The Housing America Workforce Act has been reintroduced in Congress.  The Housing America’s Workforce Act is designed to help Americans gain access to more affordable housing by offering financial incentives to employers who offer an Employer Assisted Housing benefit program.  The act has three main components, the first of which provides employers with a tax credit of up to 50% of the benefit that they offer their employees.  The second component of the act treats housing benefits as nontaxable income to the employees, similar to the way Health, Dental, and Life insurance benefits are administered under the current tax code.  Lastly, the act establishes a competitive grant program to assist non profit housing organizations who offer logistical support, outreach, or technical assistance to employers who offer their employees a housing benefit.

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit held a hearing entitled: “The New Regulatory Guidance on Subprime Hybrid Mortgages: Regulators and Response.”  The first panel consisted of federal and state banking regulators who were questioned on why it has taken the agencies so long to issue lending guidelines that stop abusive lending practices.  A second panel of witnesses included representatives of the Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Mortgage Brokers, the Center for Responsible Lending and two additional consumer groups.  The debate was framed on proposed banking regulatory guidance that would require all financial institutions to underwrite risky subprime hybrid mortgages which include loans with a short-term interest “teaser” rate for the first two or three years (known as 2/28s and 3/27s) at the fully indexed rate.  Following the hearing, the Chairman sent a letter to the members of the committee outlining his anti-predatory lending legislation, which will be introduced later this year. 

New appraiser qualification requirements will become effective on January 1, 2008: Each state has an appraiser regulatory agency, which is responsible for certifying and licensing real estate appraisers and supervising their appraisal-related activities, as required by Federal law.  In 2004, the Appraisal Foundation, authorized by Congress as the source of Appraisal Standards and Appraiser Qualifications, adopted revisions to the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria that will become effective on January 1, 2008.  State appraiser regulators are responsible for choosing an implementation option for the new appraiser requirements which include a new Required Core Curriculum, an increase in qualifying education hours, and college course requirements for the certification classifications. 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced in 2005 four principles to encourage broadband deployment and to preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet.  The new inquiry, announced on March 22^nd seeks information on the behavior of broadband market participants, including:

• How broadband providers are managing Internet traffic on their networks today?
• Whether providers charge different prices for different speeds or capacities of service?
• Whether FCC policies should distinguish between content providers that charge end users for access to content and those that do not?
• How consumers are affected by these practices?

The Multi-Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (MRMLS) announced that the number of homes listed for sale in the MRMLS is the highest number in 8 years at more than 34,700.  The month’s supply of homes on the market has nearly doubled since the same period last year to 13.2 months and the average number of days it takes to market a home has increased 46.3% to 79 days.

Sales for the first quarter are down 19.8% from the same period in 2006 and down over 30% for the same period in 2005.  March sales for 2007 are the lowest for the month in 8 years.  The average sales price grew slightly by 2.4% to $474,600.

The MRMLS is one of the largest Multiple Listing Services in the nation serving over 30,000 participants within the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire market areas.  The MRMLS is owned by 9 Realtor® Associations and is one of the oldest Regional Multiple Listing Services that was founded in 1979.

Remember that April is Fair Housing Month: this year marks the 39^th anniversary of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which protects all Americans from discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, disability, familial status and national origin.