Tag Archives: Government

Nevada Ranks # 46 in List of Best Run States

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Here’s another one of the “Best of” and “Worst of” lists that must fill journalists need for “product.” This time it is ranking the best of and the worst of the 50 states according to their arbitrary opinion.
These are the same kinds of lists that the politicians and the activist refer to when they seek to further pick the pockets of the public. Notice that they don’t include the per capita taxes the states collect.

FWIW, Nevada ranks #46 on the list:

46. Nevada
> State debt per capita: $1,690 (6th lowest)
> Pct. without health insurance: 22.6% (2nd highest)
> Pct. below poverty line: 13.0% (24th lowest)
> Unemployment: 13.4% (the highest)

Nevada has dropped five places in our rankings. This drop is due primarily to its credit downgrade this year from AA+ to AA. Surprisingly, the state has one of the lowest debts per capita in the country, at just $1,690 per person. However, it has other financial woes that make it a long-term risk. Nevada properties declined 44.5% in value between 2006 and 2010, the worst decline in the country. In October alone, one in every 180 homes was foreclosed upon, easily the worst rate in the country. The state also has the second lowest percentage of residents covered by health insurance and the highest unemployment rate in the country.

California ranks the worst, # 50, but you probably already knew that.

Read more (To save you time, Nevada is on page #6.).

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Fannie Mae Discloses that it Pushed Foreclosures Over Mods

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It appears that Fannie Mae lied and was pushing foreclosures instead of loan modifications as they had originally insisted.

Fannie Mae has released papers and internal memos indicating that the government-controlled GSE has been pushing its lenders to opt for foreclosure instead of loan modifications and threatening to “charge a penalty to lenders who allowed foreclosures to wait too long before they were executed” . . . Ethical arguments about this policy aside, these memos are dated from the same time that Fannie Mae officials were testifying in congressional hearings that they “were doing everything in their power to prevent foreclosures.”

Nearly everything we see coming out of Washington is complete corruption and lies.

“I am thoroughly disgusted by the actions of Fannie Mae,” said Ingham County Register of Deeds Curtis Hertel, who is currently suing Fannie Mae and other lenders arguing that they failed to pay Ingham county millions of dollars in title transfer taxes. “What these internal documents show is that while Fannie Mae was being bailed out by taxpayers they were systematically pushing for citizens to be foreclosed. The reason for this is even worse. Right now we as taxpayers pick up the cost of every foreclosure, because we pay Fannie Mae’s loss in the foreclosure process. In other words they actually get paid more for a foreclosure than for a reasonable modification.”

Neeta Delaney, co-director of the Michigan Foreclosure Task Force, had a slightly more muted response.

“We see this on a daily basis. It is what we have been characterizing as the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing,” she said. Her coalition represents nearly 200 groups with a stake in ending the foreclosure crisis and is working to push new foreclosure related legislation through the legislature. “It’s not new news (foreclosures during modification negotiations). But the documents are new news. These documents are implying a policy behind this. It’s not just the banks being overwhelmed.”

Read more:http://michiganmessenger.com/51716/officials-angered-over-fannie-mae-disclosures

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A Harry Reid Form Letter to Show how Much he Cares

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A friend received the following email from Sen Harry Reid;

Dear M XXXXXXXXXXXXX:
Thank you for contacting me. I appreciate hearing from you and agree with you about the importance of restoring fiscal discipline in Washington.

As you probably know, this year’s federal deficit is expected to be about $1.5 trillion. Meanwhile, our debt exceeds $ 14 trillion and is growing rapidly. Perhaps even more importantly, in coming decades, as the baby boomers retire and projected health care costs increase, our nation is on an unsustainable long-term fiscal path. It is important that leaders in both parties work together to address this problem.

One important way to restore fiscal discipline is to abide by so-called “pay-as-you-go,” or “PAYGO” rules. Under PAYGO, all new mandatory spending or tax breaks must be fully offset, so that it does not increase the deficit. In the last Congress, I sponsored legislation, H.J.Res. 45, to put the PAYGO rules into law. These rules proved to be very successful in the 1990’s, and helped the government achieve a budget surplus. So I was pleased when my legislation was approved and signed into law by the President last year.

The PAYGO rules will help, but they alone will not solve the long-term deficit problem. We also need to conduct a thorough review of all federal spending and eliminate waste wherever we find it. In addition, we need to do a better job of closing tax loopholes and cracking down on cheaters who cost the government literally hundreds of billions of dollars every year. All of this will be difficult, but it needs to happen, and it is essential that we work together to solve the problem.

Again, thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. I appreciate it and look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

My best wishes to you.

Sincerely,
A
HARRY REID
United States Senator
Nevada

HR:BK

This definitely shows Harry cares – if you believe it.

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Military Foreclosure Cases Settled by B of A and Morgan Stanley

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REReno recently had a story about Coldwell Banker Mortgage getting slapped down by a Federal court jury.

A federal court jury awarded David Brash, a soldier at Fort Benning, GA more than $20 million on Monday in a case against Coldwell Banker Mortgage.

It seems, however, that the banks have not yet learned their lessons.

Units of Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley have agreed to pay more than $22 million to settle charges that they improperly foreclosed on active-duty members of the U.S. military, the Justice Department said Thursday.

The Bank of America unit, which was part of Countrywide Financial, will pay $20 million to resolve allegations it foreclosed on the homes of about 160 service members between January 2006 and May 2009 without court orders, the Justice Department said.

Saxon Mortgage Services Inc., part of Morgan Stanley, will pay $2.35 million to resolve allegations that it did the same to about 17 service members between January 2006 and June 2009, the government said.

Read more.

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Another Real Estate Roundup

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Another Real Estate Roundup

Lenders would be required to make sure prospective borrowers have the ability to repay their mortgages before giving them a loan, under a proposal released by the Federal Reserve on Tuesday.
This is really radical, I know, but give it a chance.  It’s an idea from someone in the government.

In his budget speech Wednesday, President Barack Obama once again suggested a cutback in the mortgage interest deduction.
And:
Eliminating this tax break for homeowners is tantamount to forcing new taxation on an economy where most thinking people believe the best way out of a hole is not to dig it any deeper with new taxes.

Mortgage lenders call it “dual tracking,” but for homeowners struggling to avoid foreclosure, it might go by another name: the double-cross.

Dual tracking refers to a common bank tactic. When a borrower in default seeks a loan modification, the institution often continues to pursue foreclosure at the same time.

In foreclosure, apparently it’s not the investor or the servicer.  According to this story, the trustee is becoming the major obstacle to getting a reasonable resolution between the borrower and the investor of the loan.

Homeowners are fed-up and they are protesting by the way they are paying their bills. A growing volume of homeowners are paying credit card bills before making payments on their mortgages, according to a new study by Trans Union credit reporting agency. It’s a trend that has been widely reported over the last three years as homeowners’ protest being used as pawns by banks, mortgage companies and Wall Street.

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Corporate Taxes and General Electric

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Now, we see this story about GE, yes, that General Electric, America’s largest corporation.
What do you mean, GE?
Well, GE is tight in  bed with Obama.
Why would GE do that?
GE, like many corporations is completely amoral.  GE is essentially a mercenary and sees an economic advantage.  GE supports Cap and Trade, i.e. higher taxes for you and me.  They manufacture wind turbines.  And since the Obama administration is strongly against fossil fuels and in favor of “green” energy, GE wants to capitalize on that situation.  And Jeffrey Immelt, GE Chairman has recently been appointed to the President’s new panel on job creation.  Maybe he means job creation for GE employees.
Back to the NY Times  story::  even though GE earned $14.2 billion in 2010 ($5.1 billion of which came from the US) in profits GE paid No, Zero, Zip , Nada taxes.  In fact, GE “received” $3.2 billion in tax credits
So, if GE gets its way be prepared for higher taxes – for you, but not for GE.

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New Changes in the Tax Law in California

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This is very important information for anyone that may own property in California.

By: Jeff Watson

If you currently own (or plan to own) property in California then this is super important for you to know.

Here’s what’s going on: California property owners are now facing fines
and penalties if they fail to report changes in ownership, as a result of local tax authorities trying to find new sources of revenue.

Under Proposition 13, property owners in California face property tax reassessment when a transfer deed is recorded. This reassessment also takes place at the change of ownership of the legal entity holding the property, even if the entity (e.e. a corporation) remains the owner of record
of the property itself.

For a long time, these legal entity transfers have been a concern for California tax authorities, since property transfers like this are not documented by a recorded deed and that is the way that tax assessors normally learn about changes in property ownership.

Now, there are strict deadlines to report these types of transfers and owners face stiff penalties if they don’t file a reporting form for a legal entity transfer, whether they result in a change of property ownership or not. This includes transfers that would normally fall under a change of ownership exception
(transfers of less than a controlling interest or where the entity changes from a corporation to a limited partnership, even if owners and percentages of ownership don’t change.)

Tax authorities in California are also trying to expand the documentary transfer tax (DTT) to include legal entity transfers, something that was traditionally only collected with a transfer in property ownership.

Previously it was up to those same local authorities to track down these kinds of changes and provide the required forms. Now property owners are responsible for reporting legal entity transfers and will be severely fined for filing
late.

Local tax authorities jobs have been made easier by recent statutory changes giving county recorders access to county assessor’s files. This gives the county recorders access to legal entity transfer information.

Property owners can attempt to counter attempts to claim these taxes by checking to see if the county or city has  ordinances that only permit DTT when deeds or other
instruments are recorded. The owner can cite these ordinances, if they are in place.

These aggressive tax-seeking moves by local California tax authorities will only continue in the current economic climate. Owners are encouraged to check as to whether a particular transfer is covered by one of the change of ownership exceptions, and should only pay tax on transfers made by a recorded document. In the meantime, ongoing efforts are being made to repeal these changes in legal entity reporting. Until then, owners should be extra vigilant with their paperwork.


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HUD Gives 10% Discount on REO for Nonprofits, Governments

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Have you ever submitted an offer to purchase a HUD house, and then you learn that it was purchased by a governmental agency for less than you offered?

Apparently HUD has been selling REO properties to local government agencies and non-profits for less than the market price.

Those agencies participating in the Neighborhood stabilization Program will get to buy the properties at 10% below appraised price.

The new initiative will also give these buyers a 14-day first-look period to consider buying the property ahead of investors. HUD secretary Shaun Donovan announced the new initiative at the National Council of La Raza annual conference in San Antonio, Texas.

Our government has done such a good job with everything else it’s tried.  What else could go wrong.

Do you think local governments should be competing with citizens in the real estate and housing business?

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Nevada Imposes New Paperwork Burden on Home Sellers

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The State of Nevada has imposed an additional paperwork burden on all home sellers, effective January 1, 2001.  The regulation, issued by the Nevada Energy Commissioner is intended to evaluate the energy consumption of residential property.
A four page form gathers information about energy consumption of the home, type of construction, and energy Star ratings of appliances, among other things.  I suspect it won’t take nearly as long as filling out a form 1040, but a revised version may be on the way.  The form must be filled out by the seller, or a “certified” home energy inspector and provided to the buyer.  The form may be waived if agreed by both the seller and the buyer, but the waiver is on page 4 of the form.

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HAMP Program Dismal Failure

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HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program)  is a dismal failure.  Is the AP finally beginning to realize it?

This article, published in the RGJ shows that more people are dropping out of the program than are continuing.

Even the Huffington Post agrees with ‘It’s Just A Scam And The Banks Are Getting Everything’.

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