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U.S. House Passes Plan to Help Borrowers
The U.S. House passed a housing aid plan Thursday that would provide $300 billion to refinance mortgages for homeowners facing foreclosure.
Under the program, lenders will get an FHA guarantee on the loan if they write down the principal amount by 15 percent from the home’s current appraised value. The bill excludes investors and those who lied about their income on a loan application.
A companion measure would give first-time home buyers a $7,500 tax credit and provide $15 billion to allow communities to buy and fix abandoned homes. The vote on the FHA plan was 266 to 155, drawing support from 39 Republicans. The homebuyer tax credit was approved by a margin of 322 to 94.
The bill now goes to the Senate, which must debate and vote on it. President Bush has said he would veto the measure if it passes.
Source: Reuters News, Patrick Rucker (05/08/2008)
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SC ranks 38th in Foreclosures, below national average
It’s not often often that we can brag about being ranked at the bottom but this time we have an exception. Â SC ranks near the bottom of foreclosures in the country (38th), but the increase of foreclosures is increasing (87% increase 1st quarter 2007 v. 1st quarter 2008). Â That’s not as bad as it sounds because we’re still below the national average of 111%. Â I believe South Carolina’s below average foreclosure rate is due in large part to the predatory lending laws that our General Assembly passed a few years ago. Â Â
Most states are in worse shape. Â One in every 54 Nevada households received a foreclosure filing during the first quarter, the highest foreclosure rate among the states and 3.6 times the national average. Foreclosure filings were reported on 19,595 Nevada properties during the quarter, up 3 percent from the previous quarter and up 137 percent from the first quarter of 2007.
Source:Â RealtyTrac Inc.Â
Finally a real voice for Conservation in SC–Welcome CSC!
Today, business leaders representing several statewide organizations and industry sectors were joined by a diverse bi-partisan group of legislators in announcing the formation of Citizens for Sound Conservation (CSC) - a non-profit organization committed to improving South Carolina’s environmental and economic quality of life.
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The organization’s mission is to educate South Carolina’s policy makers, the media and its citizens on sound conservation practices in order to forge policies that are mutually beneficial to the environment and economy.
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Board Chairman Lewis Gossett proclaimed, “Earth Day is the appropriate day to announce this broad-based sound conservation initiative. From the mountains to the coast and everywhere in between, we are blessed with an abundance of natural resources that help make South Carolina a desirable place to visit, live, work, retire and raise a family. But we can only sustain our growth and improve our quality of life through a shared commitment to economic development in conjunction with sound and responsible conservation of our natural resources.”
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DOJ Comments on Proposed Rules for Practice of Law in Real Estate Transactions
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice have submitted a joint letter to the Supreme Court of South Carolina regarding proposed guidelines related to the practice of law involving real estate transactions. The proposed guidelines would specify several tasks that must be performed by an attorney, including performing all title work, preparing deeds, overseeing the drafting of documents pertinent to the loan closing, supervising the closing, and disbursing all funds related to the transaction, as well as performing title work and preparing deeds for a home equity line of credit.
As the letter explains, the FTC and the DOJ believe that consumers receive the greatest benefit when non-attorneys compete with attorneys except in circumstances where specialized legal knowledge and training has been demonstrated to be necessary to protect consumers’ interests. South Carolina is among a small minority of states that restrict non-attorneys from performing services related to real estate transactions. The available empirical evidence, however, shows that without competition from non-attorneys, consumers in these states pay higher prices to settle real estate transactions than consumers in other states. The letter notes that because there is no evidence that non-attorneys provide lower quality services than attorneys, restrictions on competition do not appear to provide consumers with any countervailing benefits.
The FTC and DOJ also encourage the South Carolina Supreme Court to consider less restrictive alternatives than a complete ban on non-attorneys to protect consumers of real estate settlement services. Â Â
