Good Work NAR

Joseph Canfore of the NAR testified in front of Congress yesterday. His testimony was very helpful to both realtors and mortgage brokers. First of all he advocated the extension of the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit. He explained that since the inception of the tax credit, the housing inventory nationwide went down from 9.1 months to 8.2 months. Secondly, he said that every home purchase in the United States adds $63,000 to the economy. That is the equivalent of one job.

More impotantly he testified that HVCC has to go. He explained that HVCC is one of the major stumbling blocks to having the housing market recover. He told Congress that HVCC has resulted in delayed closing and extra cloisng costs. It has also prevented home sales from happening at all.

Mr, Canfore is right on in both repects. The best way to reduce the foreclosure rate is to increase home equity. There is lesser chance of a foreclosure if the home owner has equity in their home. Increasing home sales will cause housing prices to rise and will result in increased equity. Eliminating HVCC will prevent artificially low home appraisals and make it easier for the consumer to buy a house. Good job!