State Rep. Paul Opsommer today introduced legislation to help protect struggling Michigan homeowners from additional fees and criticized the governor for not taking an active role supporting other existing homeowner relief efforts.
Opsommer said many potential Michigan laws have been introduced to help with the mortgage meltdown, but they remain stalled in legislative committees by those waiting on a “federal solution.”
“Michigan should not continually wait for federal handouts to try to provide relief for our state’s homeowners,” said Opsommer, R-DeWitt. “We need to take the bull by the horns and lead by example. If we want help, we first have to show that we are willing to help ourselves.”
Some pro-homeowner measures, such as an effort to increase credits to offset property taxes, were the very first laws introduced for this legislative session but have languished since January 2009.
Opsommer’s new bills, House Bills 6402 and 6413, are steps that can be taken to make an important difference to help homeowners trying to keep up with mortgage payments or reversing foreclosure. Opsommer warned particularly of a new fee gaining popularity in other states that he does not want to see gain traction in Michigan.
“HB 6402 prohibits so called ‘residential transfer’ or ‘capital recovery’ fees, where every time an original or subsequent owner sells a home they have to pay 1 percent of the total transaction to the original developer for a period lasting 99 years,” Opsommer said. “That is utter nonsense that strips away hard earned equity from homeowners. When you voluntarily pay a real estate agent to sell your home, you are getting a service. But these new developer fees just pick homeowner’s pockets and would amount to the loss of $2,000 on the sale of a $200,000 home.”
Ohio recently became the 11th state to outlaw the new fees, which are most often inserted into the fine print of subdivision covenants.
HB 6413 is designed to help homeowners reclaim foreclosed property. Some homeowners have been charged up to $350 just to find out how much money it would take to reclaim their home or have never been given the needed information at all.
“We have the ability to fix these loopholes, save homeowners money, and protect them from deceptive fees,” Opsommer said. “But the longer we wait on Washington for answers ends up being time lost for passing laws of our own.”