My Mind on Mortgages

The Financial Overhaul Bill which will be signed into law soon when President Obama pens his name on the legislation.  The bill is over 2,300 page long and includes new rules for nearly all facets of the financial economy.  Although much of the attention thus far has been on provisions focused on limiting large bank’s [...]

The WSJ is reporting in this post that an amendment to the financial overhaul is bill is expected that would end the government’s subsidy of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac in the future.  If you’ll recall the two quasi-governmental agencies that secure somewhere around 70% of all conventional mortgages in the US were taken into [...]

Much of the attention regarding the new “bailout bill” has focused on the $700 billion that the Federal Government will allow the US Treasury to use in order to stabilizing the financial system. However, there were a lot of new tax laws that also found their way into the bill.  2008-emergency-economic-stabilization-act.pdf. Here are some highlights: * The [...]

I’ve described the 2008 Housing Bill to many associates and colleagues as “market neutral”.  Although the politicians in Washington have touted themselves as real estate market heroes with the passage of the new law the bottom line is that many of the provisions in the bill won’t do much to spur a recovery anytime soon. [...]

I came across this article in the WSJ today and was surprised to see it.  Embedded in the 700-page housing bill that President Bush signed into law was a change to the way the IRS will allow homeowners to exclude capital gains tax for the sale of a primary residence. Under the previous rules a [...]

Last week President Bush signed the new housing bill into law.  One of the provisions which was included in this bill to help the ailing housing industry is a tax credit for first time home-buyers.  I wanted to take a quick moment to highlight the details for those of you who will qualify for this [...]

On Saturday the Senate passed the Housing Bill. This 700-page law brings a variety of new rules and provisions that will impact the housing industry in a variety of ways.  The President is expected to sign the bill into law early this week.  Here are some summary points that any real estate professional should be [...]