House Judiciary Subcommittee - 3 Arbitration bills voted out of Committee
Update on the mark-up that occurred this afternoon before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.  All three bills passed!!! The hearing began with Chairwoman Sanchez introducing the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act... Next up was the Auto Arbitration Fairness Act, H.R. 5312...Lastly, Congressman Johnson introduced the Arbitration Fairness Act, H.R. 3010... 5 - 4. Yes votes were Watt, Delahunt, Johnson, Sanchez, and Cohen. Although Congresswoman Lofgren was not present at the time, she previously stated she would support the bill. No votes were Jordan, Cannon, Keller and Feeny.

New subdivisions have become ghost towns
Did the homebuilding industry really think a market of people who were not qualified to buy new homes was a sound market strategy that would last or that it was good for America in the long term? Unfortunately, Builders greed hurt qualified families who actually invested their life savings for the American Dream in a market that was falsely inflated and doomed from the start. Builders need to stop the whining. Builders created this mess and now demand federal bailouts instead of jail time.  Janet Ahmad, Home Owners for Better Building.  Read article & Comments...

Congress Considering Legislation to Ban Arbitration Clauses
The House Judiciary Committee is set to move as early as July 16 on the Arbitration Fairness Act, a bill reported out of the panel's Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. Sponsored by Rep. Henry C. Johnson, D-Ga., H.R. 3010 would make significant changes to the 83-year-old Federal Arbitration Act. The measure bans predispute arbitration agreements from being enforced in employment, consumer and franchise disputes, as well as any disputes arising under civil rights law or under laws intended to "regulate contracts or transactions between parties of unequal bargaining power." If passed, the law also would leave determinations on the enforceability of arbitration agreements to federal courts, rather than private arbitrators.

Law skewed in favor of builders
For the past two years, I've offered a bill in the state Senate that attempts to level the playing field between home buyers and builders. My bill, widely known as the Homebuyer Bill of Rights, would give rights to Washingtonians that most presumed they already had -- the right to bring a builder to court to recover damages for shoddy work... In fact, under current law, fewer than 1 percent of Washingtonians currently have this right. These lucky few are generally those with the means and foresight to hire a lawyer to draft a contract governing the rights and obligations between the home buyer and the contractor or builder. Since virtually no one in Washington hires a lawyer when buying a home, home buyers unwittingly sign whatever is handed to them. They do this at their risk because Washington law does not protect them.

Mortgage Industry Warchdog or Lapdog - By Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle's editorial cartoonist

Fed draws up new rules for mortgage lenders
The Federal Reserve Board Monday unveiled rule changes intended to curb deceptive mortgage lending practices, most of which will take effect in October 2009 and apply to all lenders whether they are supervised at the state or federal level...The most stringent new rules put forward by the Fed apply only to high-interest-rate loans. They include restrictions on prepayment penalties and requirements that lenders set up escrow accounts to collect payments for property taxes and homeowners' insurance on first-lien loans. The escrow requirement won't be phased in until 2010 to allow lenders time to adapt.

Perspective: Industry should condemn sweetheart home loans for politicians
Which mortgage company chieftain took home $140 million in compensation last year while the company he founded lost $704 million? If you said Angelo R. Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp., take a bow. And add a couple of gold stars if you knew Mozilo's pay was comprised of more than $120 million from exercised stock options and more than $22 million in other compensation, according to a Reuters' report based on the mortgage company's year-end filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission...It's tempting to dismiss Mozilo's special deals as just another corporate perk, just another example of too much money in politics or just another instance of greed gone wild in real estate transactions.

The implicit government guarantee of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is now explicit
In a dramatic statement released Sunday, the White House and Federal Reserve moved to give the mortgage giants the capital they need to survive the depression in the housing market and turmoil in financial markets that had left them dangling over a cliff. Of most immediate importance, the Fed's board of governors voted to open up its emergency discount window to Fannie and Freddie. In addition, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that he will seek Congressional authorization to by stock in the two companies and increase the government's credit line. At the moment, each company may borrow only $2.25 billion.

I can't find anyplace else to thank the fine work of the NAHB (as Bush did some years ago) for saving the American economy, and making the American dream come true for millions of Americans. Their devotion to blocking consumer protection legislation, and meaningful accountability of their industry has panned out to be a real blessing in home affordability for all. As foreclosure rates have reached one quarter of a million families per month, thank you NAHB for that show of deep concern for American's ability to own the American dream. As serious new home construction defects went into the millions of homes during the big boom, thanks again NAHB for making most all those mistakes profitable for big name builders, though it was often devastating for the families who bought them.  And thanks for the spin on the whole situation, so most people may never know how much you've really done for to Americans. By Ron Jackson. Read more and comment...

SAHA sweetens Mirasol buyback deals
The San Antonio Housing Authority's board of commissioners unanimously approved an enhanced buyback program Thursday that offers the most lucrative deal yet to homeowners in the beleaguered Mirasol Homes neighborhood. The majority of the families own one-story houses and would receive $30,000 compensation, while families who own two-story homes would receive $50,000...The roughly 20 families that initially sold their homes back to SAHA for an average of less than $25,000 won't receive any further compensation, Cavazos said.