Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Tax Relief

Last week, by a vote of 378 to 46, the U.S. House of Representatives extended the income-tax exemption on mortgage debt forgiven in a short sale or a workout for principal residences.The Senate has not yet voted on the measure. 

Please encourage your colleagues to contact their senators if they have not yet done so. NAR will continue to ask members to send messages to senators until the bill is passed or the scheduled end of the Lame Duck session on Friday, December 12.

Take action now, please urge your Senators to pass the Mortgage Forgiveness tax relief bill. The current participation rate for the Houston Association of REALTORS is a mere 4.19%. For the state of Texas, it is 6.61%. We need to be doing better! 

Extend TRIA -Terrorism Risk Insurance Act

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, insurers backed out of the terrorism insurance market place prompting Congress to create a federal reinsurance risk-sharing program the “Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002” (TRIA), which also mandated that insurers make terrorism coverage available along with its property and casualty lines. TRIA will expire at the end of 2014 unless Congress reauthorizes it once again.  Because of the importance of terrorism insurance coverage to commercial real estate, NAR supports the continued availability and affordability of coverage made possible by the federal backstop program of the “Terrorism Risk Insurance Act” and its extensions.

  • TRIA provides stability and creates a viable insurance market, with widely available coverage and affordable premiums, at virtually no cost to taxpayers. 
  • Sustaining a viable private market for terrorism insurance depends on the federal backstop. 
  • If TRIA is allowed to lapse the terrorism insurance market in the U.S. will be disrupted and terrorism insurance coverage will be harder to get and more expensive.

 Take action now and urge the leadership of the House of Representatives to bring up S. 2244 during the lame-duck session of Congress.  Without affordable and available terrorism insurance, commercial real estate financing would be thrown into flux, premium rates would increase dramatically and many commercial properties throughout the country would lose significant value. Take action now to protect our real estate recovery.

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