Three consumer protection bills authored by Imperial County’s senator passed out of committee and now head to the state Senate floor.
The three bills by Sen. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, passed the Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee on Wednesday, according to a press release from Vargas’ office. The bills are set to help mitigate some of the negative effects of California’s ongoing mortgage crisis and protect homeowners and homebuyers.
“The ongoing mortgage crisis has affected every single Californian in multiple ways,” Vargas said. “There is nothing we can do to turn back the clock and undo the harm, but there remains much we can do to help get California’s economy and our housing market back on track.
“These measures represent a large step forward in the right direction,” he added. “They inform consumers, protect homeowners and homebuyers, and give state regulators more tools with which to rid the state of those who would defraud and steal from our residents.”
The first bill aims to protect the quality of appraisals and broker price opinions, according to the press release. It works to protect appraisers and real estate licensees that perform broker price opinions from inappropriate attempts to influence their value conclusions.
The bill also prohibits real estate licensees who value real property from knowingly misrepresenting the value of that real property and prohibits appraisers from having conflicts of interest in connection with mortgage loan originations, refinancing and modifications.
The second bill adds safeguards intended to protect consumers who seek out services from real estate licensees, according to the press release.
The final bill would mitigate the unintended consequences of a measure enacted last year to protect borrowers whose lenders agree to short sales, according to the press release. Without the changes, last year’s bill could have the unintended consequence of encouraging commercial lenders to foreclose on their borrowers, rather than agreeing to short sales.
The three bills by Sen. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, passed the Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee on Wednesday, according to a press release from Vargas’ office. The bills are set to help mitigate some of the negative effects of California’s ongoing mortgage crisis and protect homeowners and homebuyers.
“The ongoing mortgage crisis has affected every single Californian in multiple ways,” Vargas said. “There is nothing we can do to turn back the clock and undo the harm, but there remains much we can do to help get California’s economy and our housing market back on track.
“These measures represent a large step forward in the right direction,” he added. “They inform consumers, protect homeowners and homebuyers, and give state regulators more tools with which to rid the state of those who would defraud and steal from our residents.”
The first bill aims to protect the quality of appraisals and broker price opinions, according to the press release. It works to protect appraisers and real estate licensees that perform broker price opinions from inappropriate attempts to influence their value conclusions.
The bill also prohibits real estate licensees who value real property from knowingly misrepresenting the value of that real property and prohibits appraisers from having conflicts of interest in connection with mortgage loan originations, refinancing and modifications.
The second bill adds safeguards intended to protect consumers who seek out services from real estate licensees, according to the press release.
The final bill would mitigate the unintended consequences of a measure enacted last year to protect borrowers whose lenders agree to short sales, according to the press release. Without the changes, last year’s bill could have the unintended consequence of encouraging commercial lenders to foreclose on their borrowers, rather than agreeing to short sales.
