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!

RPAC Auction Sneak Peek: Week 2

New items are coming in almost daily for the 10th Annual RPAC Auction on June 2 -- here's another look at what's in store when the bidding opens:

Ladies Motorcycle Boots - Size 9B