Dear Legislator:
I am writing you about a state regulation that is going to make it harder for me to lend money to my customers who want to buy homes in our community.
As a mortgage lender, I must follow all sorts of federal and state laws. I understand that many of them are necessary. But some seem like a waste of time and make it more difficult to get a family into their dream home. That’s why I am concerned about a proposed pesticide policy that will disrupt termite treatments.
By law, homes cannot be covered by a government-backed mortgage if they are not free of termites. Making it harder and more expensive to fumigate homes to kill termites will add additional costs, delay the mortgage closing process and negatively impact both the sellers and homebuyers. Of course, California’s wealthier residents won’t be hit as hard by this rule, if they can pay cash to buy a home.
I have been in the mortgage lending business for many years and have never had any problems related to fumigation. So why change things?
This seems over the top to me. Please use your power as an elected official to make sure CDPR does not create more problems for people like me in the real estate business. The lending community is not prepared to adjust our policies for funding and closing loans if these changes are implemented. I appreciate anything you can do to help.