The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Disaster Relief Fund has received $872,638 in donations to assist those who lost their homes and/or businesses in the series of wildfires that have consumed more than 1,700 homes across Southern California since October 21st. Of that amount, $322,000 in grants has been awarded to those in need.
UCLA and Chapman University forecasts that California’s economy is expected to take a turn for the worse in 2008, as job growth slows due primarily to the softening housing market. The quarterly UCLA Anderson Forecast calls for unemployment rates to hit 6.1 percent, largely due to the loss of jobs within the mortgage lending sector. The A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University in Orange County is projecting sharp increases in foreclosures despite a recent federal plan to assist subprime mortgage holders, and is predicting job growth across the state of only 0.1 percent next year.
A plan to assist homeowners facing foreclosure laid out by the Bush administration offers a five-year freeze on mortgage rates for eligible borrowers facing threats of foreclosure due to their inability to keep up with resets on their adjustable, subprime mortgages. Under the terms of the plan, interest rates on adjustable subprime mortgages taken out between January 1, 2005, and July 31, that are scheduled to reset between January 1 and July 31, 2010, will hold at their introductory offers for five years. It is hoped that the plan could provide relief for some 1.2 million struggling homeowners by giving them time to ride out the slowing housing market until they are able to refinance their loans into more affordable, fixed-rate loans.
Reminder of the release of new standard forms by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® for use by REALTORS®:
q California Residential Purchase Agreement and Joint Escrow Instructions (RPA-CA): The existing RPA-CA has been revised to include a new sentence under “Other Terms and Conditions” which, if checked, requires the seller to complete the Seller Property Questionnaire. The Vacant Land Purchase Agreement and Joint Escrow Instructions (VLPA) form has been similarly revised.
q Request for Repairs (RR): This existing form has been revised to give both the buyer and seller the option of proposing a monetary credit from the seller in lieu of repairs to the property. Also under the revised RR, an agreement between the parties as to the items for repair will now include the buyer’s agreement to release the seller and agents from any claims regarding those disclosed items.
q Seller Property Questionnaire (SPQ): The existing SPQ has been revised to include the questions set forth in the Supplemental Statutory and Contractual Disclosures (SSD) form. REALTORS® using the newly revised SPQ will no longer need to use the SSD. However, a seller who opts not to use the SPQ may still use the SSD to disclose certain statutory or contractual disclosures where applicable.
q Water Heater and Smoke Detector Statement of Compliance (WHSD): This existing form has been revised to state that the water heater strapping requirement is unlikely to apply to tankless water heaters.
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