Conference Committee agrees to relax seller financing rules

HR 4173, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 was sent to Conference Committee on June 24, 2010 so the differences in the House version of the bill and the Senate version of the bill could be reconciled.

Fortunately, some of the contacts that we made during our Day on the Hill event were appointed to the Committee and they took our concerns with them to the bargaining table. While our goal of having the any language pertaining to seller financing removed was not met, the Conference was successful in increasing the previous limit of one sale per every 36 months to 3 sales per every year.

There is certainly still legislation on the table that could impact our industry if passed, but now that we’ve seen some success in our calls to voice our collective concerns we should be reinvigorated in our efforts to protect our own livelihoods.

NEW LEAD PAINT REGULATIONS

New EPA Lead Regulations will affect Landlords, Renovators, and Investors. There is a new EPA program called “Renovate Right” that takes effect April 22, 2010 and applies to virtually every housing provider and trades contractor in the country, with some narrowly drawn exceptions. The penalty for a single violation can be up to $35,000. There is a lot to know about these new regulations and we encourage you to view the links and documents below:

http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovation.htm

http://www.epa.gov/EPA-TOX/2008/June/Day-26/t14507.htm

Read everything and download what you need for printing and study.

Also, the Student Manual and Instructor Manual for the New Lead Paint regulations can be found below.

Student Manual EPA-740-R-09-002 (312 pages)

http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/rrp_8hr_studentmanual_feb09.pdf

Instructor Manual EPA-740-R-09-001 (434 pages)

http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/rrrp_8hr_instructormanual_feb09.pdf

Please feel free to view the following PDF Documents for additional information regarding Lead Paint regulations.

Renovate Right Program Description

Small Entity Compliance Guide to Renovate Right: EPA’s Lead-Based Paint Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program