The loans are not restricted to lower-income applicants and borrowers who pay a small insurance premium will be eligible for an interest rate almost as low as the best qualified home buyers.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conforming loan limits have also increased.  Single-family mortgages priced up to $523,750 will be available at lower interest rates than in the recent past when jumbo loans above $417,000 carried a higher interest rate.  Importantly, the new higher Fannie and Freddie conforming loan limits are temporary and only apply to loans made between July 1, 2007 and December 31, 2008.

Loan limits for 2 and 3 family homes have also been increased in the five county Metro Boston region to $670,500 and $810,450 respectively.  The new loan limits apply to FHA and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conforming loans.

So how do you communicate the benefits to your clients?  To help you do so, the National Association of REALTORS® has launched a new web page – What Economic Stimulus Means for REALTORS® - devoted to educating you and your clients about the benefits of increased loan limits, loan eligibility and temporary loan increases.

Attorney General Martha Coakley filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court last week against Quincy-based mortgage broker Lehi Mortgage Services, Inc.

According to Coakley, Lehi fraudulently procured mortgage loans by providing lenders with asset and income information that was fabricated or inflated.  Her office is seeking an injunction to prohibit Lehi from acting as a mortgage broker, civil penalties and reimbursement of the Commonwealth’s costs and attorney’s fees.

Coakley’s office has obtained a temporary restraining order to prevent Lehi from destroying documents related to mortgage loans and prohibiting Lehi from transferring or disposing of company assets.  The restraining order is in place until March 14 at which time a hearing will take place to determine if an injunction will be granted. 

According to the complaint filed, Lehi violated the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act by:

• soliciting, arranging and submitting loan applications to lenders that it knew or should have known, contained false or inflated asset and income information;

• failing to make timely and accurate mortgage disclosures as required by law;

•  violating the Division of Bank’s regulations by providing loan applicants with “pre-approval” letters.

The case is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Gabriel O’Malley of Coakley’s Consumer Protection Division.

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Greg Vasil, CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB), attended a meeting last week to discuss the creation of a statewide working group to examine how the fire service, public safety agencies, state and local government, and the private sector can work together to better identify, track, and safely secure abandoned and vacant buildings and protect neighborhoods.  The meeting was sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services and the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.
 
Based upon historical fire incident data, the state Department of Fire Services and local fire officials are concerned about a repeat of past trends of dramatic increases in arson activity involving distressed properties.   In 2006, 52 percent of vacant building fires in Massachusetts were residential buildings. 
 
The working group would target properties that are vacant with no viable owner, unsecured and accessible.  Vacant or abandoned properties – such as those that have been foreclosed – impact the crime level, safety and image of communities.  The structure of the buildings also deteriorates after time and poses hazards to fire fighters.
 
To deal with the problem, the group would need interdepartmental cooperation, then identify properties with a potential for abandonment, evaluate and mark vacant and abandoned properties, and enforce codes to prevent deterioration. 
 
Notably, to track data for foreclosed, vacant and abandoned buildings, the Massachusetts Division of Banks is creating a foreclosures database slated to take effect in May of this year.  The database would be used to target properties that show early warning signs of abandonment – such as previous fires, a history of back taxes, unabated housing code violations, decreased utility usage, etc.

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If you missed GBAR’s REALTOR® of the Year awards ceremony last year, you definitely don’t want to this year.  Mark your calendars for Tuesday, June 24 for the event, which is taking place in the Wharf Room at the Boston Harbor Hotel.  There will be a cocktail reception, a silent auction, dinner and the announcement of the 2008 award recipients.  Afterward, dance the night away outside to a blues band playing on the waterfront. 

The awards being presented this year are REALTOR® of the Year (ROTY), the Andrew F. Hickey Distinguished Service Award (DSA) and for the first time, the GBAR Good Neighbor Award.  Nominations for the Good Neighbor Award must be in by April 15 while nominations for the ROTY and DSA must be submitted by May 15.  Further details can be found on the nomination forms, which can be accessed by clicking the above links.  If you have any questions, please contact Christina Meehan at cmeehan@gbreb.com or at (617) 399-7840.

We are looking forward to another successful event – see you soon!

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John Bastian of Careful Carriers Moving Services, LLC in Belmont
Paul Carlberg & Kimberly Otte of etfile in Westborough
Margherita Ciampa-Coyne of First American Title Insurance Co. in Boston
Derek Deveau & Gregory Greene of Matthew Ferrara & Co. in Methuen
Tim Flaherty of Store to Door, LLC in Woburn
Thomas Holmes-LaFever of Staging Holmes, Inc. in Waltham
James Loscocco of Murphy & Lewis, Attorneys in Holliston
William McLeod of McLeod Law Offices, PC in Boston
Sheila Selby of On the Move Interiors in Brookline
Chris Hobin of Comcast Spotlight in Wellesley
Daniel Sancomb of KeySpan Energy in Waltham

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At GBAR he will be responsible for staffing the brokerage counseling hotline, implementing risk management programs and services for members and providing counsel during professional standards cases.  In addition, Mullen will oversee the Greater Boston Real Estate Board’s Forms library and e-forms product, provide continuing education instruction and develop new training materials and risk reduction tools.

The broker/owner of his own real estate practice over the past seven years, Mullen previously served as director of the real estate licensing school for Carlson/GMAC Real Estate.  He has been an attorney for more than 20 years, is a certified real estate mediator and a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association.  Finally, Mullen is a member of the Real Estate Educators Association having developed and taught numerous real estate continuing education courses in the Bay State.  We are happy to have him aboard and look forward to his positive contributions to the association.

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GBREB’s e-Forms provider Instanet Solutions recently announced its integration with Lone Wolf’s brokerage management system, the Realty Management System (RMS).  The integration will allow users of RMS to pre-populate RMS transaction files from Instanet Forms, thus eliminating the need to repopulate data such as property address, transaction principles, dates, sales prices, etc.  Additionally, Instanet and Lone Wolf integrate with many MLS and public records sources, so in many cases no one in a brokerage will need to type in a property address and other primary information when creating or managing a listing or sale file.

As a reminder, an updated version of e-Forms is available to all GBAR members.  GBAR members now have access to both the existing version of the software that they have been using since 2002, as well as the updated, enhanced version of the e-Forms operating platform.  Members may use either version, as content entered into one version should automatically populate in the other.  There is no additional cost to access the new version of the platform.  Please note that in many circumstances the latest version of e-Forms will require you to upgrade to Adobe Reader version 8.0, which is free and can be done online.  For questions contact Instanet at 1-800-668-8768.

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