Government

A bill squeaked by the Senate Thursday that would reverse lower limits for conforming loans backed by the federal government and reinstate the $729,750 threshold until 2013. Lawmakers adopted the amendment to a federal spending measure by a count of 60 to 38, giving backers of the bill the supermajority needed to avoid wrangling over the issue. Multiple news outlets reported that Congress had allowed the higher limits for conforming loans to ease in October despite a massive lobbying effort by companies and trade groups.

Appraisers are faced with challenges on many fronts that require skills well beyond the ability to analyze three comparable sales; Mark Chapin shares his expert advice.

Lawmakers called into doubt the role of the historic 30-year fixed-rate mortgage Thursday, with Senate committee witnesses alternately arguing for and against it. At issue: whether the benchmark loan, available since the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, stabilizes the housing finance system or weakens it. Witnesses alternately upheld and criticized the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, with the former characterizing it a buttress of wealth for homeowners and the latter calling for more consumer choice and clarifying its role in the crisis.

Still-tight credit and failed contracts helped scuttle more hopeful forecasts for total existing-home sales, which fell by 3 percent this month according to NAR's survey.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle introduced a bill in the Senate that would require mortgage lenders to consider energy costs for borrowers when underwriting their federally insured loans. Sen. Michael Bennett and Sen. Johnny Isakson introduced the bill, titled the Sensible Accounting to Value Energy Act, as a way to restore energy cost calculations for government-backed mortgages. Sources in the know tell MReport that the bill could save billions for homeowners and create 83,000 jobs by 2012. A broad coalition backs the legislation.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a new chief officer with the addition of Hubert H. Skip Humphrey III. Joining the CFPB as the head of its Office of Older Americans, Humphrey will now act as the bureau├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós lead advocate for the demographic.

Continuing its legal wrangling with American International Group, Inc., Bank of America Corp. has filed a motion to dismiss Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan as the company's counsel for AIG's $10 billion lawsuit against the financial institution. In its move to disqualify the firm, BAC cited conflict of interest due to partner Marc Becker's previous involvement with the bank's chosen law firm, Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Beating forecasts for lower-than-expected housing starts, builders put up 15 percent more new homes on a seasonally adjusted basis than predicted in September, the most since April 2010. The hitch: Multifamily residential construction drove the numbers. The Commerce Department reported that housing starts in September rose above August estimates for 572,000 units, hitting an annual 658,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. Analysts speaking with MReport say the surge will not sustain itself in the months and years ahead.

In a rare move, 37 state attorneys general backed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director-nominee Richard Cordray in a recent letter of support to Senate party leaders.

In California, home sales were down during September, but data from the month still represents upward movement year-over-year for the third consecutive month. The recent findings from the California Association of Realtors puts the state at what the organization calls a stable level. Closings for escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California transitioned downward to a seasonally adjusted total of 487,940 for September, representing a loss of 2.1 percent from August.