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In This Issue:
 REALTOR® Insider: D.C. News and Events
Business Report
Federal Tax Report
| | REALTOR® Insider: D.C. News and Events
| | | Congress Votes to Extend FHA and GSE Loan Limits through 2010 | | Last week, the House and Senate passed legislation to extend the current loan limits for FHA and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (the government sponsored enterprises, or GSEs) through December 31, 2010. These loan limits, set at 125% of local area median home price and capped at $729,750, would have expired on December 31, 2009 in which case loan limits would have been reduced in many markets. The extension is included in the Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government for the remainder of 2009. The CR is part of the Department of Interior FY2010 Appropriations bill. As of the deadline for filing this report, the President was expected to sign the bill into law over the weekend. Contacts: Megan Booth, 202-383-1222 Contacts: Tony Hutchinson, 202-383-1120 Contacts: Jeff Lischer, 202-383-1117 | | | | Business Report
| | | NAR Letter Expresses Concerns with Senate Data Security Legislation | On October 28, NAR President, Charles McMillan sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing concerns with two data security bills. REALTORS® recognize that creating and maintaining sound data security practices is important to their business. NAR has long been supportive of efforts to protect consumers' sensitive personal information. The REALTOR® Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice explicitly acknowledge a REALTORS®' obligation to preserve the confidentiality of personal information provided by clients in the course of any agency or non-agency relationship - both during and after the termination of these business relationships. REALTORS® support for data protection measures is also bolstered by their day-do-day business activities where they see first -hand the damage that identity theft can do to a family's efforts to rent an apartment or buy a home. However, NAR believes efforts to further protect personal information must be carefully tailored to balance data security requirements with the needs of small enterprises to conduct their businesses without the imposition of a significant compliance burden. NAR's Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee >
Visit our Page on Privacy and Data Security > Contacts: Melanie Wyne, 202-383-1234 Contacts: Ken Wingert, 202-383-1196 | | | | | House Leadership Releases Text of Health Reform Bill to be Considered on the House Floor | On Thursday, October 30, 2009, House leadership released the text of HR 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. The bill is a compromise health reform bill that incorporates the various changes made to the original House reform measure (HR 3200) by the three committees with jurisdiction over health-related issues. Importantly for the self-employed, independent contractor worker, the compromise measure retains the original bill's reforms which (1) create larger insurance pools by merging the individual and small group markets into one markeplace, (2) provide self-employed individuals with the same advantages that are commonly associated with a group policy, i.e. guaranteed issue and renewal, no preexisting condition exclusions, as well as no rating based on health status or gender, and (3) provide individual tax credits for the purchase of health coverage. Among the changes of particular interest to the small employer community, the revised bill includes a much broader exclusion for small businesses than had first been proposed from the bill's new requirement that employers provide health insurance benefits to their workforce. As a result, an estimated 86 percent of all small employers would not be required or penalized for being unable to provide health insurance coverage to its salaried employees. For those small employers who either want or are required to provide coverage, a small business tax credit is provided to eligible firms. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the bill as drafted would cover an additional 36 million legal residents who are currently uninsured. This would raise the percentage of the legal residents with insurance from the current level of 83 percent to 96 percent. In addition, more than 21 million individuals, small employers and employees of small firms would obtain coverage through the newly created exchange marketplace in the early years. By 2019, more than 30 million individuals are estimated by the CBO to obtain coverage through the exchange. The bill will be considered on the House floor beginning the week of November 3, 2009. A copy of the bill is available on the House Rules Committee website. For more information on the health reform debate and NAR's advocacy efforts, please go to www.realtor.org/h ealthreform. Text of the Affordable Health Care for America Act >
www.realtor.org/healthreform > Contacts: Marcia Salkin, 202-383-1092 Contacts: Ken Wingert, 202-383-1196 Contacts: Scott Rinn, 202-383-7508 | | | | Federal Tax Report
| | | Extending the Credit — Almost There | The extension and expansion of the homebuyer tax credit is the pending business in the Senate. After a long week of negotiation on the credit, an agreement on the scope of both expansion and extension has been reached. The extension is part of a larger bill that has not yet gone to a vote, however. A Senate vote on the underlying bill will occur in the Senate during the week of November 1. The package will then go back to the House. The House is expected to accept the Senate amendments, vote on the package and send it to the President for signature. The underlying bill is an extension of unemployment benefits. Other provisions in the bill include expansion of the net operating loss carryback rules, new requirements for some tax return preparers and noncontroversial provisions that "pay for" these changes. The agreement on the extension and expansion of the credit is as follows: - Credit available for purchases before May 1, 2010. Prospective purchasers with binding contracts in place as of April 30, 2010 will be allowed an additional 60 days to complete the transaction.
- Credit remains at $8000 for first-time purchasers. No change to definition of first-time purchaser.
- New $6500 tax credit for repeat buyers who purchase between December 1, 2009 and May 1, 2010. Repeat buyers must have lived in their homes consecutively for 5 of the previous 8 years.
- Income limits are expanded to $125,000 on a single return and $225,000 on a joint return. Current law $20,000 phase-out retained.
- New anti-fraud limitations are imposed.
The White House has indicated that President Obama will sign the legislation.Call Your Senator >
Take Action >
Visit www.realtor.org/2009housingtaxcredit > Contacts: Linda Goold, 202-383-1083 Contacts: Samuel Whitfield, 202-383-1131 Contacts: Megan Booth, 202-383-1222 | | | | | | _Monday, November 2, 2009 | | |
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