We should all be very happy about this bill because this will force all of those individuals and companies that operate without integrity to get out of the business or comply with the law. The Bill prohibits taking money up front before services are performed. This is referring to forbearances, workout agreements, loan mods, etc.    
    You don’t know how many homeowners I have talked to that say that they gave an someone a $1000 or a payment equal to 1 month mortgage payment to negotiate with their lender for them and they never hear from that investor again.  Homeowners don’t deserve to be treated like this and I’m so happy they included this in the bill.     
    Click here to view onlineor for a copy of the bill please click below.

On Monday, November 10, 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced they are going to work with
homeowners that are in default of their mortgages. Where TARP and Hope For Homeowners have sorely disappointed to date, Fannie and Freddie are taking a real first step at trying to address the number of foreclosures. Fannie and Freddie will be modifying loans by temporarily or permanently reducing the
interest rate and / or extending the loan, and deferring a portion of principle interest free to bring the debt to income ratio to 38%.

The homeowner must meet the following criteria to qualify:
1) The loan must be owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac
2) It must be the borrower's primary residence. (They must still live in the property)
3) The loan to value must be greater than 90%
4) The homeowner must be at least 3 months behind on their mortgage loan
5) The borrower has NOT filed for bankruptcy
6) The borrower must have income reliable and verifiable income

Citigroup has issued a moratorium on foreclosures for owner occupied properties where borrowers have verifiable incomes who have a good chance at making the lower payments. Unlike Hope for Homeowners, which is voluntary for lenders, but typically requires a write down in exchange of a shared appreciation
mortgage, the Fannie and Freddie plan simply adjusts the rate and the repayment term, but does not force a write down.

    For those residents who still intend to receive an economic stimulus payment, the Oct. 15 deadline to file a 2007 income tax return is fast approaching.
    And according to the Internal Revenue Service, there were 317,388 potential filers in Florida in mid-September who had not submitted a tax return to get the stimulus check.
    Nationally, the IRS is alerting the estimated 4.3 million retirees and disabled veterans who may be eligible to receive a stimulus payment, but who normally don't file a tax return. It's also the deadline for the approximately 10 million people who earlier this year received extensions to file their 2007 income tax return.

Unless you just returned from Mars, you must be aware that the elections are being held on Tuesday, November 4. This election year will be very important to us for many reasons. We will be voting for candidates running from commission seats all the way up to the White House. All of these elected officials will affect our lives in some way or another. Even though all eyes will be on McCain & Obama, it will be the local races that effect us the most. There will be state and federal Representatives, Clerk of the court, Property Tax Appraiser, Commissioners, Mayors all on the ballots. These are the individuals that will represent us and make sure our that our needs are met. So please, find out who is running, pick up a paper, google a candidate,  do everything you can to determine who will represent you the best and go out to vote.    
    If your not registered, you have till Oct. 6.
Click here to access the MIami-Dade Supervisor of Elections (SOE) office in order to register.

FIRST PLACE  ($1,500)
Zahara Zahav
Daughter of Jon Zahav, Southwest Chapter University of Florida

SECOND PLACE ($1,000)
Tyler Mitchell Wise
Son of Cynthia L. Wise, Central Chapter
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College

THIRD PLACE ($750):
Joshua Daniel Eisenberg
Son of Alan Eisenberg, Miami Chapter
Brandeis University

The non-profit Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers (FAMB) applauds The Miami Herald for the series of articles, "Borrowers Betrayed."  The series brings to light a long-standing problem in the mortgage industry that we believe needs swift and aggressive resolution.  Criminals masquerading as mortgage brokers have entered the mortgage origination business, in spite of safeguards in place that are supposed to prevent such occurrences.   It is the hope of our 3,000+ members that the other 50,000 mortgage brokers in Florida and the 60,000 unlicensed originators that work for banks and other lending institution are held to the standards in our association's code of ethics.      We believe that originating a mortgage loan is a serious profession and bad actors in the industry can do great harm to consumers.  As such, any person who takes a loan application from a borrower should be licensed and barred from the profession for certain criminal and civil conduct, and be required to complete professional education requirements.  The nature or regulation of the employer should not matter.  Criminal behavior can be committed by anyone regardless of who they work for and state and federal laws should apply to all mortgage originators.

This week several important economic releases will arrive, and the flavor of these headlines will help determine if things can continue to move in an improving direction. Tuesday's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report will show us inflation at the consumer level - that is, how much more expensive goods and services are for consumers this month over last month. If CPI brings more good news on the inflation front, Bonds and home loan rates may add to their improvements from last week.Also on Tuesday, the Fed will release their latest Policy Statement and Interest Rate Decision. It is widely believed that the Fed will keep the Fed Funds Rate at 2% given the lessening concerns over inflation, but it will be important to see if the Fed's statement gives us a hint as to what their plans are for the near future.Later in the week, we will get a read on the housing market via the Housing Starts and Building Permits Report on Wednesday, as well as a look at the manufacturing sector via the Philadelphia Fed Report on Thursday. This monthly survey of manufacturing purchasing managers conducting business around the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware is one of the most highly watched manufacturing reports. If manufacturing appears to be getting stronger in this region, Stocks could move higher at the expense of Bonds and home loan rates.Remember when Bond prices move higher, home loan rates move lower...and vice versa. As you can see in the chart below, Bonds and home loan rates have improved significantly over the past month, but got stopped in their tracks last week by a technical "ceiling of resistance". I will be watching closely to see if Bonds and home loan rates can break this barrier and find more improvement in the weeks ahead.

By Ryan Derousseau, CNNMoney.com
Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped, after the U.S. government took control of mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last weekend.The Primary Mortgage Market Survey from mortgage finance company Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) said that rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) averaged 5.93% for the week ended September 11, with an average 0.7 point discount. That's down from an average 6.35% last week, and down from an average of 6.31% recorded during the same week last year."Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are down almost 0.6 percentage points over the past 4 weeks, which will help to spur home purchases and loan refinancing in coming weeks," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's vice president and chief economist."This means that the monthly principal and interest payment on a new $200,000 loan is over $76 lower than a month ago," he addend.A 15-year FRM averaged 5.54%, falling from 5.90% last week and 5.97% from a year ago.The five-year adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) dropped to 5.87% from 5.97% last week, and 6.17% a year ago.One-year ARMs averaged 5.21%, a slight increase from a week ago when it stood at 5.15%. That's down from a year ago when the rate averaged 5.66%.Under the terms of the bailout, the Treasury will buy mortgage backed securities owned by Freddie (FRE, Fortune 500), as well as Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500), in order to boost liquidity in the mortgage market. The government may also loan the entities up to $200 billion.

    On March 11, Mortgage Brokers from around the State gathered in Tallahassee for our Annual Lobby Days. This year our group was recognized by both the House and Senate as well as by Gov. Crist. Gov. Crist held a private meeting for us to express our support and concerns regarding the many issues at hand, including the recent Amendment 1 which he campaigned for.

     On Monday July 14, members of FAMB Miami Chapter were invited by Rep. Luis Garcia to help kickoff his RE-ELECTION FUNDRAISER with Special Guest Speaker Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink. The event was held at Finnegan's on the River in  Miami, Fl