure mortgage liquidity in all markets.
• Enact legislation that makes permanent the higher GSE loan limit formula and caps in order to provide affordable

  financing for all borrowers in all markets.

Congressional actions to date:

• The House Financial Services Committee held its first hearing on housing finance reform on March 23, 2010. The
  Committee plans to continue holding hearings throughout the year, with the hope of drafting a housing finance
  reform proposal by year's end. NAR testified at the March 23, 2010 hearing.
• The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee held a hearing titled the "Future of the Mortgage
  Market and the Housing Enterprises" in October 2009. Since then, there has been no substantive discussion of the
  GSEs by the Committee.
• H.R. 2483, the "Increasing Homeownership Opportunities Act," to make the current GSE and FHA loan limits
  permanent, has been introduced by Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Gary Miller (R-CA).

What we're asking of our Representatives and Senators

• The federal government must have a continued key role in the secondary mortgage market in order to ensure
  that there is capital for mortgage lending in all mortgage markets and all market conditions.
• Support H.R. 2483, the "Increasing Homeownership Opportunities Act," to make the current GSE and FHA
  loan limits permanent.

Why we need affordable and available property insurance

This week, GRRA CEO Mike Barr and 2010 GRRA President Bill Guill are in Washington, D.C. talking with our representatives about several different issues. This is part of a series of in-depth looks at issues that affect the housing market in Greensboro and around the country.

Congress must adopt legislation that encourages the availability and affordability of property insurance, including a long-term reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and natural disaster coverage.

Affordable property insurance is not widely available.

Insurers have responded to recent natural disasters by raising premiums or declining to write policies in many parts of the United States. Because the standard homeowner’s policy does not cover flooding, windstorms or earthquakes, most Americans rely on the NFIP or a state program for coverage for natural disasters. Without a federal role, affordable property insurance would not be consistently available.

Short extensions to the NFIP do not provide market certainty.
Since September 2008, Congress has approved six short-term extensions and allowed the NFIP to expire twice. Homebuyers and small business owners require certainty to make the long-term real estate investments that are critical to our nation’s economic recovery.

Taxpayers are now subsidizing under-insured properties.
Today the federal government mostly reacts to natural disasters by providing financial assistance to victims. For example, following Hurricane Katrina, $26 billion went directly to under-insured property owners, according to the GAO. Those are taxpayer expenditures that would not have been necessary, if affordable property insurance for these events was more widely available.

Forward-looking U.S. policies will reduce taxpayer burden.
By becoming more proactive, i.e. ensuring that property owners have insurance as well as incentives to mitigate property against the full range of natural disasters, the federal government could reduce the amount of disaster relief taxpayers would have to provide.

House actions to date:

• The House has approved a series of short-term NFIP extensions.
• The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing on H.R. 2555 (Klein, D-FL), the Homeowners Defense Act, which offers federal reinsurance for state property insurance programs for natural catastrophes.

Senate actions to date:

• The Senate approved H.R. 4213 that extends the NFIP to December 31, 2010.

Here's what we're asking our Senators and Representatives to do:

• Reauthorize the NFIP long-term to provide property insurance market certainty.
• Improve the availability and affordability of property insurance by approving legislation, including H.R.2555, to encourage state property insurance programs to proactively address the need for much-needed insurance coverage.

RPAC Auction Sneak Peek: Week 3

We're one week closer to the 10th Annual RPAC Auction! New items continue to make their way into the GRRA offices -- if you have something you'd like to donate, contact Barbara Gilliland (bpgilliland@grra.org)

Here are three more advance looks for our blog readers (hit the jump for more) -- mark your calendar for June 2 at 11:30 a.m. to come out and bid on these and other great deals!

Turquoise necklace

Kid-Friendly Food To Go

Thanks to everyone who donated to the GRRA REALTORS Community Service Committee's May food drive. Yesterday, RCSC Volunteers delivered two car-loads of kid-friendly food items to the Inasmuch Ministry, a local group comprised of numerous church families who serve the less fortunate in our area.

GRRA members collected more than 30 paper boxes of food throughout April and early May (the donations took up the better part of one of the GRRA's offices).

Inasmuch will be distributing the food in the next couple of weeks to families whose children depend on school meals to eat. With summer vacation looming, these donations will make a big difference in the lives of a lot of local families. Hats off to the RCSC, Inasmuch and all the donors who helped make this possible.

Membership Breakfast - May 4, 2010

Today was a landmark for the GRRA -- instead of our usual luncheon on the first Tuesday of the month, for the first time we hosted our monthly membership meeting as a breakfast.

To mark the occasion we wanted a blockbuster guest speaker, and Greensboro City Manager Rashad Young didn't disappoint.



View more excerpts from Mr. Young's talk at the GRRA YouTube Channel. Thanks to the City Manager, and to all our members who helped make our first breakfast a success!