NAR and CAR are Continuing to Work with Congress
In spite of efforts by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the California Association of Realtors (CAR) to have conforming loan limits Fannie Mae, FHA and Freddie Mac extended, Congress took no action to extend the maximum loan limits of $729,750 therefore they expired on Sept. 30, 2011. This allowed the maximum loan amounts for Fannie, FHA, and Freddie, can buy or guarantee has rolled back to $625,500, while any loan more that amount is considered non-conforming which will require what's considered a jumbo loan. Jumbo loans most often have a higher mortgage rate of interest plus more down payment, and consequently higher monthly payments, which hits middle-class sellers and buyers particularly hard..
NAR and CAR are continuing to work with the Congress in an effort to bring back the higher loan limits just as soon as possible.
Click here to these new loan limits .
In addition, our NFIP (Program for National Flood Insurance) was also expiring on Sept. 30, 2011. However, last week, the deadline was extended by Congress to Nov. 18, 2011, to allow more time for passing a long-term reform bill for national flood insurance prior to expiration of this newest extension. NAR and CAR are in strong support of the NFIP and have a belief that extending the authority of this for an additional 5 years to underwrite flood insurance is vital to a strong real estate market. I�ll continue to update you on this vital issue.
Additionally, another housing policy concern threatening housing is that of mortgage interest rate deductions (MID). Although the debt ceiling bill which became law on Aug. 2, 2011 has no provisions for revenue and makes no alterations to MID or with any other revenue or tax rules, MID is still on the table. In fact, new bureaucracy has been started up that could allow for Congress to create tax law alterations. This new "Super Committee" was given authority to find as much as $1.5 trillion added deficit reductions over the next 10 years before 2011 ends. NAR and CAR are continuing to try to work this with Congress to safeguard this essential real estate tax provision.
Oct 10, 2011
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