Skip to main content

  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 12/19/13
    First Name: Doug
    Last Name: Juenke
    Organization: For Sale By Owner Real Estate, Inc.
    City: N/A
    State: N/A
    Attachment: N/A
    Number: 2013-N-18

  • Comment

    Hello FHFA,
    You guys have to be kidding us professional REALTORS that make a living by selling real estate. With typical bureaucratic idiocity you guys are trying to fix a problem that does not exist. The loan limits were not and have not been identified as a reason for the housing market meltdown. In California lowering the amount will effectively eliminate an ENTIRE class of buyers ( some of whom may be rebuilding their lives after losing everything a couple years earlier ) that do not have the larger down payments that will be needed for the conforming loan amounts. As a recent article pointed out, the amount of down had nothing to do with the default rates but rather credit SCORES were a bigger indicator. In my area of far northern California our max is going to be $267,000 down from $417,000 which means that many homes listed for sale above that number are now going to lose a large chunk of their buyers thereby impacting the stability of our market. I have heard the same complaints from agents all around the state. We have all become accustomed to the limits as they have been for years and can work within those guidelines. For you to arbitrarily out of the blue change something that was not a problem is going to severely impact the market at a time when a light was coming on in our tunnel.
    You guys want to derail the housing market ( at least in California, and by default the country) then implement this idiotic idea that you have right at the time we are about to be hit by rising interest rates (with the newly announced reduction in the FED bond buying program) , Obama Care and QRM, & QM. If you honestly think that making it harder to sale real estate in our country is a good idea with an economy that is still stuck on full stop then go ahead and implement, but as a REALTOR I urge you to rethink your decision and postpone indefinitely any reduction of FHA loan limits and let us get adjusted to the new world and what it is bringing in 2014. If you choose to continue be prepared for unintended consequences of a slowing and stalled housing market.
    DO NOT LOWER THE LIMITS PLEASE, THERE IS ENOUGH UNCERTAINTY THAT WE DO NOT NEED YOU TO ADD TO IT!

    Thank You,
    Doug Juenke-Broker
    2014 CAR Region 2 Chair