FHFA Announces New Program to Help Underwater Homeowners

1. FHFA Announces New Program to Help Underwater Homeowners • The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced new rules that will allow many more “underwater” homeowners to refinance at today’s ultra-low rates. • FHFA estimates up to a million borrowers will use the program, which was originally rolled out in early 2009 and has fallen far short of the number of people it was supposed to help. • Only mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be eligible. • In the past, borrowers who owed only more than 25 percent more than their homes are worth could participate in the program. • Now there is now cap on how much a borrower owes. • Officials hope that by reducing monthly payments, more homeowners will avoid foreclosure and free up more cash to spend on the economy.

2. Two New Features Come to Tempo • A new “Geo Market Area” search will replace the free-form “Market Area” field in Tempo beginning on October 26. • The “Geo Market Area” map will be available on Quick • Search and as a mapping overlay displaying the new • market area boundaries. • When a listing is added to the MLS, Tempo will select • the appropriate market area based on the property’s • location and add it to the listing record. • Online Showing Appointments - Beginning on October 26, agents will be able to schedule showing appointments online from listings in Tempo. • Listings signed up with CSS will direct the online appointment to the CSS online appointment management system. • Listings that utilize the HAR Appointment Manager will send an email to the office email on file with Appointment Manager. • Agents that manage their own appointments and do not use CSS or Appointment Manager will receive an email showing the request at the email on file with HAR. Click map for preview

3. HAR Tool of the Week • HAR Forms Manager • The HAR Forms Manager allows members to • access and download HAR, TREC and TAR forms. • The forms are listed alphabetically, but are also • searchable by form number or form name. • In addition, members may save frequently downloaded forms to “My Forms, making them easily accessible. • To access the Forms Manager, log in to HAR.com with your user name and password, click on “MLS” and under the “MLS Tools” section, select “Forms Manager.”

4. Weekly HAR Market Stat Another week brought yet another strong showing from buyers, who ramped up their purchase activity. Seller activity fell short of the same week last year. Balance is still the name of the game based on months supply, but tides are also shifting elsewhere such as with seller concessions. There could be a pattern emerging as sellers in many local areas are seeing more of their asking price. In the Houston region, for the week ending October 16: • New Listings decreased 10.6% to 1,577 • Pending Sales increased 30.6% to 1,088 • Closed Sales increased 1.9% to 759

5. Open Your Mind to Learning CRS #201 Listing Strategies Register Online at www.har.com/edu • Date: Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 1-2 • Time: 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. • Location: HAR Central • Investment: $275 CRS #111 Short Sales & Foreclosures • Date: Thursday, Nov. 3 • Time: 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. • Location: HAR Central • Investment: $149 Questions? 713-629-1900 ext. 6