Menu
Log in



<< First  < Prev   ...   2   3   4   5   6   Next >  Last >> 
  • July 21, 2020 19:46 | San Diego Realtist for Democracy in Housing (Administrator)
    U.S. House Committee on Financial Services - Chairwoman Maxine Waters
    For Immediate Release
    July 21, 2020
    Facebook Icon   Website   Email   Twitter Icon

    Waters Remarks on 10th Anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act

    WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, gave the following remarks at an event commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the signing of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

    Thank you very much and thank you for that very generous introduction. I am so pleased and delighted that I was asked to participate today in the 10th anniversary of Dodd-Frank. As you know, this legislation is a serious part of my career and legislation that I consider has done the very most for consumers in any Congress that has ever attempted to deal with the issues of the financial services community.

    So, I am very pleased to join you for this event celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. I would like to thank Better Markets President and CEO Dennis Kelleher for inviting me to speak to you today, and Better Markets Chairman Michael Masters for the introduction.

    I am very proud of the work that my colleagues and I did to pass the Dodd-Frank Act following the global financial crisis of 2008. At that time millions of families had lost their homes to foreclosures driven by unregulated, abusive, predatory lending. The catastrophic Great Recession also resulted in trillions of dollars in lost wealth, and massive job losses. In Congress, Democrats took decisive action to ensure that consumers, investors, and the economy would be better protected from a future crisis.

    This landmark law made significant reforms on a wide range of policy fronts, including creating the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), and enhancing prudential standards for the largest financial institutions to impose robust capital, liquidity, leverage, stress testing and living will requirements. Dodd-Frank also cracked down on risky speculative trading by establishing the Volcker Rule, and created a new regulatory regime for the previously unregulated derivatives market. And importantly, we reformed the mortgage market and eliminated certain predatory products.

    At the centerpiece of the law, we established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Consumer Bureau) to ensure that consumers would have an independent watchdog to protect them from abusive financial products and practices. Under Democratic leadership, the Consumer Bureau was wildly successful, putting millions of dollars back in the pockets of hardworking consumers who had been ripped off, and stopping many abusive acts by financial institutions. But despite those successes, there are those who still want to return to the bad old days, where consumers did not have a watchdog looking out for them, and predatory lending was allowed unchecked.

    Defending Dodd-Frank

    I became Ranking Member of the Financial Services Committee following Barney Frank’s retirement. As such, the baton of chief defender of Dodd-Frank fell to me. Jeb Hensarling was chairman of the Committee and he was committed to rolling back as much of Dodd-Frank as possible.

    He held many hearings claiming Dodd-Frank was hurting businesses and Wall Street. He refused to hear the testimony of the CFPB Director. He passed dozens of bills through the Committee to gut Dodd-Frank. He did everything he could to undermine, eliminate and roll back Dodd-Frank. The Democrats on the Committee and I were the last line of defense. We took that responsibility seriously. We fought back in hearings, we challenged him in markups, and we tried to be united on the floor. We were never more united than when Hensarling tried to pass what we called the Wrong CHOICE Act, a bill that would have paved the way back to the financial crisis. The legislation, which was Hensarling’s signature bill, would have functionally terminated the Consumer Bureau, weakened important financial stability safeguards, and repealed the orderly liquidation authority, which is the mechanism we put in place in Dodd-Frank to prevent future bailouts and ensure that large financial institutions can fail safely, among other harmful provisions.

    Later that year, the voters of this country spoke out and demanded a change in leadership in the House of Representatives. When Democrats took over, I made it clear that the Committee’s days of weakening regulations and putting our economy at risk of a financial crisis were over. Shortly after I said that, bank shares fell by 0.6 percent. Wall Street knew that I meant business.

    As the Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, I am at the forefront of not only protecting the important reforms we put in place in Dodd-Frank, but also of improving upon the law to provide additional protection for consumers. President Trump promised to do a “big number” on Dodd-Frank in his first few days in office and I’m proud to say that that hasn’t happened on my watch.

    Under my leadership, the deregulatory bills that made the Committee known as the "juice" committee, in which special interests drafted legislation directly for Members, are now dead on arrival in the House of Representatives.

    Instead, we have been focused on supporting and protecting consumers, investors, and the economy.

    My leadership of the Committee is historic. I am the first woman and the first African American to ever wield the gavel in the Financial Services Committee. However, my leadership of the Committee is also historic because of the important legislation we have moved to push back against Trump’s attempts to unravel the Dodd-Frank Act and the legislation we have passed to improve upon Dodd-Frank and to expand consumer protections.

    Trump’s political appointees to the Consumer Bureau have worked hard to rewrite the strong consumer protection regulations finalized by former Director Cordray, and the Trump Administration has also worked to compromise the agency’s independent structure.

    It is for that reason, last year, that I advanced legislation called the Consumers First Act (H.R. 1500) to block the Trump Administration’s anti-consumer agenda and reverse their efforts to undermine the mission of the Consumer Bureau. The legislation, which passed the House in May of 2019, reverses many of the structural reforms Trump appointees have made to undermine the CFPB, including restoring the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity, limiting the number of political appointees at the agency, directing the Consumer Bureau to promptly resume Military Lending Act exams after Mulvaney stopped the agency from supervising its regulated entities for compliance with the Military Lending Act, and requiring that the agency’s helpful consumer complaint database remains publicly accessible so there is transparency about the concerns consumers face every day in the financial marketplace.

    Under my leadership, the Financial Services Committee has also conducted rigorous oversight of Trump appointees to the financial regulatory agencies, including the Consumer Bureau. For example, last year, following an extensive Committee investigation, we released a Majority staff report entitled, “Settling for Nothing: How Kraninger’s CFPB Leaves Consumers High and Dry.” The report presented evidence that the Trump Administration’s politicization of the Consumer Bureau has led to a decline in the Consumer Bureau’s redress for harmed consumers in enforcement actions. The Committee has also highlighted the consumer abuses that arise from payday lending, rent-a-bank schemes, and other predatory forms of lending, and we have fought every effort by Director Kraninger and other Trump appointees who have sought to relax key consumer safeguards.

    I have also worked to pass legislation to provide additional consumer protections, including by advancing H.R. 3621, the Comprehensive CREDIT Act, sponsored by Rep. Pressley and containing bills also sponsored by Representatives Adams, Beatty, Lawson, Lynch, and Tlaib, to make essential comprehensive reforms to the nation’s broken consumer credit reporting system, which passed the House in January 2020. Last month, the House also passed bipartisan legislation sponsored by Rep. Gottheimer, H.R. 5332, the Protecting Your Credit Score Act, to provide easier access and stronger protections for consumers in our credit reporting system.

    Creation of OMWIs in Dodd-Frank and the D&I Subcommittee

    So I want to bring up the fact that I created something called OMWI’s in Dodd-Frank and the D&I Subcommittee. I am particularly proud of my contributions to Section 342 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which required most of the federal financial services agencies and each of the Federal Reserve Banks to establish Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion, known as, again, OMWIs. OMWIs are designed to, among other things, collect and report on diversity data from their regulated entities, thereby holding them accountable for diversity and inclusion results. In addition to the creation of the OMWIs, I have continued to create accountability for diversity and inclusion. One of my very first acts as Chairwoman was to create a historic Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion. Through this subcommittee, we have held hearings on the lack of representation of women and minorities in the financial sector, board diversity, the racial and gender wealth gap, diverse asset management, the lack of diversity in America’s largest banks, among many other important topics. We have also passed strong diversity legislation, including bills to require companies to disclose the demographics of their boards and C-Suite executives, and to require Federal Reserve Banks to consider diverse candidates when filling bank president vacancies. Subcommittee Chair Beatty and I released a staff report on bank diversity data, making further recommendations on why banks and others must make diversity and inclusion a priority in their employment pipeline, on their boards and with suppliers. The Dodd-Frank Act set the stage and I am continuing to work for the inclusion of women and people of color, especially in the midst of this pandemic that has been shown to disproportionately affect them.

    Dodd-Frank and the Pandemic Crisis

    In the early weeks of the pandemic crisis, I convened a call with Members of the Committee and the CEOs of our nation’s largest banks to question them about their response to the pandemic. On that call, we repeatedly heard from the CEOs that Dodd-Frank’s enhanced prudential standards had put them in a strong position to weather the pandemic, provide forbearance and continue serving their customers. These comments at a moment of crisis reaffirmed that Dodd-Frank has served a critical purpose in making our financial system stronger and providing stability when times get tough. That represents real progress, and it bolsters my resolve to fight deregulatory efforts to roll back these safeguards.

    I am now focused on making sure that the mistakes of the last crisis – and recovery - are not repeated. Leading into the 2008 crisis, communities of color were targeted with and steered into predatory loans, with Black and Latinx families disproportionately losing their homes to foreclosure. We are now seeing the disproportionate impact that this coronavirus crisis is having on communities of color, both on the health front and economic fronts.

    During this unprecedented crisis, it is critical for Congress to recognize that the focus should be on both providing and ensuring equal access to relief. I am working with my colleagues in Congress to not only provide relief to consumers, but we are also focusing on how to ensure that communities of color, and low-income communities, have access to new and existing relief efforts. For example, in addition to passing unprecedented legislation to respond to the pandemic, my Committee has repeatedly convened virtual meetings and calls with both the Chairman of the Fed and the Treasury Secretary to urge administrative changes so that programs like the Paycheck Protection Program and Main Street Lending Facility are open and accessible to minority-owned businesses. And we have been successful, including securing set-asides for community lenders who cater to communities of color.

    In the 2008 crisis, financial institutions got bailouts, but millions of families on main street lost everything through no fault of their own. Unfortunately, we are again on the precipice of economic disaster. We are now seeing a situation in this pandemic where the stock market has recovered its initial losses, largely because of the Fed’s efforts to pump in trillions of dollars to the markets, but families across the country are suffering, again through no fault of their own. Fully half of Americans are not working. 1/3 of renters could not pay rent in July. And nearly 1/10 of homeowners have received forbearance. Nevertheless, the initial protections put in place in March, unemployment insurance, eviction and foreclosure moratoriums, and economic stimulus payments are expiring or have been spent. Families everywhere need immediate help, and my Committee and House Democrats are deeply committed to making sure that Congress takes action to provide additional relief to families and prevent a wave of evictions, foreclosures, and economic suffering.

    Conclusion

    So I want to thank you again for inviting me to discuss Dodd-Frank on the 10th anniversary of the law.

    As Chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee, I am working every day to make sure that the reforms that we enacted in Dodd-Frank are not weakened, and that consumers, investors and the economy are protected.

    I cannot end my comments with you today without thanking Barney Frank. Barney Frank served as one of the greatest leaders of this Congress and I consider him as having mentored me. Without Barney Frank, I don’t think I ever would have become the Chair of the Financial Services Committee.

    I learned more in the time that I worked with him, than I’ve learned on any other subject in my life. And I’m thankful to Barney for that. So, thank you all again for inviting me.


  • July 20, 2020 09:50 | San Diego Realtist for Democracy in Housing (Administrator)

    There’s no greater tribute in remembrance of the civil rights warriors we have recently lost than to continue the struggle for our rights as American citizens. Each one buried their personal wants and fought that we all might share in the bounty that freedom promises.

    Honorable John Lewis                               

    • Member, U.S. House of Representatives                            
    • Leader, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)    
    • Chairman, Voter Education Project                                     
    • Freedom Fighter, Freedom Rider
    • Author                     
    • Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient                               

    Reverend C. T. Vivian

    • Advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr & Field General
    • Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC)
    • Pastor
    • Freedom Rider, Freedom Fighter
    • Speaker and Author
    • Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient

    QUOTE…John Lewis: "Do not get lost in a sea of despair…Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble."


    QUOTE…C.T. Vivian: “Leadership is found in the action to defeat that which would defeat you...You are made by the struggles you choose."

    Let us never forget the legacies left to us by these two men of integrity and strength of their characters. The time is now for us to carry on the work begun. Our leg of the race is equally as difficult, but together, we are strong enough and wise enough to continue the struggle for freedom, equality, and social justice.  


  • July 17, 2020 12:10 | San Diego Realtist for Democracy in Housing (Administrator)

    BAPAC SD - Virtual San Diego City Council Forum - This Saturday, July 18, 2020 at noon

    BAPAC SD members, supporters and Facebook friends. We will have the chance to vote and elect 5 of the individulas on this slate as the next San Diego City Councilmembers to run the second largest City in California and the 8th largest City in the country! Attend this virtual event to learn about their plans to improve the lives o San Diego residents especially Black people.  Go to their websites read up on their plans. 

    Police Reform Neighborhood Services Parks and Recreation Entertainments Arts Housing and Landuse Homelessness COVID Economy Recovery Employment/Jobs/Contracts/Small Business Education Youth Development Enviornmental Infrastructure Potholes Water Bills..........

    Wealth and Health Disparities.........


  • July 16, 2020 18:44 | San Diego Realtist for Democracy in Housing (Administrator)

    C.A.R. Market Matters. Leading the way in Real Estate Market News.

    California housing market claws back two months of losses in June

     

    Source: CALIFORNIA ASSN. OF REALTORS®
    After falling to the lowest level since the Great Recession, California’s housing market rebounded in June with the largest month-to-month sales increase in nearly 40 years, while the median home price set another record high, C.A.R. said today. 

    Reversing a two-month consecutive drop below 300,000 units caused by the coronavirus pandemic, June’s sales total of 339,910 units climbed 42.4 percent from 238,740 in May and was down 12.8 percent from a year ago, when 389,730 homes were sold on an annualized basis. The month-to-month increase was the largest since C.A.R. began reporting monthly sales in January 1979.

    “Home sales bounced back solidly in June after hitting a record bottom in May, as lockdown restrictions loosened and pent up demand driven by record-low interest rates roared back,” said 2020 C.A.R. President Jeanne Radsick, a second-generation REALTOR® from Bakersfield, Calif. “While the momentum is expected to be sustained as we kick off the third quarter, the resurgence in coronavirus cases remains a concern and may hinder the market recovery in the second half of the year.”

    read more

    The most important factors in getting an affordable mortgage

     

    Source: CNBC
    Buying a new home involves lots of decisions for both the buyers and the mortgage lenders — and it all begins with financing.

    Your main focus when buying a home should be getting a mortgage with low interest rates and a monthly payment that fits into your budget. To make it easier, experts recommend cleaning up your credit report and boosting your credit score before applying for a mortgage and saving up for a considerable down payment. 

    There are four main factors that mortgage lenders consider when you apply for a home loan including: 1) credit history and score; 2) collateral (type of property being secured); 3) cash (your down payment) and 4) capacity (how much debt you have versus income every month).
     

    read more

    Housing market bounces back despite pandemic​​​​

     

    Source: Realtor.com
    After months being on hold, Americans are beginning to feel more confident about the idea of buying or selling a home, helping real estate to bounce back much quicker than other bellwether industries.

    According to weekly data from realtor.com, homes are selling faster than they did in 2019, when no one had heard of COVID-19. And bidding wars are back as first-time and trade-up buyers who have lost out on other homes compete with other buyers.

    Nearly two-thirds of consumers, 61%, said it was a good time to buy a home in June, in a Fannie Mae housing survey of 1,000 participants. That was a 9-percentage point increase from May. Roughly 41% of respondents said it was a good time to sell, also an increase of 9 percentage points from the previous month.

    read more

    FREE ONLINE REAL ESTATE MARKETING TRAINING FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS:

    Facebook & Google R/E Marketing Strategies You Can Implement Immediately to Ensure Your Business Remains Strong Until Things Get Back to Normal. Get Your Free Book HERE

    More than half of homes sold in June were in bidding war

     

    Source: Housing Wire
    More than half of Redfin offers were part of bidding wars for the second month in a row in June, according to new data from the brokerage.

    More homebuyers are entering the market while mortgage rates continue to hit record lows, and as a result, 53.7% of Redfin offers faced competition last month. This is up from a revised rate of 51.8% in May and 44.4% in April, Redfin said.

    San Diego experienced the second highest bidding war rate in June of 65.7%.

    read more

    WomanUP!® GOES VIRTUAL!

    Register for the September virtual event. Click here.

    Lenders tighten up on jumbo loans

     

    Source: CNBC
    Home buyers may face stricter credit score requirements and larger down payment or higher cash reserve requirements if trying to qualify for a supersized mortgage. Lenders reportedly are growing stricter about granting jumbo mortgages, CNBC reports.

    Jumbo mortgages, also known as “nonconforming loans,” allow buyers to qualify for higher loans to purchase homes, typically in more expensive areas. In many areas, for 2020, the lending cap is $510,400, but in some pricier areas of the U.S. that can stretch up to $765,600.
     

    read more

    Average U.S. mortgage rate falls below 3%​​​​​​

     

    Source: Market Watch
    Concerns about the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic have fueled a decline in interest rates with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 2.98% for the week ending July 16, down five basis points from the previous week, according to Freddie Mac.

    This is the first time since Freddie Mac began tracking mortgage rates in 1971 that the rate on the 30-year mortgage dropped below 3%. And it is the seventh time so far this year that Freddie Mac’s mortgage rate survey had reported a record low.

    read more

    blankTweet This blankSend to Linkedin blankSend to Facebook

    This message was sent to carlton@brownbiz.net. Visit your subscription management page to unsubscribe or modify your email communication preferences. To update the email address to which this newsletter is sent, please contact your local association.

    Advertising Inquiries: learn how you can advertise in this email newsletter.

    For permission to reprint content from this mailing, please complete this request form.

    Copyright © 2020, All rights reserved.


  • July 16, 2020 16:21 | San Diego Realtist for Democracy in Housing (Administrator)
    Statement by
    Donnell Williams, President
    National Association of Real Estate Brokers Before
    House Financial Services Committee
    Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
    Hearing on Protecting Homeowners During the Pandemic: Oversight of
    Servicers’ Implementation of the CARES Act
    Thursday, July 16, 2020

    Chairman Green, Ranking Member Barr, Chairwoman Waters, and distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today and to discuss the importance of protecting homeowners especially during these difficult times. I also want to thank Chairwoman Maxine Waters for calling this hearing.

    My name is Donnell Williams, I serve as the President of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), the country’s oldest and largest Black real estate trade association. Founded in 1947, our mission, “Democracy in Housing,” has guided our efforts to ensure fair housing practices in neighborhoods across the country, especially in communities of color. I am also the owner of Destiny Realty, a Brokerage firm headquartered in Morristown, NJ.

    COVID 19 Is Disproportionately Affecting Black Homeowners

    It is well documented the COVID-19 pandemic has had a crushing and devastating effect on Black homeowners and caused mass unemployment putting a deep economic strain on many Black borrowers who have worked hard to achieve the “American Dream” of homeownership. As of mid-June 2020, roughly 24% of Black homeowners reported some difficulty making their mortgage payments compared to white homeowners. There is a 13% gap between Black homeowners and white homeowners receiving forbearance under Section 4022 of the CARES Act, which allows borrowers to apply for a forbearance period of up to 360 days.

    Watch the replay HERE 

    Solutions

    In order to address the challenges facing Black homeowners as a result of the pandemic it is imperative that Congress take action to ensure that the congressional and governmental efforts to maintain homeownership are equitable and include Black homeowners. We urge Congress to take the following five actions:

    1. Allocate specific funds targeted to the preservation of Black homeownership.

    2. Provide assistance for mortgage borrowers not covered by the CARES ACT, private mortgage lenders must be required to offer government supported forbearance to their borrowers, comparable to the treatment of government-supported mortgage loans.

    3. Require FHA and all Servicers to notify all borrowers in all communications, including mail, electronic communication and phone calls of their rights to apply for forbearance. Require all Servicers to have dedicated toll-free lines staffed with representatives knowledgeable about their forbearance procedures.

    4. Create a large-scale Public Awareness Initiative. The Federal Government is allocating resources toward building public awareness around the health risks associated with COVID-19. Similar efforts should be made to inform borrowers of their rights.

    5. Ensure that FHA borrowers and GSE borrowers continue to have the same access to mortgage forbearance protections, financial relief, and assistance.

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, whose members are known as Realtists, since its inception has stood for “Democracy in Housing” and we are the guardians of the communities we serve. We will continue to advocate for the preservation and sustainability of homeownership for Black Americans and all Americans. As trusted advisors we are the conscience of the Real Estate industry and want any efforts of Congress to align with NAREB’s declaration of a “Cease and Desist” on the decline of Black homeownership.

    __________________________________

    https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/a-triple-pandemic-the-economic-impacts-of-covid-19-disproportionately-affect-black-and-hispanic-households/


    * * * * *

    Media Contacts:

    Joanne Williams ▪ jlwilliams@barrington-associates.com ▪ 202-364-0024

    Jill Harrison ▪ jsforte2001@yahoo.com ▪ 770-896-8723


  • July 11, 2020 22:12 | San Diego Realtist for Democracy in Housing (Administrator)

    Disabled Veterans' Property Tax Exemptions 

    SD County Assessor_ WCR_ Disabled Veterans.pptx

  • June 30, 2020 11:42 | San Diego Realtist for Democracy in Housing (Administrator)

    As a member benefit, we've received over $800 of education and certifications for FREE through The Five Star Academy. Several of our members have completed a  Master_Certificate.pdf which included the following courses: 

    • Mortgage industry regulatory compliance
    • Legal Practices 
    • Distressed asset disposition
    • Diversity and inclusion


<< First  < Prev   ...   2   3   4   5   6   Next >  Last >> 

Call or Email Us 
Office:

(619) 459-7800

Email: narebsd@gmail.com

Address: 

6904 Federal Blvd, Lemon Grove, CA  91945

(760) 697-0630 / Tax ID# 80-0589116

Tax ID# 80-0589116

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software