Dayton Area Advocacy Update - November 2018

Local News

November was a huge month for the DARPAC (Dayton Area REALTORS® Political Action Committee) Government Affairs Committee. The month played host to the greatest display of democracy – an election. Over the summer, the DARPAC Government Affairs Committee worked diligently to screen candidates and review ballot issues in an effort to support those that would promote and protect real estate-related initiatives. Candidates received questionnaires and the committee hosted them to elaborate on their thoughts. The committee then shared their recommendations with you last month in the form of the DARPAC Candidate Voter Guide that you received in the mail.

Now that the dust has settled, we’re pleased to announce that election night was a HUGE success for DARPAC as every candidate and issue that this committee supported was victorious. 10-0!

Below are the candidates and issues that were successful. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Government Affairs Director Tyler Warner.

Senate District 5 (Northwest Montgomery, Prebble, Southern Darke Counties) – Steve Huffman
House District 40 (Northeast Montgomery County) – Phil Plummer
House District 41 (Central/Eastern Montgomery County)– Jim Butler
House District 42 –(Southern Montgomery County) Niraj Antani
House District 43 – (Northwestern Montgomery and Preble Counties) J. Todd Smith
House District 73 – (Greene County) Rick Perales
Greene County Commissioner- Dick Gould
Montgomery County Commissioner – Carolyn Rice
Montgomery County Recorder – Brandon McClain
Kettering School Levy – Issue 3 – Yes

National News

From NAR’s “The Washington Report”:

On Nov, 20, 2018, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (collectively “the Agencies”) released a proposed rule that would increase the current threshold for residential real estate transactions requiring an appraisal to $400,000. The current threshold is $250,000. In lieu of an appraisal, an evaluation would be required that is consistent with safe and sound banking practices. This rule would only affect Federally Related Transactions overseen by the Agencies. Residential real estate transactions covered by the Fair Housing Administration, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac would still be subject to those entities’ appraisal requirements.

NAR submitted a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in response to the agency’s request for input (RFI) on its proposed capital framework for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs or Enterprises). The proposed framework would not be implemented until the Enterprises are taken out of conservatorship.

While NAR appreciates the FHFA’s efforts to reform the secondary mortgage market, NAR believes that the FHFA’s proposed framework could hamper the Enterprises’ ability to fulfill their public mission of supporting liquidity and broad access. In particular, the capital rule must do more to preserve the Enterprises’ countercyclical role in the market as well as to support affordable credit for a middle class and underserved homebuyers. The conservative nature of the capital framework as proposed may make this difficult.

NAR sent a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in response to the agency’s advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) that requested input on whether changes and/or updates are needed to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).

NAR commented on the need to preserve the original intent of the CRA, that being to expand access to residential mortgage credit for low and moderate-income homebuyers as well as borrowers of color. The OCC should consider allowing CRA-credit for housing counseling that can be tide directly to better homeownership outcomes. Likewise, given the dearth of housing supply for LMI borrowers, a greater emphasis should be placed on expanding the housing stock in that portion of the market along with financing those purchase. Finally, NAR emphasized the need to revisit how CRA assessment areas are defined given that FinTech has/will reduced the number of brick-and-mortar operations.

Dayton Area Advocacy Update – November 2018

Proposed Increase to Residential Appraisal Threshold

NAR Responds to FHFA’s Proposed Capital Rule

NAR Submits Comment to the OCC on the Community Reinvestment Act