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Blogger The Notorious R.O.B. writes on the beginnings of a 'web-centric' model for real estate.

 Financial-Bailout Proposal 

This is the proposal from Treasury Department for authority to buy mortgage-related assets:

Section 1. Short Title.

This Act may be cited as ____________________.

Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.

(a) Authority to Purchase.–The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.

(b) Necessary Actions.–The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:

(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;

(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;

(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;

(4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and

(5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.

Sec. 3. Considerations.

In exercising the authorities granted in this Act, the Secretary shall take into consideration means for–

(1) providing stability or preventing disruption to the financial markets or banking system; and

(2) protecting the taxpayer.

Sec. 4. Reports to Congress.

Within three months of the first exercise of the authority granted in section 2(a), and semiannually thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on the Budget, Financial Services, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget, Finance, and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate with respect to the authorities exercised under this Act and the considerations required by section 3.Sec. 5. Rights; Management; Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.

(a) Exercise of Rights.–The Secretary may, at any time, exercise any rights received in connection with mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act.

(b) Management of Mortgage-Related Assets.–The Secretary shall have authority to manage mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act, including revenues and portfolio risks therefrom.

(c) Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.–The Secretary may, at any time, upon terms and conditions and at prices determined by the Secretary, sell, or enter into securities loans, repurchase transactions or other financial transactions in regard to, any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act.

(d) Application of Sunset to Mortgage-Related Assets.–The authority of the Secretary to hold any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act before the termination date in section 9, or to purchase or fund the purchase of a mortgage-related asset under a commitment entered into before the termination date in section 9, is not subject to the provisions of section 9.

Sec. 6. Maximum Amount of Authorized Purchases.

The Secretary’s authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time

Sec. 7. Funding.

For the purpose of the authorities granted in this Act, and for the costs of administering those authorities, the Secretary may use the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, are extended to include actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses. Any funds expended for actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses, shall be deemed appropriated at the time of such expenditure.

Sec. 8. Review.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Sec. 9. Termination of Authority.

The authorities under this Act, with the exception of authorities granted in sections 2(b)(5), 5 and 7, shall terminate two years from the date of enactment of this Act.

Sec. 10. Increase in Statutory Limit on the Public Debt.

Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $11,315,000,000,000.

Richard Gaylord, president of the National Association of Realtors, has his say on HUD's RESPA reform proposal on The Hill's Congress Blog -- "Where lawmakers come to blog."

The irony of the blog's tagline will not be lost on those who believe that if industry groups like NAR don't actually write the laws and regulations that govern them, they have --ahem -- considerable say in the process.

If you really want to know how the sausage is made, the Congressional hearing Gaylord refers to is covered in detail in an Inman News story this week.

Footnote: How impressed are you that they got the REALTORS® trademark registration into the URL?

Better Homes and Gardens COO Nicolai Kolding gives the lowdown on the Clean Slate Blog.

So which Phase is your market in now?

Check out the new Brookings Paper by Karl Case: "The Central Role of House Prices in the Financial Crisis: How Will the Market Clear?" (PDF download link)

We loved this quote about how Californians can take a market beating because good times always seem to be around the corner.

And of course Californian's have been here before. Most residents were here to see the three previous boom-bust cycles.  Every time home prices fall substantially, within a few years they came roaring back. Even now, anyone who bought or owned in California more than five years ago is worth a small fortune. The attitude of buyers in our 2008 survey is quite upbeat.  Especially in California, buyers acknowledge that prices are falling rapidly now, but they still believe that "it is a good time to buy because prices will rise in it the future."

To Professor Nouriel Roubini, at Real Estate Connect in New York City, in January.

Here's some great advice from Rand Fishkin at SEOMoz on how best to weather the current financial storm.  

Snap Up Cheap Talent - if the job market does turn south, that spells opportunity to grab some great people, often at less exorbitant salaries than in an up-tempo economy. Some smart startups in NYC are already jumping on the tech talent lost in the last week.

Invest in Easy-to-Test, High ROI Projects - Rather than taking the "let's sit this one out" approach, I'd suggest taking a slightly riskier route and investing in projects where you can quickly and easily determine potential ROI. Stagnation is not only bad for business, it's bad for the economy as a whole, and those who generally come out on top in business as a whole are the same ones with the guts and brains to invest in smart projects when times are tough.

Market in Trackable Ways - Networking can be tough to measure, as can brand marketing, TV ads, print media and other non-electronic forms of advertising. If you're going to cut back, do so in these arenas and re-invest somewhere you can watch your money grow in exceptional detail... like SEO, PPC, E-mail marketing and web advertising. With every click tracked, you'll know exactly what you're spending and how much it's earning you.

Watch your Burn Rate - With investment and even credit hard to come by, it's a good time to review the soundness of your financial picture and outlook. Check your balance sheet and cash flow statements and be sure you can weather 6-12 bad months. If you can't, you've got two options - invest in growing quickly or find ways to cut expenses. The former may seem riskier, but if done right, it's much more appealing and potentially smarter than trimming budgets and people (as you're often also cutting into sales when you scale back).

Make sure Your Business is Your Passion - This is always true, but in times of economic turmoil when you might have to work longer, harder hours and miss out on some of life's luxuries, the best cure is to love what you do. Chris Anderson even gives you a better shot at succeeding than the pros :-)

Start Your Own Business - The ease with which anyone can start an online business makes it an incredibly attractive prospect and if your'e reading SEOmoz, you probably already know a hundred ways to earn a living off the web. Find your niche and dive in - it's a surprisingly low cost investment, even if it doesn't work out.

Read more on What Does the Stock Market Implosion Mean for Your Online Business?

A global perspective might just help you to survive this down market.

Make your way to Times Square this January for Global Connect and you'll discover how you should be thinking of the world in order to make your business thrive in this new global environment.

Here are just some of the topics we're looking at covering :

- What Will America Look Like After the Election?
- The Greatest Housing Market Collapse - Have we Seen the Bottom?
- 10 Ways to Save Your Business in the Downturn.
- Find Opportunities in Global Real Estate, Even if You Work in Ohio.
- What's Cool, What's Real and What Can You Learn?
- Seize New Markets.
- Beat the Big Listing Sites and Get Your Members to Love You.
- Forget the Good Idea. Build a Great Business.
- New Kids on the Block: Innovators from Around the World.

You can see the full conference program online right now.

Intrigued? Make the most of your trip to Connect and take in one of our wildy successful workshops too. Bloggers Connect is back and so is our popular Internet Marketing workshop. We're also excited to introduce our inaugural Digital Video Summit; where will dive into one of the most exciting new trends online... Video. 

Not registered yet? Register today and you'll save $310 by registering before September 27th. Only 10 days left to get in under the wire!

Interested in speaking at Connect? Fill out our Speaker Submission Form.

See you in New York!

[h/t Matrix]

Many of our members and users have questions about how to use the features of Inman.com.  We decided that it might be a good idea to have a place where people can go to find out how to use the most popular features of Inman.com.  Not only can you find out how to use the site, but I'll even show you how. . .

 Check out the ongoing series of video tutorials that demonstrate the features of Inman.com.  Right now, the videos will show you how to create an account, how to sign-into your account, and how to create an Inman.com profile.  There are more videos to come, so keep checking the video page. I tried to keep the videos as short and interesting as possible, so it won't take you a ton of time to get the answers you are looking for.  If you have any feedback on the videos, or have features that you would like so see included in future videos, just let me know:  daniel.rothamel@inman.com.