Posted on 08/19/2010 9:44:03 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Participation in Sonoma County’s ground-breaking energy retrofit program for homes and businesses has dropped dramatically over the past six weeks, and recently issued federal rules are to blame, county officials said.
Since July 6, when federal housing officials said the retrofit program and others like it posed a risk to the government-chartered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac and ordered a clamp down in lending practices, the average number of weekly applications received by the county’s program has dropped by nearly half; signed contracts are down by a third.
Total applications received in the six-week period this year are down 58 percent from the same period last year. Contracts have dropped 75 percent. More than 20 participants have also pulled out of the program since last month.
“This should be our busy season,” said Liz Yager, program coordinator of the Sonoma County Energy Independence Program. “(But) a number of people we’ve talked to that are interested are in a wait-and-see mode.”
The hesitation stems from the possible repercussions for a home or business owner of signing up with the program, county officials said.
Many could have trouble refinancing their mortgage or selling their house because of new federal rules.
In the extreme case, a program participant could also be considered in default on their mortgage, not because of any mortgage payment problems, but because of the way retrofit money is repaid.
And, just because they live in a county where a retrofit program is offered, Sonoma County’s 100,000 home mortgage holders, most of whom have no connection with the program, could also see their borrowing limits reduced by as much as 10 percent.
“There’s so much uncertainty among people about what actions Freddy (Mac) and Fannie (Mae) might take,” said Yager.
(Excerpt) Read more at pressdemocrat.com ...
I guess the Bummer gang has decided it prefers the kind of green that money is printed with. But this fickle few could have a completely different position without warning.
Government run amok.
Huh? What's the connection here?
they want to bend you over and hitch you up to paying them $600,000 over 30 years on a $100,000 mortgage loan, like some kind of endentured servant
they also want to pile on an extra green energy burden and drag you into their socialist sinkhole
“There’s so much uncertainty among people about what actions Freddy (Mac) and Fannie (Mae) might take,” said Yager.
This seems to be a specialty of this Administration. Tear down a system, pass broadbased legislation to enable the czars and cabinet secretaries to remake their kingdoms and then complain that people won’t gamble enough to get the economy going.
Its complicated...
The county pays for the retrofits through municipal bonds and then places liens on the properties, which owners repay, with interest, through their property tax bill over a 20-year maximum term.
Such liens, like other property tax assessments, take priority over a mortgage if the borrower defaults.
Thanks. But everything you listed is pretty old-school and I don’t see a connection to “new federal rules.” Do you?
Excellent summary of the problem. Through the 7 county North Coast Integrated Regional Water Management Planning group, the Sonoma County plan software, online system and bonding was to be duplicated regionally in Modoc, Siskiyou, Trinity, DelNorte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Napa counties. This move by federal mortgage agencies has put quite a damper on those plans.
The NCIRWMP group had expanded to a secondary focus on energy independence. The feds are dampening development of biomass utilization in this heavily forested area by not recognizing biomass off federal lands as a renewable energy source and by refusing to recognize biomass utilization as a fuel source for carbon credits. Anything the feds can do to screw us and smash us down...
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