The Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance program is a critical part of the American housing fabric and has never been more important than it is in today’s market, NAR President Vicki Cox Golder told a congressional panel today.

Testifying before the House Committee on Financial Services, Golder said that the FHA program is fiscally sound with responsible underwriting, and needs enhancements not radical reform. She urged Congress and the administration to tread lightly before making changes to a program that has a profound impact on economic recovery and serves the nation’s families.

“With the collapse of the private mortgage market, the importance of the FHA mortgage insurance program has never been more apparent. Thus far in 2009, nearly 80 percent of all FHA insured purchasers are first-time homebuyers. And if you take a closer look at the numbers, you’ll see that program is doing exactly what it was designed to do—make more affordable mortgage financing available to homeowners,” said Golder, owner of Vicki L. Cox & Associates in Tucson, Ariz.

She pointed out that this year almost 50 percent of non-white Hispanic CONTINUED »

National Association of Realtors

An ability to sign bids and closing documents online will allow Realtors® to respond to buyers and sellers in a more timely manner, as the National Association of Realtors® today announced a business alliance with DocuSign, the leading provider of on-demand electronic signature solutions.

The relationship makes DocuSign the official and exclusive provider of ESIGN services for NAR’s 1.2 million members under the REALTOR Benefits® Program, and is designed to provide unique offers to NAR members through its new “ESIGN Advantage Promotion for Realtors®.”

“This unique value proposition will help Realtors®, their clients and customers and the real estate business community use technology to their advantage,” said Bob Goldberg, senior vice president of Marketing & Business Development, Commercial Services and Business Specialties for NAR. “We’ve selected DocuSign because they have demonstrated real value to our members and have already established themselves as a market leader in the real estate segment. We are very excited that DocuSign is offering members access to a customized service through the REALTOR Benefits® Program.”

Safe and secure, the DocuSign e-signature process is CONTINUED »

National Association of Realtors

Aided by the home buyer tax credit, the outlook for housing and the economy appears headed for a sustainable recovery, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the projections are enhanced by a tax credit expansion to more home buyers through the middle of 2010. “Given the success of the first-time buyer tax credit to date, and the need for qualified buyers to continue to absorb inventory that will include additional foreclosures over the coming year, we are hopeful about the impact of the expanded tax credit because it will stabilize home prices,” he said. “In fact, the credit is working better than first projected – it now looks like we’ll have 2.3 to 2.4 million first-time buyers this year.”

A large consumer study being released later today, the 2009 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, shows first-time buyers accounted for a record 47 percent share of home sales over the past year, up from 41 percent in the 2008 survey. The share has risen steadily since a cyclical low of 36 percent in 2006.

Existing-home sales are expected to total 5.01 million CONTINUED »

National Association of Realtors

Making the current FHA loan limits permanent would ensure liquidity in the housing market and make mortgages more affordable for qualified buyers at a time when the market is showing signs of a fragile recovery, the National Association of Realtors® testified to the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity today.

Current FHA loan limits are as high as $729,750 in high cost areas, and are set to expire at the end of the year and revert to lower amounts, greatly hindering the housing recovery process.

“NAR strongly supports making FHA loan limits permanent,” said Boyd Campbell, an NAR spokesperson and managing partner-associate broker of Century 21 in Lanham, Md. He urged the subcommittee to quickly consider legislation that would do that—H.R. 2483, introduced by committee members U.S. Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) and Gary Miller (R-Calif.).

“FHA is more important than ever to homebuyers in the present market. In the wake of the collapsing private mortgage market, FHA has played a critical role in removing inventory from the market and stabilizing home prices,” he said. Present FHA housing market share is approaching 25 percent, significantly up from 3 percent two years ago.

NAR said that FHA has performed remarkably well CONTINUED »

National Association of Realtors

The best available tool for sustaining the still-fragile housing market is the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit, and it is essential that Congress extend the credit into 2010, the National Association of Realtors® testified at a hearing of the U.S. House Small Business Committee today.

The tax credit expires November 30.

NAR Regional Vice President Joseph L. Canfora, a broker-owner with Century 21 Selmar Realty in East Islip, N.Y., also told the panel that a major stumbling block for consumers has been the implementation of appraisal processes spurred by the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, which is causing delays in closings, as well as cancelled sales that led to artificially low existing-home sales numbers for August, reported last month.

“The credit is working,” Canfora said, pointing out that the 355,000 to 400,000 transactions directly attributable to the credit made a significant dent in the housing inventory and will help to stabilize home prices. Further, the credit has provided a huge indirect benefit to local governments, shoring up property tax bases in particularly hard-hit areas.

Further, NAR data has estimated that every home CONTINUED »

The following is a statement by National Association of Realtors® President Charles McMillan:

“The Federal Housing Administration is playing a crucial role in providing mortgage financing to the housing market, as mortgage and banking systems have faced collapse. While FHA’s capital reserve ratio has declined, that is not surprising for an agency dealing in housing finance in today’s market, and there is no sign that a taxpayer bail-out will be required. FHA stands in contrast to entities in the private sector, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and many large banks that have needed tens of billions of dollars in federal funds.

“Under the leadership of Commissioner Dave Stevens, FHA has announced timely steps to protect taxpayers: implementing credit policy changes to enhance risk management; hiring a chief risk officer for the first time in the agency’s history; shifting responsibility for mortgage brokers away from taxpayers to the lenders who use mortgage brokers; and modifying appraisal requirements including emphasizing appraiser independence and geographic competence.

“Declining home prices have forced many homeowners into underwater positions, regardless of lender or loan product. FHA is still solvent, has significant reserves and remains an essential tool for consumers.”

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.2 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

National Association of Realtors

Existing-home sales in August gave back some of their strong gain in July but remain above year-ago levels, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – declined 2.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 5.10 million units in August from a pace of 5.24 million in July, but remain 3.4 percent above the 4.93 million-unit level in August 2008. In the previous four months, sales had risen a total of 15.2 percent.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the tax credit is working. “Home sales retrenched from a very strong improvement in July but continue to be much higher than before the stimulus. The first-time buyer tax credit is having the intended impact of bringing buyers into the market, allowing them to take advantage of very favorable affordability conditions,” he said. “Some of the give-back in closed sales appears to result from rising numbers of contracts entering the system, with some fallouts and a backlog contributing to a longer closing process, but the decline demonstrates we can’t take a housing rebound for granted.”

According to Freddie Mac, CONTINUED »