I received an email in regards to HR 1728 as I am involved in moving land that is not being used for our alternative energy projects. In this market we have had to get creative and owner finance on some of our deals so that we could move the land. Now it looks like I won’t be able to do that again. What the hell is going on in this country?

I would love to hear feedback from others about this info. I find it very interesting how much democratic power is behind the bill!!

The U.S. Senate is considering a bill that would severely limit the way you do business as a creative investor and, more importantly, is an inexcusable infringement of the property rights of all Americans.

HR 1728, which you can view in its entirety here: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1728

It covers a lot of different topics but here’s the important part. You will NOT be able to sell more than 1 property with owner financing every 3 years!

Their definition of Seller financing includes land contract, owner-held mortgage or wrap-around mortgage-and who knows if they’ll define lease/options as owner financing, too?

It means that you will have to comply with a long, confusing, and penalty-filled piece of national legislation. Here are the types of transactions that you would be restricted from doing more than once every 36 months:

– Selling YOUR OWN HOME using a land contract or owner-held mortgage so that you can get a quicker sale, higher sale price, or better rate of interest than is available in other investments

– Carrying back owner-held second mortgages on investment properties that you sell

– Doing any kind of installment sale on residential properties including homes, condos, mobile homes, and even raw land that is zoned residential

The bottom line is, this law has to be stopped and it has to be stopped NOW. Here’s why:

1. Congress is trying to regulate the wrong thing. The deals we make are not “loans”-they don’t involve the transfer of money, or points or closing costs or adjustable rates or any of the other things that caused the mortgage crisis to begin with. They are INSTALLMENT SALES. We don’t give money to the “borrower” and wait for it to be paid back: we give a property to the borrower and wait for it to be paid off. Regulating this will have no effect on the foreclosure crisis

2. It is a completely unacceptable infringement on private property rights. When I own a piece of property and find a ready, willing, and able purchaser, I should be able to control the sale of that property within the existing laws of my state, which already regulate the interest rate that I am able to charge and some of the terms of the sale. The government does not have the right to tell us that we need special licensing to sell our own properties; nor do they have the right to further regulate the terms under which we can sell or burden small investors with a new set of rules that we can’t comply with.

Not only will this new law, if passed as written, effectively choke off owner financing as an exit strategy for you, it will also take away housing choice for your buyers. The millions of Americans who’ve been through foreclosure in the last 3 years can’t buy a house in any way OTHER THAN to negotiate owner financing with a seller-and HR 1728 would greatly reduce the number of properties available in this way. Millions of potential home owners who would otherwise be able to re-start the process of paying off a home, and get the tax advantages of ownership, will be reduced to renting until they are able to qualify for bank financing.
What to Do Right Now

This bill has already passed the House and is waiting for Senate approval. Please contact your senator via email, Fax or US mail and let them know that this law MUST NOT PASS in its current form.