Yesterday, Amtrak happily took me from philadelphia to our nation’s capital.
Even though the onboard internet ran as slow as Joan Rivers in a triathlon and the coffee tasted as bad as a three day old slice of pizza that you left on the counter, the cho-cho got me there so that I could meet members of FHA’s brain trust to talk about a couple of important issues that face America’s ability to purchase real estate.
I was thrilled to be going to HUD HQ for the first time. The excitement of just being in the building would be cool and talking about trying to change their minds on seller assists being lowered, MIP rates and appraisal independence was an honor.
But then, I saw the building. Then I entered the building. Oh my!
I just thought I was back in the Soviet Union of the 70’s. Had I been transformed to the Politburo? Not, the people in the building but the architecture.
Former HUD Secretary Jack Kemp once described this building as 10 stories of basement. He wasn’t far off!
The 9th floor has just been repaired because the 10th floor crashed into it and the HVAC system is being repaired in each quadrant of the building because there were issues with the original design.
So, there may be something in the air that is causing FHA to reduce the maximum seller assit from 6% to 3% even though Philadelphia has a 2% transfer tax.
They may also be breathing too hard when it comes to increasing the monthly mortgage insurance to high numbers so that people can’t refinance.
But, I did have a fruitful conversation and hopefully Marc Savitt and I changed some minds.
What can you do? Public comments are now open on the reduction of the maximum contribution. Please go to http://www.regulations.gov/#%21submitComment;D=HUD-2010-0063-0908 and let them know why this will be a bad thing!
Dasvidaniya, Comrades
Fred Glick's Reality 