CORDRAY NOMINATION COULD BE CONTENTIOUS
The more heated portion of the hearing could be focused on Cordray, who has been leading the CFPB under a recess appointment that serves as a bypass to Senate confirmation.
Republicans have continued to fiercely oppose his nomination to the CFPB amid disagreements over how the new bureau is structured.
The CFPB is a new regulator created through Dodd-Frank that is tasked with protecting consumers from potentially predatory lending products, such as mortgages, credit cards and paydayloans.
Republican senators have blocked confirmation of a director since the bureau opened in July 2011, saying it should be led by a bipartisan board similar to the way the SEC is run, rather than by a single director.
Obama's recess appointment of Cordray made business groups and Republicans irate. They have argued that the move was illegal because Congress was not technically in recess at the time. A court ruling that struck down a similar recess appointment has cast further legal doubt over Cordray's leadership.
With Cordray's temporary term due to expire at the end of 2013, Obama earlier this year renominated him for a longer-term directorship.--Sarah Lynch @ Reuters
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The new regulations now under (CFPB) consideration include a provision that would require borrowers to come up with down payments totaling as much as 20 percent of home prices. The provision would deliver a blow to the lending industry and would-be buyers, especially the working class and people hoping to buy their first house, according to the Coalition for Sensible Housing Policy.
In a letter sent to financial and housing regulators, the group argued that the forthcoming rules should hew closely to a set oflending standards laid out in January by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The CFPB measure, known as QM, set guidelines for qualified mortgages that, if adhered to, would give banks “safe harbor” protection from lawsuits.

 To qualify for “safe harbor” protections, banks would have to restrict certain points and fees on loans and limit other risky features such as terms that exceed 30 years, interest-only payments and negative-amortization, where a borrower’s principal actually increases with each payment.--Ben Goad @ The Hill.
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QE~ (Infinity)

The first part of QE~ is the purchase of $45 billion of treasuries each month. To put this in perspective, the sequester in the news is $85 billion for this year and $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The sequester is less than what Bernanke finances in 2 months. Why worry about the sequester? Bernanke can just add $7 billion a month to the $45 billion and the debt would be covered.

The second part of QE~ is the purchase of $40 billion of agency MBS. The entire mortgage market is originating approximately $1.5 trillion loans per year, out of which about 70% are refinances, or $450 billion of new loan originations. Let us assume 90% of all originations are agency loans, then Bernanke is purchasing 100% of all agency originations and still has $75 billion left over, per year. Maybe he can just use that to offset the sequester.

The Fed already bought $1.2 trillion of agency MBS before QE~. The underlying mortgages are constantly prepaid via foreclosures, sales or refinances. Bernanke is replacing these prepayments with new purchases. Combined with the $40b per month under QE~, the Fed is purchasing at the rate of $16.8 billion per WEEK or $873 billion per year. Does that seem like a pretty large number to you?
--Ramsey Su in HousingWire.
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TBWSDailyShow:
OCWN stands up to CFPB.  CFPB told OCWN to pay into the consumer relief fund and OCWN told them NO.  This may result in a $135 million dollar fine.  But the CFPB is acting like a bully telling companies to pay up or else.  Last week we heard the Federal Reserve misallocated $1.5 billion of $8.5 billion to consultants instead of to home owners that the money was intended for.  It wasn't investigated, it was swept under the rug.
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Foreclosure activity is down 17.8% from last year according to CoreLogic.  The five states with the most completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending January 2013 included California with 96,000 foreclosures; Michigan (74,000); Texas (59,000); and Georgia (50,000). All of these states made up nearly half of all completed foreclosures.--Kerri Anne Panchuck @ HousingWire
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Post-college life struggles delay housing recovery.  While the newly graduated want to buy a home of their own, the burden of college debt inhibits the purchase.  Until we have a jobs recovery, we won't have a true housing recovery.  We continue to depend on the investors to buy homes, but when they stop buying, who will take their places?
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TBWSDailyShow:
Tax time helpful hints:
 Deduct property taxes for the year you live there (i.e. 2012).
If you bought a house deduct the points you paid in full for the year.
If you refinanced you home, deduct points over the life of the loan (i.e. $100/yr)
If you took the tax credit back in 2008, you must repay the tx credit over 15 yrs, so repay1/15 of the loan.  If you sold you home, you must pay back the whole tax credit.
If you bought an energy saving appliance, save your manufacturer's certification in case the IRS asks questions.
Capital Gains-you can exclude the first $250k for an individual or $500k for a couple
If you are buying and selling homes there is a time limit you must hold the home in order to take advantage of the capital gains.
Deduct your mortgage interest for the first million.
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Fannie and Freddie are joining forces to form a new company.  Will this shrink gov't role in mortgages?  Will we, the taxpayers, be repaid for all the money we gave these monoliths? 
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Residential Finance Corp is offering a loan program to foreign born buyers.
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Those in the know are expecting mortgage rates to rise soon, as well as house prices.
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An unlooked for consequence in Hugo Chavez's death is that rich Venezuelans have been buying property in Miami with 69% paying in cash.  On his death bed Chavez devalued the currency which balances the books, but hurts those leaving the country with cash.  Will more people who made deals with Chavez leave the country or will the number of Venezuelans buying in America decrease?
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While housing prices are expected to grow 3.3% in the next 5 yrs, many places in TX, FL and even Phoenix, AZ are expected to have almost 0 growth.  Perhaps that is because these places have had record growth in the last year.  Maybe this prediction is totally wrong.  Because there was little information to back up the claim, we will wait and see.
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FHA and VA loans can be assumable.  But you need to ask for that when taking out the loan.  If a buyer is assuming a loan, but there is a difference between the selling price and the amount owed, the buyer can take out a 2nd mortgage to finance the difference or the owner can provide owner financing.
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There may be fewer homes for sale this spring, but the builders are crazy busy getting ready to and building.
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TBWSDailyShow:
Fair Housing Laws-A realtor (and his broker and the home owners' association) who as an IDX feed on his blog and is being sued (a federal lawsuit) for importing the posting because it says "no one under the age of  16 need apply".  However the agent who posted it is not being sued.  The person who is suing is a paid independent fair housing tester (investigator) for this kind of thing and is including in the suit "humiliation, emotional distress and embarrassment" caused by the defendant's discriminatory actions and loss of equal housing rights.  But a 16 year old can't sign contracts!  The suit wants compensatory damages for the drain on the investigator's limited time and resources.  So the one person who put the ad  on the internet is not being sued, but everyone else is.  This is a mess.  It will cost the innocent time and money and the culprit gets off scott free.  Besides, the investigator is being paid to investigate, so how do the humiliation and emotional distress and embarrassment have anything to do with the investigators suit seeing that she gets paid to bring lawsuits against violators.  Another thing, why is the law written such that the 16 year old comment is a violation when 16 year olds can't sign contracts?      And we citizens are paying for this lawsuit!                                             http://thenationalrealestatepost.com/2013/03/08/malicious-fair-housing-lawsuits-really/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNationalRealEstatePost+%28The+National+Real+Estate+Post%29
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I just heard Rhonda Duffy say that here in GA property disclosures are not mandatory, but may be requested.  I had been told disclosures were mandatory no matter what.  News to me.
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TBWSDailyShow:
Let's stop  over thinking the housing industry.  The bottom line is rates.  Scream it to all your clients- RATES are low.
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Fannie and Freddie are still giving subsidies to mortgage investors, laying the ground work for the next housing bubble.

"Policymakers know eliminating Fannie and Freddie would go a long way in preventing another housing bust, and a new report by a commission of several former government housing officials, including two former secretaries of Housing and Urban Development, Mel Martinez and Henry Cisneros, and former Sen. George Mitchell calls for phasing them out over five to 10 years.
The Bipartisan Policy Center's commission proposed reducing the size of loans that Fannie and Freddie can purchase from private lenders until they can't buy anything at all. This would mean no more transferring of mortgage default risk from investors to the taxpayers.
This approach is a compromise between keeping Fannie and Freddie propped up in perpetuity and shutting them down tomorrow. It allows the market time to adjust as the mortgage giants are phased out....................

The government needs to rid itself of the belief that everyone should own a home. From federal tax breaks to state and local programs designed to encourage home ownership, government at every turn urges people to buy homes.
Home ownership is not for everyone. In many parts of Southern California, for example, it is cheaper to rent than buy. Renting also offers greater flexibility and mobility."---Anthony Randazzo at the Orange County Register.
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The Housing Price Index is up 9.7% from last January.  This means for 11 months home prices as an average across the US have risen.  This is the best since 2006, but we all remember what happened in 2007.
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