For those folks still holding their breath about whether the Mortgage Forgiveness Tax Relief Act (“the Act”) will be extended, there are strong signs that it will occur. On, Thursday, April 3, 2014, the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. Ron Wyden D-Or, took up the “tax extenders” issue, which includes the Act. “Tax extenders” is a fancy term for political pork served up for certain favored groups that have the ear of various politicians. But rather than being accused of doling out permanent tax breaks for special interests, these perks are created on a “temporary” basis [wink, wink], and then quietly “extended” annually ad infinitum. Continue reading “Will The Mortgage Forgiveness Act Be Extended?”
Has anyone wondered why it is that politicians are always diving for cover during a crisis, but the first to hold hearings and declare an emergency afterwards? Virtually every major law, from Glass-Steagall after the banks collapsed and the Great Depression, to Dodd-Frank after the financial crisis of 2008/9 and the Great Recession, it seems the pols are always rushing to the fire after it’s been put out. Only then do they enact laws to install fire prevention systems. Yet in reality, as we have all seen in the build-up to the recent collapse of the credit and housing markets, there were plenty of warning signs. Why wasn’t anything done then? The answer is pretty simple – sad, but simple. Like flimsy reeds in a stagnant pond, politicians in D.C. only move with the political winds. Continue reading “Politics: The (Real) Oldest Profession”
On January 28, 2014, Sergio Ermotti, chief executive of UBS AG, was fed up. While visiting swanky Davos Switzerland [referred to in a New York Magazine article as “…the annual self-congratulatory kaffeeklatsch known as the World Economic Forum”] he vented. Like Howard Bealle in Network, he was ‘mad as hell and not going to take this anymore!’
What was the object of his angst? He felt that his company was being unfairly picked on. According to the article: Continue reading “Big Bank Bashing – Waahhh!”
OK, the numbers are in for calendar year 2013. In 3Q 2012, for the first time in five years, housing prices actually began to improve, month over month. The trend continued for much of 2013, although slowed during 4Q, which we might expect, given the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays [Memo to PC Police: Sorry for using such anachronistic and sappy terms, but I insist on preserving some semblance of our country’s Judeo-Christian heritage. So sue me!] Sorry, I got sidetracked, where was I? Continue reading “The 2013-2014 Portland-Metro Residential Marketplace – How Are We Doing?”
For those folks experiencing, or about to experience, a “1099 event” resulting from a short sale, deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure or foreclosure in 2014, these are harrowing times. Will Congress extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act and Debt Cancellation law (the “Forgiveness Law”)? It was enacted in 2007 so that homeowners would not be taxed on the cancellation of debt that occurs when they dispose of a home that is “underwater,” i.e. the home’s mortgage exceeds its value. Continue reading “Querin Law Update: Will The Tax Forgiveness Law Be Extended to 2014?”
It’s a New Year! Time to look back from whence we came, and look forward to 2014. ~PCQ
From Infant to Toddler. The Q-Law website site is now four years old. While still a toddler, it now has developed the features and personality of its father – satirical, acerbic, outspoken, contentious, caustic, etc., etc. I couldn’t be a prouder parent! Continue reading “Q-Law Mission Statement: 2014”
A recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal (Andrew Haldane: The Banker Who Cried ‘Simplicity’) bears reading – and re-reading, and re-reading. It goes directly to the point of my recent rant post titled ‘The Volcker Rule: How Complexity Kills Good Ideas’. Mr. Haldane is the Bank of England’s executive director for financial stability, and a master of the metaphor. As the title of the article implies and the text confirms, Mr. Haldane believes that when it comes to the hopelessly complex rules designed to prevent bank failure and ultimately taxpayer bailouts, such as Basel III[1] and the Volcker Rule[2], less is more. Continue reading “The Dog and the Frisbee: A New Approach To Federal Regulation”
“We supported former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker’s simple idea: Don’t let federally insured banks gamble in the securities markets. Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to stand behind Wall Street trading desks. What we can’t support is the “Volcker Rule” that was first distorted in the 2010 Dodd-Frank law and has now been grinded and twisted into 71 pages of text plus 882 more pages of explanation after three years of agency sausage-making.” ~ December 11, 2013 Wall Street Journal Opinion: ‘The Volcker Ambiguity’ Continue reading “The Volcker Rule: How Complexity Kills Good Ideas”
These FAQs were previously located on the FAQ Section of the Q-Law homepage. They have been replaced by another set of frequently asked questions on foreclosures [which will consist of at least three parts and 30+ FAQs]. However, since short sales have not completely disappeared, and aren’t likely to do so for at least another year, I decided to add the short sale FAQs to the Q-Law Real Estate Articles Section of the homepage. The direct link is here. That way, even though short sales are gradually receding in the rearview mirror of memory, folks still in the throws of having to make a distressed housing decision will have another resource. ~PCQ
In Part One of my latest rant blog post, I took a look at the Big Banks and their sordid activities during the securitization heydays of 2005 – 2007/8. But I was just getting warmed up. Part Two discusses how the banks have come to the aid of the prosecutors and courts in presenting themselves as “victims” that suffered “actual losses.” This is patently untrue; the record must be set straight. Part Two is my effort to do so. ~PCQ Continue reading “Big Banks, Loan Fraud, and Moral Equivalence – Part Two”
