The Charleston, South Carolina area is a great place to live or have a vacation home. The weather is great, the beaches are fantastic, golf courses are abundant, there are many historical sites, the architecture is unbelievable, the dining is unbeatable, and the people are the friendliest in the country. It is because of these reasons that I believe Charleston SC Real Estate is truly unique. I look forward to helping you with any of your Charleston SC Real Estate needs in Charleston, Berkeley, or Dorchester counties. Today’s article is titled:
NAR Still Advocates Flood Insurance Reform
The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® said today it was pleased that Congress passed and the president signed into law a one-year extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for before it expires tomorrow, but still believes a longer extension and reforms are needed to provide fairness and continuity to the NFIP.
The NFIP authority was set to expire on Sept. 30 for the ninth time in two years; Congress has approved eight short-term extensions during this time. The new law, signed last night by President Obama, extends the program until Sept. 30, 2011.
“While this extension will help purchasers close their transactions for the next 12 months, these stop-gap measures have created great uncertainty in many real estate markets. That’s especially true when deadlines near because lenders have refused to lend based on promises and indications of extensions, which paralyze the market for indefinite periods. A long-term extension of five years will bring stability to the markets,” says NAR President Vicki Cox Golder.
Golder thanked Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), and David Vitter (R-La.) for introducing the extension bill, as well as the leadership of both the House and Senate for expediting its passage.
“Now that Congress has given us some breathing room, we need to move ahead with long-term reauthorization reforms,” Golder said. “As the leading advocate for homeownership and housing issues, NAR also strongly supports strengthening the NFIP’s solvency through outreach and education programs that would help raise participation beyond the current 50 percent of home owners in federally designated flood areas. The increase in participants would boost funding for the NFIP, help property owners recover from flood losses, and decrease future federal assistance when uninsured properties flood and suffer loss.”
Adding types of coverage for living expenses, business interruption, and replacement cost of contents, as well as updating coverage limits — which haven’t been adjusted since 1994 — would also help increase participation.
NAR also favors extending and fully funding the pilot program to mitigate properties that have repeatedly suffered insured flood losses.
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"Carolina Joe" Idleman
http://www.charlestonscrealestateforsale.com
Source: NAR (10/1/2010)
