The MSM can't get enough of Iowa this weekend, and part of all the excitement is having Rick Perry (Secesh, Tx) enter the race on the same day of the Ames straw poll. Yet I feel as if I am called from on high to point out one very interesting fact about the so called Texas Miracle. A lot of folks don't yet know how Government regulation saved Texas from a lot of heartache and pain the rest of the nation endured during the Bush recession, and I don't expect the most recent entrant to the Republican race is going to do much crowing about it either.
Consider this description of one such regulation for example:
A borrower is only permitted one home equity loan per year, regardless of how quickly the loan is repaid, and a home equity loan may not be converted to another type of loan.
My field of work deals tangentially with home equity and mortgage products and I can tell you that Texas property loans are notorious industry wide for being confoundingly complex and difficult to deal with. The one loan per year regulation is not from the Peoples Republic of San Francisco. It is but one of a myriad of regulations which served Texans well when the world of Real Estate took a dump on the rest of the market.
Here is another fantastic example of an overbearing Texas home loan regulation:
After the loan closes, the borrower has three additional days to change his mind and cancel the transaction without any penalty or charge. The loan proceeds cannot be delivered to the borrower until the three day period has passed.
Can you imagine the uproar that would ensue of Democrats tried to put such a regulation through nationally? I doubt that rule could pass with a majority of Democrats in the Senate, much less get the 60 votes to override the inevitable fillibuster.
Yet it is just that type of burdensome regulation which leads foreclosure rates in Texas being well below the average nation wide. Nation wide 1 in every 611 housing units recieved a foreclosure filing in July, while the rate in Texas was 1 in every 920.
So the next time you read or hear about Rick Perry "creating" the Texas Miracle, be sure to thank the heavy handed laws regulating Texas property loans in no small part. And keep in mind that if you are planning to close a home equity loan in Texas, be prepared to do some travelling because:
A home equity loan may be closed only at the permanent office of a lender, a title company, or an attorney's office.