The National Association of Realtors® congratulated House Committee on Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass. on his leadership and the U.S. House of Representatives for voting to pass H.R. 3221, The Foreclosure Prevention Act. Their actions will help bring stability to the housing market and stem the rising rate of foreclosures.
NAR has expressed ongoing support for all the major features in the House housing package. “Our Realtor® members appreciate the House’s hard work and bipartisan effort in bringing forth legislation that will go a long way toward helping people become and remain homeowners,” said NAR President Dick Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, Calif. “We are pleased with the comprehensive nature of this bill.”
Realtors® have long advocated modernizing Federal Housing Administration programs that will simplify and make FHA-backed mortgages more available, and expanding FHA to allow more homeowners to refinance their mortgages. Additional bill components that NAR has long supported include reform to the government-sponsored enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and permanent increases to both GSE and FHA loan limits. The proposed tax credit of $7,500 for first-time home buyers would help stimulate a weak housing market, and FHA stabilization should help thousands of families to refinance existing mortgages and keep their homes.
“This is meaningful legislation that can have a major impact. We look forward to working with the House and Senate to finalize an aggressive bill that will ensure that every American who can afford to own a home and aspires to do so will have that opportunity, and that every American who responsibly owns a home is able to keep it,” said Gaylord.
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.
