HB 2639 Defeated in the Oregon Senate

Just a quick update, but it appears HB 2639 was defeated in the Oregon Senate today on a 15-15 vote. This was the bill that would require Oregon landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers and would not allow landlords to refuse renting to Section 8 tenants. 

Deeds in Oregon

If you want to transfer your interest in real property, you must do so in writing. The document used to transfer interest is called a deed. 

There are four types of commonly used deeds in Oregon and each transfers property differently. These are:

> Warranty Deed; 

> Special warranty deed;

> Bargain and sale deed; and

> Quitclaim deed.

A Warranty Deed expressly warrants that title is good. This means that you will guarantee you own the property free and clear except for conditions specifically listed in the deed. 

A Special Warranty Deed is most often used in fulfillment of a land sale contract and is similar to a warranty deed except the person selling only warrants their own actions. 

A Bargain and Sale Deed transfers the title or interest you have at the time of the transfer or later acquire. However, it does not give any warranty that your title is good. 

A Quitclaim Deed transfers property but does not warrant that title is good. This deed is also referred to as a deed without covenants. 

These are not all the deeds used in Oregon, but does illustrate the difference in the most commonly used deeds to transfer title in Oregon.  

CC

Hawaii County Tax Sale

Hawaii County has just posted their property tax sale list on their website. If you ever were interested in owning property in Hawaii, now might be the time to bid at the auction. I like to use my self-directed IRA to buy tax liens.  

Testifying at Legislative Committee Meeting today

I will be providing testimony today at the Oregon House Committee on Human Services and Housing at 3:00 pm. The first hearing for HB 2639, which would require all landlords in Oregon to accept Section 8 Housing Vouchers, will be in Room HR-D and should show strong opposition from several real estate investing organizations across the State.

The hearing will stream live on the Oregon State Legislature website at www.leg.state.or.us. Click on the Audio/Visual link on the top in the page and choose Capital Hearing Room D.

Cody

Committee Hearing on SB 555

Senate Bill 555, which will require mortgage loan servicers to have a mediation session with their borrowers before initiating a foreclosure, either a judicial or non-judicial foreclosure, will have a senate committee meeting later today. The meeting is scheduled to start at 3:00 PDT, and is streaming live at www.leg.state.or.us/listn.

This bill expands the Foreclosure Avoidance Mediation Program to judicial foreclosures and makes some technical changes to clarify the mediation process.

Cody

State of Oregon Legislative Measures

The State of Oregon Legislature is active in session at this time. Two bills currently in consideration are of particular interest for those involved in real estate.

The first bill, Senate Bill 558, doesn't really have much impact to real estate investors, but does have an impact on mortgage loan servicers when initiating a foreclosure process. First of all, a little history.

In the summer of 2012, two events occurred within a week of each other that had a substantial impact on mortgage loan servicers. First off, SB 1552 was passed in the 2012 Session and became law in July 2012. That bill, called the Foreclosure Avoidance Measure, required servicers to, among other things, to enter into mediation with the grantor (borrower) for the purpose of negotiating a foreclosure avoidance. The second event was that an Oregon Appellate Court basically stated that the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS, did not follow the Oregon non-judicial foreclosure laws, therefore nullifying, in most cases, a servicers right to foreclose if the beneficiary of the loan was listed as MERS. There is a lot to this case and I don't intend to discuss if in detail here.

Bottom line, is that most servicers took the approach they didn't want to go through a mediation with the borrower, and if the non-judicial systems wasn't working, then they would file a lawsuit with the courts and go down the judicial foreclosure path.

What SB1552 failed to anticipate was the change of servicers moving to judicial foreclosures. The mediation requirement was only necessary if they were attempting to foreclose non-judicially, so servicers could avoid the mediation requirement by filing in the courts.

What Senate Bill 558 hopes to cure is that loop hold, requiring servicers to engage in a mediation process before filing a judicial foreclosure.

For those that like to read the text of proposed state laws, here is a link to SB 558.

http://www.leg.state.or.us/13reg/measpdf/sb0500.dir/sb0558.intro.pdf


The second bill of interest is House Bill 2639. This bill, called the Housing Choice Act of 2013, has the potential for significant impact to real estate investors. As indicated in the summary of the bill, the bill "redefines "source of income" for purposes of prohibiting discrimination in selling, renting or leasing real property." Meaning, if you are a landlord, you can no longer refuse to rent to anyone that holds a valid Section 8 voucher.

I'm going to let you dwell on that for a while as I gather more information on the potential impact and what the thoughts are from landlords around the state. In the interim, rather than think about what types of tenants that could bring, the higher position is what additional administrative costs this will bring, the potential to increase vacancies as the wait for unit inspections protracts due to lack of inspectors, the additional costs to landlords for repairs and requirements of the HUD program, and many other things. Your thoughts?

Oh, here is a link to that bill:

http://www.leg.state.or.us/13reg/measpdf/hb2600.dir/hb2639.intro.pdf

So, add your comments. I'll be back soon with more information.

Cody

I'm baaaccckkkk!!!!

After a considerable time away from this blog, I've decided to return. I look forward to providing quality content on real estate investing, and in particular my business, Northwest Property Option.

We're just back from the National REIA Winter Meetings, which happened to be on the Adventure of the Seas. While my tan is fading, my enthusiasm for real estate investing hasn't. Check back often and grow with me as this business grows.

Thalk to you soon.

Cody