joe stegmayer & j.c. strutzel recipients of prestigious awards

Across the Nation
First GSE Reform Bill
Unveiled in Senate
On November 9, 2011, Sen. Bob
Corker (R-TN) introduced legislation
(currently unnumbered) to eliminate
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well
as spur the development of a private
mortgage-backed securities market.
The bill, known as the Mortgage
Market Privatization and
Standardization Act, would gradually
reduce the portfolio of mortgagerelated
assets guaranteed by Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac and take steps
to bring uniformity and transparency to
the housing market. This includes:
Winding Down of Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac: Reduces each
year the percentage of newly issued
mortgage-backed securities’ (MBS)
principal that is guaranteed by Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac. The percentage
guaranteed must be reduced to zero
within 10 years, at which point MBS
will be wholly privatized.
Mortgage Market Transparency:
Creates an industry-financed database
that makes uniform performance and
origination data on mortgages available
to the public through the Federal
Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
Creation of a new TBA Market:
Initiates a process for creating
deliverability rules and technology
necessary for the “to-be announced”
(TBA) futures market with no
government guarantee.
Monetization of Business Assets:
Directs the sale of any technology,
home price indices, and systems
currently owned by the GSEs to private
investors.
Uniform Underwriting Standards:
Replaces the Qualified Residential
Mortgage and risk retention with a five
percent minimum down payment and
full documentation requirement.
Residential Mortgage Market
Uniformity: Creates a uniform
pooling and servicing agreement
(PSA) and a new electronic registration
system (MERS 2) where all loans are
transferred under one system regulated
by the FHFA and instructs federal
regulators to develop uniform practices
and streamline mortgage regulations.
For more information CMHI members
can contact Jason Boehlert at MHI
(703)558-0660 or jboehlert@mfghome.
org.
Source: MHI News Wire – November 15, 2011
Congress Reauthorizes
Program for Preferential
Tax Treatment of Imported
Lumber
After months of delay, manufactured
home builders will now be able
to purchase imported lumber
duty free. On October 21, 2011,
President Obama signed legislation
to reauthorize the U.S. Generalized
System of Preferences (GSP) program
through July 31, 2013. The GSP is
a program that provides preferential
duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products
including lumber, from 129 designated
beneficiary countries and territories.
The GSP program expired December
31, 2010 and while the program has
enjoyed widespread bipartisan support
in Congress, reauthorization was
delayed because of a controversy over
its impact on one U.S. producer of
one product imported from one GSP
beneficiary.
The lapse in the program resulted in
substantial increases (as much as 10
percent) in the cost of plywood and
other lumber material used to build
manufactured and modular homes.
Thanks to Sherry Norris, Executive
Director of the Alabama Manufactured
Housing Association for initiating
a grassroots lobbying effort to
reauthorize the GSP program.
CMHI members can contact Lois
Starkey at MHI (703)558-0654 or
lstarkey@mfghome.org.
Source: MHI Weekly Review – November 4,
2011
NFPA Report Affirms
Manufactured Homes Do
Not Pose Significant Fire
Risk
Page 16
(Arlington, VA – October 27, 2011) –
Last week, the National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA) testified before
a federal advisory committee that
occupants of manufactured homes are
no more likely to die from a fire in their
home than occupants of other single
family homes.
During the Manufactured Housing
Consensus Committee (MHCC)
meeting, the NFPA testified on its
report, Manufactured Home Fires
which concludes that the fire death
rate for homes built to the federal
Manufactured Home Construction
Standards is “comparable” to other
single family homes. NFPA announced
that it published a correction to its
July 2011 report, saying that the
number of deaths from fires per 1,000
manufactured homes is 2.4 percent
not 13.3 percent and is within the
range (2.3 – 2.6 percent) estimated for
other single family homes. In addition,
the report concludes that the rate of
fire injury and the incidents of fires
for manufactured home occupants is
less than for occupants of other single
family homes.
“This report concludes what the
industry and our customers have
known all along. Manufactured
homes are built with consumer safety
considerations first and foremost, and
manufactured homes are built to high
quality, stringent standards to keep
customers safe,” said MHI President
Thayer Long.
MHCC members also heard from
industry representatives, including
a third party inspection agency and
several state regulators that the current
fire safety standards for manufactured
homes are more stringent than for
site built homes constructed to the
International Residential Code (IRC).
Flame spread, egress, and smoke
detector requirements are three
examples.
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