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Housing Report
Congress Passes Massive Housing Bill
NAR Meets with HUD Secretary Steve Preston on FHA and RESPA

Congress Passes Massive Housing Bill

Last week the House and Senate passed H.R. 3221, the "Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008." This legislation contains a number of victories for REALTORS� and American homeowners including GSE reform, FHA reform, permanent loan limit increases, and a $7500 homeowner tax credit. This bill will help homeowners facing foreclosure find ways to refinance, and will help strengthen mortgage markets. The President is expected to sign the bill on Tuesday, July 29, 2008. Effective dates of the bill differ among provisions. See the summary below for more details.

View the bill summary>

Megan Booth 202-383-1222, Linda Goold 202-383-1083

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NAR Meets with HUD Secretary Steve Preston on FHA and RESPA

On July 24, 2008, the National Association of REALTORS� President-Elect, Charles McMillan, and Texas Association of REALTORS� President, Randy Jeffers met with Steve Preston, Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Mr. McMillan briefed the Secretary on the development of NAR's FHA toolkit which describes programs offered by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), as well as urging the Secretary to withdraw HUD's proposed rule on the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act (RESPA).

The FHA Toolkit is an interactive publication providing valuable information on the use of FHA insurance for mortgage financing. The toolkit will be a tri-fold publication and includes:

a CD presentation on recent enhancements to FHA programs that will be interactive with the Internet;
an FHA brochure;
a booklet providing detailed; information on the various FHA products and which product is best suited to a variety of consumer circumstances; and
pull out cards on temporary FHA programs available to alleviate the current mortgage and foreclosure crisis. The toolkit will also include a 4x6 pull out card that can be used as a "quick reference guide" for Realtors�.

The toolkit will be available later this year.

In addition, Mr. McMillan explained that HUD's proposed RESPA rule contains anti-competitive pricing mechanisms, excessive costs, and complex and confusing disclosures which fail to achieve HUD's goal of clarity and simplification. NAR recommends that HUD limits its reform efforts to working with the Federal Reserve Board to come up with coordinated, simplified disclosures and a Good Faith Estimate format that matches up with the HUD-1 to allow consumers to easily transfer and understand information at closing.

Jerome Nagy 202-383-1233, Megan Booth 202-383-1222, Scott Rinn 202-383-7508

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Last Updated: 07/28/2008 Bira de Aquino