Zorell's Industry Updates

***ATTENTION FIRST TIME HOMEBUYERS***

Zorell Is Proud To Offer The C.A.R. Mortgage Protection Program

To help provide first-time home buyers with peace of mind when purchasing a home, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Housing Affordability Fund (C.A.R.H.A.F.) is offering a mortgage protection program to first-time home buyers.

Through the C.A.R. Housing Affordability Fund’s Mortgage Protection Program, first-time home buyers who lose their jobs due to layoffs may be eligible to receive up to $1,500 per month, for six months, to help make their mortgage payments. A qualified co-buyer also can participate in the program, and receive a monthly benefit of $750 per month for up to six months to help pay the mortgage.

To qualify for the Mortgage Protection Program, Applicants must:

1.       Be a first-time home buyer – someone who has not owned property in the last three years (includes co-buyer).

2.       Open escrow April 2, 2009, or later, and close on or before Dec. 31, 2009 (purchase agreement cannot be dated before April 2, 2009)

3.       Use a California REALTOR® in the transaction

4.       Purchase the property in California

5.       Be a W-2 employee (cannot be self-employed)

Click Here for C.A.R. Application

For additional Mortgage Protection Coverage – Click Here

On August 17, 2009, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a release (the "New Proposal")¹ announcing that it had (i) re-opened the comment period on its prior release proposing alternative means for potentially regulating short sale price tests (the "Prior Proposal")² and (ii) proposed an additional price test for commenters' consideration (an "alternative uptick rule"). The comment period for both the New Proposal and the Prior Proposal will end 30 days after the New Proposal is published in the Federal Register.

Unlike the price tests of the Prior Proposal, which limited the ability of a short-seller to sell short based on the current bid or sale price in relation to previous bid or sale prices, the newly proposed alternative uptick rule would require that all short sales be made at an increment higher than the current national best bid for the security.³ In the New Proposal, the SEC acknowledged that this requirement would place a higher burden on short selling than the previously proposed alternatives but indicated that it might be simpler and less costly to implement. The SEC held open the possibility of implementing the alternative tick test either as a market-wide price test or as a circuit breaker; the SEC also noted that it might call for a "policies and procedures" approach or a flat prohibition.

The issuance of the New Proposal and the SEC's upcoming roundtable scheduled for September 30, 2009, suggest that short sale regulation will remain in flux in the United States for at least the near term. News and links provided by www.mayerbrown.com. 

Contact us with any short sale questions! 

-Zorell