Several states (NY, CO, IL) are considering foreclosure legislation aimed at curtailing foreclosure “rescue scams”. If you believe the stories in the media, you’d think there’s investors stealing houses from little old ladies on a daily basis. Any investor knows there are 2 sides to every story, and that most deals that are made with homeowners in foreclosure ultimately fail because the homeowner doesn’t do as promised (big surprise, the reason they are in foreclosure is they defaulted on their loan).
I think legislation is not necessarily a BAD thing. Surely there are some real criminals out there bilking homeowners and giving our industry a bad name. Unfortunately, like with politicians, mortgage brokers, realtors and YES ATTORNEYS, the few bad eggs become the poster chidren for the entire industry.
The general problem here is that the people pushing these bills are well organized. They are “consumer groups” that generally feel it is the government’s job to regulate businesses and makes thousands of new laws to protect people from their stupidity. OK, I digress… the idea here is that real estate investors are a very large part of the American public and we have lots of funds to win the fight IF we organize. Ahhh, the beauty of politics!!
The important thing to do is GET INVOLVED EARLY. The Maryland foreclosure law, which is a disaster, passed almost without a fight. Colorado is now drafting legislation, which we have been participating in, and will ultimately come out with a good law that will punish the bad guys without overly burdening the rest of us.
We owe a big thanks to the National Association of Responsible Home Rebuilders & Investors (NARHRI.org) for their lobbying efforts. Once we got the ear of our legislators, they were very sympathetic to our needs.
I would highly recommend that everyone join www.NARHRI.org to help fund the fight. They are monitoring legislation around the Country and helping get us access to the people making the laws. Even if you are not in one of the states considering legislation, it is STILL important you help in the fight. When it comes to making new laws, it’s “monkey see, monkey do”. If we help shape good legislation in a few states, we can use that as a model to lobby for similar laws when YOUR state considers legislation.
It’s your livelihood at stake, so do the American thing - get involved!