Hamlet
Elite Member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2006
- Professional Status
- Certified Residential Appraiser
- State
- Ohio
To: Our colleagues
Re: Thank you for speaking up about the HVCC
From: David Biggers, Chairman, a la mode, inc.
Prior to the April 30th deadline for commentary on the proposed HVCC regulations, I wrote you asking for your help in alerting our government officials and the private sector to the damages which would be brought onto the real estate industry if the HVCC was implemented as written.
Amazingly, more than 31,000 of you responded within 48 hours. That exceeded our projections by tens of thousands. Frankly, I would have been pleased if 5,000 of you spoke up. But 31,000 in such a short time is absolutely unprecedented, and it’s gotten the attention of the people in D.C. and New York involved in the HVCC’s drafting and implementation.
The response spanned all sectors of the industry. Over 17,000 appraisers, more than 10,000 mortgage brokers, and more than 3,000 real estate agents signed up and forwarded comments on to the powers that be. Over 500 lenders even added their voices, as did hundreds of attorneys, homeowners, title agents, and more. Plus, nearly 12,000 of you added your own comments to our pre-written appeal to reconsider the regulations.
And rest assured, we delivered your words. By the April 30th deadline, we printed and delivered to OFHEO, Fannie, Freddie, and the New York Attorney General’s office a massive shipment of 127,169 pages of letters.
It’s a good thing that we printed and physically mailed them, because the e-mail servers at OFHEO and Freddie Mac almost immediately began blocking your messages. To Fannie Mae’s credit, they initially blocked the e-mails, but then proactively called us, worked out a solution, and subsequently accepted all of your letters. We’re going to assume based on Fannie Mae’s professionalism that they will pass the comments on to OFHEO as promised. To make it easier for them to incorporate your ideas, and to contact you if needed, we also delivered a CD to each entity with all of your suggestions and contact information in convenient database format.
You can read more details of the HVCC protest, and the full text of the critique that our law firm in D.C. sent (along with other letters submitted to OFHEO), in our AppraisalPress newspaper website at http://www.appraisalpress.com/news/hvcc. Look it over and tell us what you think.
But, I don’t want this “thank you” letter to mislead you – while it’s nice to see such response to our call to action, the fight to stop the HVCC is far from over. You’ll be seeing more from us in the coming days, because we now need to help you get the word directly to your members of Congress, in written form, by phone, and ultimately in face to face visits, as Congress comes home over Memorial Day weekend. You will receive an alert shortly with information on when and how to contact your members of Congress. There will be local media opportunities as well, as we outline the local economic impacts and provide you with key talking points to get their attention.
The bottom line is that solutions are clearly needed in response to the problems which have plagued the mortgage industry, but the HVCC is the wrong regulation, done the wrong way, at the wrong time.
Thank you for reading our bulletins and newspaper, for speaking up, and for the kind words you’ve sent our way in this fight. With your help, we’ll continue to do our best to protect our industry and our nation’s homebuyers at the same time.
Dave Biggers
Chairman
a la mode, inc.
P.S. This just came in – obviously, Fannie Mae received and is acknowledging the comments we passed on: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008051503?OpenDocument
Re: Thank you for speaking up about the HVCC
From: David Biggers, Chairman, a la mode, inc.
Prior to the April 30th deadline for commentary on the proposed HVCC regulations, I wrote you asking for your help in alerting our government officials and the private sector to the damages which would be brought onto the real estate industry if the HVCC was implemented as written.
Amazingly, more than 31,000 of you responded within 48 hours. That exceeded our projections by tens of thousands. Frankly, I would have been pleased if 5,000 of you spoke up. But 31,000 in such a short time is absolutely unprecedented, and it’s gotten the attention of the people in D.C. and New York involved in the HVCC’s drafting and implementation.
The response spanned all sectors of the industry. Over 17,000 appraisers, more than 10,000 mortgage brokers, and more than 3,000 real estate agents signed up and forwarded comments on to the powers that be. Over 500 lenders even added their voices, as did hundreds of attorneys, homeowners, title agents, and more. Plus, nearly 12,000 of you added your own comments to our pre-written appeal to reconsider the regulations.
And rest assured, we delivered your words. By the April 30th deadline, we printed and delivered to OFHEO, Fannie, Freddie, and the New York Attorney General’s office a massive shipment of 127,169 pages of letters.
It’s a good thing that we printed and physically mailed them, because the e-mail servers at OFHEO and Freddie Mac almost immediately began blocking your messages. To Fannie Mae’s credit, they initially blocked the e-mails, but then proactively called us, worked out a solution, and subsequently accepted all of your letters. We’re going to assume based on Fannie Mae’s professionalism that they will pass the comments on to OFHEO as promised. To make it easier for them to incorporate your ideas, and to contact you if needed, we also delivered a CD to each entity with all of your suggestions and contact information in convenient database format.
You can read more details of the HVCC protest, and the full text of the critique that our law firm in D.C. sent (along with other letters submitted to OFHEO), in our AppraisalPress newspaper website at http://www.appraisalpress.com/news/hvcc. Look it over and tell us what you think.
But, I don’t want this “thank you” letter to mislead you – while it’s nice to see such response to our call to action, the fight to stop the HVCC is far from over. You’ll be seeing more from us in the coming days, because we now need to help you get the word directly to your members of Congress, in written form, by phone, and ultimately in face to face visits, as Congress comes home over Memorial Day weekend. You will receive an alert shortly with information on when and how to contact your members of Congress. There will be local media opportunities as well, as we outline the local economic impacts and provide you with key talking points to get their attention.
The bottom line is that solutions are clearly needed in response to the problems which have plagued the mortgage industry, but the HVCC is the wrong regulation, done the wrong way, at the wrong time.
Thank you for reading our bulletins and newspaper, for speaking up, and for the kind words you’ve sent our way in this fight. With your help, we’ll continue to do our best to protect our industry and our nation’s homebuyers at the same time.
Dave Biggers
Chairman
a la mode, inc.
P.S. This just came in – obviously, Fannie Mae received and is acknowledging the comments we passed on: http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008051503?OpenDocument
