Brought to you by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

 

Dear Legislative Liaison,

 

Welcome to another edition of C.A.R.’s Networker. Please feel free to share its contents with your colleagues.

 

Federal Housing Bill Passes the House of Representatives

 

H.R. 3221, the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008,” passed the House on July 23rd with a vote of 272-152. The U.S. Senate is expected to approve the bill on Friday, July 25th or Saturday, July 26th. The President has indicated that he will sign the bill. The House version of the bill includes permanent conforming and FHA loan limits of up to $625,500. C.A.R. and NAR have been working hard the last few months on this important legislation. Thanks to all of you who have contacted your Member of Congress is support of this bill and to urge permanent increases in the FHA and GSE loan limits. We’re almost there! For more details on the contents of this legislation, please see NAR’s web site: http://www.realtor.org/gapublic.nsf/pages/hr_3221_key_provisions?OpenDocument

 

Housing Bill and Down Payment Assistance Programs

One provision in the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008” will eliminate most programs that offer seller-funded down payment assistance to homebuyers when using FHA loans. However other programs that allow for third-party down payment assistance will still be available. C.A.R. and NAR continue to strongly support down payment assistance programs. For details on how the Housing bill will affect these programs please see this from NAR: http://www.realtor.org/GAPublic.nsf/pages/dowpayment_assist_prog?OpenDocument 

 

C.A.R. Opposes Bill to Add Excessive Costs to Transactions 

C.A.R. OPPOSES AB 2204 (De La Torre), which would require county lawyers to review every deed and other related documents, including CC&Rs, and remove obsolete, illegal and unenforceable restrictions from historic title record in connection with a transfer of property. County recorders would undoubtedly charge a huge fee for the review and editing of these documents. C.A.R. opposes this ill-advised measure because AB 2204 would add $500 - $1000 in costs to transactions without actually protecting anyone from discrimination.

Existing law already invalidates any provision in a deed of real property that restricts the right of a person to sell, lease, rent, use, or occupy the property based on race, color, religion, sex, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, disability, source of income, or sexual orientation.

AB 2204 has been approved by the Assembly and is currently making its way through the Senate. C.A.R. expects a vote by the entire Senate as soon as next month. Please stay tuned for a Red Alert.

New Field Representative Joins C.A.R.

C.A.R. has expanded its government affairs field program and, as such, has hired a new field representative for the Central Valley region – Rian Barrett.  We are so fortunate to have Rian. She comes to C.A.R. with wonderful political and non-profit experience. I know she will be a real asset to our team and a valuable resource to all of you.

 

Rian joins our team of grassroots field representatives who travel the state speaking at local association events and real estate office meetings to provide the most recent legislative updates and information about how to get involved in C.A.R.'s legislative and political programs. Our field representatives can also provide training for local associations in the areas of REALTOR(r) Action Fund fundraising, grass roots programs and Get out the Vote, among various topics. If you are interested in having Rian come speak to an event in your area please contact her at rianb@car.org or by phone at (916)248-0981.

 

Rian’s new territory covers the following associations: Amador, Bakersfield, Barstow, Calaveras County, Central Valley, Chico, Delta, El Dorado, Fresno, Hetch-Hetchy, Kern River-Lake Isabella, Kings County, Lassen, Lodi, Madera, Mammoth Lakes, Mariposa, Merced, Nevada County, Northern Solano, Orange Belt, Oroville, Paradise, Placer County, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Siskiyou, South Tahoe, Southeast Kern, Sutter-Yuba, Tahoe-Sierra, Tehachapi Area, Tehama, Trinity County, Tulare, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yosemite Gateway.

 

 

 

 

 

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
 Tell-a-friend!

 

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for California Association of REALTORS.

 

This message was sent to lodiaor@softcom.net. Visit your subscription management page to modify your email communication preferences or update your personal profile. To stop receiving Legislative Liaisons, click to unsubscribe. To stop ALL email from California Association of REALTORS, click to remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove or unsubscribe" in the subject line).