Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Realtor Day At the Legislature - How it effects Utah!!

Realtor Day
At the Legislature
Talking points that effect Utah

As I spent the day at Grand America hotel learning about the issues that effect the people of Utah. I had the opportunity to hear from Governor Herbert and his concerns about the ability for Utahans to own their part of the American Dream.

The importance of keeping up with technology or be left behind. Right now the state of Utah is more efficient at providing the services to the tax payers with a AAA rating. The future is bright for Utah being the 2nd in the nation for the best quality of life and employment opportunities.  One goal the governor has is to have  66% of Utahans to have a post high education which will help fill jobs and bring more companies here to Utah.

Here are 2 bills that have pasted the house and heading to the senate that will effect the real estate market and the American Dream.

Senate Bill 42 limitation on action to recover deficiency - This bill places a three-month limit on lenders who want to pursue deficiency judgements after a short sale of a single family residential property. Without this bill lenders can wait 6 years before going after borrowers for any unpaid mortgage balances after a short sale. Under bill 42 the states short sale requirements will match the existing foreclosure laws, which already limits the deficiency judgement to 3 months. This bill will provide protection to consumers, rather then putting them at risk for 6 years.

This bill will make home owners more confidence in the decisions they make to short sale their homes, knowing that if the banks are not willing to forget the deficiency this will not be held over their heads for 6 years. Why short sales ...a couple of reasons this process not only allows a homeowner the chance to try and make things right with the lender ( yes it will be short of the payoff but the home will not remain in a neighborhood with growing weeds, broken pipes and creating a eye sore to the neighborhood. This also saves the bank from having to contact and agent to list the property maintain the property etc) and 2nd by completing a short sale the sellers come obtain a new mortgage somewhere between 2 and 3 years. Foreclosed sellers up to 6, do you see the benefit for this bill to past the Senate.

House Bill 302 Land Use Penalties - this bill will help keep communities clean and safe. This bill requires municipalities to provide WRITTEN notice to owner of record each time a property is in violation of an ordinance.  Oftentimes, property owners are unaware of any ordinance violations until they are accessed a fine. This bill gives the responsible party notice and the opportunity to rectify any problem. It also allows property owners the option of designation an agent to receive ordinance violation notices on their behalf. This is helpful in property management situation so the manger is always aware of any problems and can see that they are corrected.

This bill will prevent municipalities from fining  homeowner, builders and investors prior to a written notice and time for the homeowners, builders and investor to rectify the problem.