According to Yellen, former Chair of the Federal Reserve, independent mortgage companies made risky "higher-priced" loans at more than twice the rate of the banks and thrifts; most CRA loans were responsibly made, and were not the "higher-priced" loans that have contributed to the current crisis.[126][130][131] During a 2008 House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the financial crisis, including in relation to the Community Reinvestment Act, when asked if the CRA provided the "fuel" for increasing subprime loans, former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines said it might have been a catalyst encouraging bad behavior, but it was difficult to know.

Harry Osterman, 48th, who chairs the City Council’s Housing & Real Estate Committee, put it to Crain’s on Monday.

:mrgreen: You can be on that committee Eddie and make the sales videos.

I had one home in a very strict HOA that required submitting "all visible changes" like exterior paint, roof repairs, and even landscaping improvements to a design committee that met only once a month!

I have a whole box full from when I was a member of our local Active Transportation Committee.  

Would be fun to torment them via committee

My local banker uses my relationship with their bank as a way to get my loans approved when he takes my loan to the committee and tries to sell to his board why they should take my loan.Money sitting in an account might be dumb given inflation and IRR arguments but relationships will lead to deals, the ability to do deals, etc. 

It is pretty much non-existent in my company unless you are a part of the executive leadership committee (even then I would argue the effort portion is significantly smaller than their reward portion) but its better than where I am. 

The bill goes before the Transportation, Housing and Local Government committee on March 1.

That is when it goes to committee and then the VP or President comes back and says real rate and term is XYZ and buyer has already spent big funds up until that point.