In my view, this legislation is entirely unconstitutional. In five different places, the US Constitution expressly dictates that the government’s duty is to protect and to defend a citizens right to their life, liberty and property.

Yet, under the guise of consumer protection, our rights to contract are violated and we are treated as children by Big Brother. Our rights to do with our property as we see fit has long been under attack. Consumer protection, environmentalism and regional planning have long been used as straw men to strip US of our ability to utilize our property. This, to the benefit of increasing government control over US while still making US responsible for the land.

Fascism is defined as CONTROL of the means of production. We still own the asset so we feel obligated to take care of it. However, the government tells us to whom we can rent, government dictates the amount of rent in some areas, building inspectors, fire inspectors, etc. all impose their regulations upon US.

Now, in a nationwide movement, the effort is to regulate the sale of property. The effort is designed to eliminate the free market in property and to eliminate the free market mentality in the US. They are serious!

Those behind the movement are of the same mindset as those who created lead paint legislation in the 1990′s. I had the distinct pleasure of defeating the proposed bill in NYS. The bill was very unfair to landlords. My research showed that the lead poisoning was caused by lead based gasoline that settled on the ground on which children played, and not ingested paint chips, as was being maintained. As head of a large REIA, I warned legislators that if they passed the unfair legislation, holding landlords responsible for a tenants lead poisoning, that I would organize landlords and march outside of their law offices, telling their clients that they had voted to allow irresponsible tenants to confiscate their investment property and remove the best manner of providing for their posterity.

Thankfully, the lawmakers backed down. They were fearful that real estate investors, who have some money, would band together and actually go after the lawmakers.

See a blog back I wrote in May ’07 re the NYS law that regulates property sales. http://www.coachmitch.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=30

Mitchell Goldstein – Coach Mitch

If, on the other hand, you purchase the property from a distressed seller and they move out to another property either yours or someone else’s, you can purchase the property at any agreed upon value, 45%, 50% of FMV.

In my humble opinion, I don’t like the idea of leaving the distressed sellers on the same property even w/o HETPA since it might be more headaches than what is worth.

In any case, this bill might be similar to the one enacted in NY. Not necessarily completely controlling the free market but protecting the homeonwer.

I didn’t like it on the federal level with TARPS and the new “STIMULOUS” plan – “Pork-ulous” according to Rush Limbaugh.

And I don’t like the spector of that same type of mistake being perpetrated on a state level either.

In the end, it’s not the scam artists who suffer – they’ll find another way to prosper in the shadows. It’s the reputable investors and the distressed home owners who will be the unwitting victims of this legislation.

Emily