California Real Estate under attack – YOU can help!

Posted on June 28, 2012. Filed under: First Time Buyer help | Tags: AB 278, anti-foreclosure legislation, California real estate |

Hi everyone,

I received a disturbing email today that could, in the words of one of our OCAR board members Wally Malesh, ‘be the most detrimential decision for California real estate in the last 30 years’.  For the sake of your home and those of your family, I encourage you to take action according to the instructions here.  Both Realtors and homeowners need to speak up and let the truth be known!  So I don’t get any of the info wrong, I’m simply going to copy / paste the email from California Association of Realtors:

C.A.R. is issuing a Red Alert to ALL Key Contacts in our efforts to OPPOSE the so-called “Homeowner Bill of Rights.”

This bill was approved this morning in a Conference Committee and could be voted on by BOTH houses of the Legislature as soon as Monday, July 2nd. Please get back to me ASAP with any feedback you get from your legislators. For your convenience, I’ve included links to our Key Contact rosters with phone numbers:

Assembly Key Contact Roster: http://www.car.org/media/pdf/202513/2012KeyContactAssemblyUpdate04-05-2012.pdf

Senate Key Contact Roster: http://www.car.org/media/pdf/202513/2012KeyContactSenateUpdate04-04-2012.pdf

Please note, here are the votes of the conference committee members:

Yes: Evans, Eng, Ron Calderon, and Feuer.
No: Blakeslee and Wagoner.

C.A.R. Opposing Conference Report that STALLS Housing Recovery

Call Your Legislators TODAY!

C.A.R. is OPPOSING a conference report, AB 278, containing anti-foreclosure legislation sponsored by the state Attorney General. C.A.R. opposes provisions in this measure which will allow anyone to stop the foreclosure process by filing a lawsuit, merited or not, C.A.R. agrees that careful and balanced reforms to the foreclosure process are necessary. However, C.A.R. opposes this conference report because it will further delay the housing recovery by inviting bad-faith lawsuits and defaults, and making it difficult for even well qualified borrowers to obtain financing. Financing is already very difficult to get. This conference report will only make a difficult situation worse.

Initially the Attorney General had sponsored a package of bills; the so-called the “Homeowners Bill of Rights.” For procedural reasons, the majority of these bills have been under consideration by a Conference Committee made up of six legislators. REALTORS® had the opportunity to educate these legislators about C.A.R.’s concerns as part of Legislative Day and since then C.A.R. lobbyists have been working directly with the conferees and legislative staff to make them aware of the unintended consequences of some of these proposals. The Conference Committee has now issued its final report and it must be passed by both Houses of the legislature. These votes may occur as early as Monday, July 2nd.

Action Items

Please contact your local legislators – both Republican and Democrat.

Please ask them to vote NO on the conference report (remember that it CANNOT be amended).

Background

The Attorney General has sponsored a package of bills to place into California law an expanded version of the national settlement between major banks and state attorneys general. The contents of some of these bills have been under consideration by a Conference Committee comprised of six members who have just approved a conference report on a party-line vote. Some provisions will have the unintended effect of drying up mortgage loans for anyone but the most well-qualified borrowers, and increasing the costs of all mortgages.

One provision allows any borrower, no matter what the circumstances, to file a lawsuit. This will encourage opportunistic lawyers to pursue frivolous lawsuits, bringing unnecessary and unjustifiable delays to an already difficult and time consuming process.The language is so vaguely written that the borrower doesn’t even have to show that they have been harmed to file suit and be awarded damages., One-sided  attorneys fees may still be awarded only to plaintiffs based on the very broad definition of a “prevailing party” in the report. And, of course, if lenders don’t have the remedy of foreclosure to ensure they can recover their security in appropriate situations, they will be less likely to lend, credit will be less available and the housing market recovery will limp along even more slowly.

C.A.R. is OPPOSED to the conference report because:

• The housing market recovery is still fragile. About half of all sales are of distressed properties. By restricting a lender’s ability to foreclose and exposing them to unnecessary liability, this report will dry up inventory, and it will further discourage lending other than to the most highly qualified borrowers. Additionally, these bills will artificially slow down the foreclosure process, keeping properties off the market that are legitimately in foreclosure. Finally, by removing the threat of foreclosure, the bill erodes the incentive for short sales as well.
• The bill invites bad-faith defaults and lawsuits. By broadly defining under what circumstances a lawsuit can be filed, even those legitimately in foreclosure can “game” the system. Additionally, the bill creates an incentive for plaintiffs’ attorneys to file frivolous lawsuits even if no harm has been done to the borrower. The courts are already overwhelmed. This bill, by inviting frivolous lawsuits puts an additional strain on the already underfunded courts
• Lending is already tight. Even the most well-qualified borrowers are finding it difficult to obtain financing. By stopping legitimate foreclosures, banks will be forced to further tighten lending standards at the expense of homebuyers.

I hope that you’ll take a moment to fight for our California real estate market and its health.  Feel free to comment below or tweet @angieweeks on how your calls to the legislators go.  Thanks for your time and support!