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In This Issue
Congratulations 2017-2018 Board!
PRESIDENT
Pat Gaver
Capital City Bank
 
PRESIDENT-ELECT
Matthew Goldman, CLO, CRO
SecurityNational Mortgage Company
 
VICE PRESIDENT
Michael Azzarello, CMB
Caliber Home Loans

SECRETARY/TREASURER
Sherry Gallitz
Union Home Mortgage
 
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT
Michelle Knoebel, CMB
Freedom Mortgage

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Kevin W. Strickland, AMP
SunTrust Mortgage Inc.
 
LOCAL CHAPTER REP
Jaime Fiore
SunTrust Mortgage, Inc.

Cammie Aucoin
Plaza Home Mortgage
 
Richard Peek
The Mortgage Firm, Inc.
 
Francine Villa
American BancShares Mortgage
 
Doug Leever
Tropical Financial Credit Union
 
Jeff Kaufman
iberiabank Mortgage Company
 
Teresa Hale
Atlantic Coast Bank
 
Timothy Bazell
Fidelity Bank Mortgage
 
Dawn Henshaw
Genworth Mortgage Insurance
 
DIRECTOR EMERITUS
Margie Fletcher (elected 2005)
 
Georges Lussier (elected 2010)
BB&T
Local Chapter Presidents

MBA OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
Nate Morris
Waterstone Mortgage
 
GULF COAST MBA
Chris Palese
 
MBA OF JACKSONVILLE
Michelle L Glass, Esq.
 
MBA OF THE PALM BEACHES
Ben Eachus
Union Home Mortgage
 
 MBA OF SOUTH FLORIDA
Charlie Suarez
American Bancshares Mortgage
 
MBA OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
Mary Adams
 
MBA OF TALLAHASSEE
Jaime Fiore
SunTrust Mortgage, Inc.
 
MBA OF TAMPA BAY
Cindy Maxie
Mason Title & Escrow Company
Future Leaders
Do you have someone in your organization that is a candidate?

MBAF's Future Leaders Program is dedicated to identifying and cultivating the next generation
of industry leaders by delivering
a comprehensive leadership
training experience for selected participants. For more information or to nominate a
Future Leader please contact
the committee chair,

Michelle Knoebel at 904-708-8434 
michelle.knoebel@freedommortgage.com

For More Program Information - Click Here
Summer News August 2017

Welcome to our Summer News!

Presidents Message
by Pat Gaver, President

Welcome to the 2017-2018 year for MBA of Florida. It is truly an honor of a lifetime to serve as your President this year. With a little luck, a little work, and a little patience we can have a great year!


Kevin Strickland did a great job as our President last year. He is a shining example of a visionary and ethical leader. Our association is so fortunate to have benefited from his service. His work is also not finished. Last year MBA of Florida conducted a strategic planning meeting. Our objective of leveraging the local and state MBA relationships to help deliver our mission is critical. Our drive to involve more members in our committees and conventions will pay huge dividends in our future. Finally, expanding our membership at the local level will bring great rewards as we execute our conferences each year. All of us can help deliver these concepts at our local chapters.

Secondly, the Vision for building a better Florida through leveraging the opportunities in the Green residential space is a true opportunity. Our Secondary Conference and our Annual Convention will be filled with speakers on green financing through Fannie and Freddie, HERS inspectors to teach us the value in Home Energy Rating Systems. With our focus on green, HERS inspections may be able to take the pathway of home inspections 15 years ago. The goal is not to radically change our environment, but to make measured alterations in our path. If we use less energy, everyone wins. We include several links directly below for your review.

Finally, this past year we made terrific progress with guidance and policy as it relates to the continued management of our Association. Brenda Thomas, as always, led the progress for assuring a great MBA of Florida today and tomorrow.

Let's move forward, together.
Green Links
Fannie Mae HomeStyle Energy
VA Energy Efficient Mortgage
Energy Star - Energy Efficient New Homes
US Department of HUD Energy Efficient Mortgage Program
2017 Annual Convention Wrap Up
A great time was had by all! The speakers were fabulous and the events rocked.

Congratulations to Sandy Garcia on receiving the esteemed Brown L. Whatley award!

Thank you once again Matthew Goldman for being so diligent and stepping up to be our photographer again. The photos are surperb!

Special MPAC Report
We had record MPAC activities from the attendees and a big Congratulations to the MBA of Central Florida for taking home the MPAC Award and for recognizing Pulse Orlando, #Orlando United #Orlando Strong with a $10,612.16 donation. Not far behind was MBA of SW Florida @$10,500 and yes, one more chapter over $10,000 was MBA of South Florida at $10,201.
THREE chapters over TEN THOUSAND, a RECORD.
PLUS, all of the chapters stepped it up this year, exceeding past years as well as ticket sales with the lead of Margie Fletcher and her team including the last push from Pat Gaver. 
Volunteer for a Committee!
Click Here to View the Committees to Sign-Up

The MBA of Florida is gearing up for the upcoming year seeking committee volunteers. We need your help with our efforts from communications, convention, secondary conference, future leaders, legislative and membership. The busiest committees are the convention, membership and the secondary conference. All committee work is done via conference call with committee members taking various action items from identifying speakers, sessions topics, securing new members and more. Typically you will have to devote about 2-3 hours a month until around February, depending on the committee. All committee work will begin shortly and we will keep you posted on the calls and upcoming events. Click the link to sign up.

Reasons to join a committee:
  • We need your unique perspective and professional expertise
  • Networking
  • Leadership Opportunities
  • Service to your association
  • Bringing our members stellar convention and conference programs
  • Gaining long term friendships with those in your industry
  • And more!
Online Store - Education and Designations
Click Here for event schedules, classroom based, conferences workshops, designations, certificates, online courses, live webinars and more!
The MBAF was well represented at MBA's 2017 National Advocacy Conference in DC! by Tim Allen, CMB
If you have never attended MBA's National Advocacy Conference in DC you are missing one of the best and most important events the MBA provides its membership! We had terrific participation from Florida this year and a very good day advocating for the MBA on Capitol Hill. There were enough of us from Florida this year that we divided into two separate groups to visit Congress and met up later in the day to visit Senators Marco Rubio's and Bill Nelson's offices together.
Florida's 2017 MBA's National Advocacy Conference attendees in alphabetical order:
Tim Allen - aboutMYmortgage.com | Lisa Cabrales - Eagle Home Mortgage | Doug Calabrese - Eagle Home Mortgage | Angela Capone - Radian | Yvette Clermont - Inlanta Mortgage
Shari Ferline - Everbank | Sherry Graziano - SunTrust Mortgage | Paul LaBarbera - USAA
Joe Puthur - Mortgage Coach | Amy Sanchez - Precedent Management | Jenn Wilson - Everbank
Scott Woodbury - Eagle Home Mortgage

Day one of Conference started with everyone receiving detailed updates from the MBA and legislators so we were completely prepared for our Capitol Hill visits. On day two, our group made our visits to several Florida Congressmen, Congresswomen and Senators on Capitol Hill. Our visits were productive and engaging. Like most years we generally met with the legislative assistants in each office that were most knowledgeable on the topics we were there to discuss. One exception was Congresswomen Val Demings from Florida's 10th District (which includes Orlando) met with us herself.

To read the entirety MBA's legislative issues go to:
https://www.mba.org/issues/all-issues-list 

Below are three of the most important issues we discussed on this trip:
 
1) GSE reform was our #1 topic - if you haven't yet downloaded and read MBA's white paper on GSE reform I recommend you do it now. You can find the paper under this link: https://www.mba.org/issues/gse-reform 

2) The SAFE Act Transitional Authority will allow MLO 120 days to originate when going from a national registered MLO status to a state licensed MLO. This is moving forward in a very smart way and keeping out bad actors.
https://www.mba.org/issues/residential-issues/safe-act-revisions-transitional-authority

3)    The National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorization: The MBA is encouraging congress to enact a long term reauthorization and none of the Florida legislative aids we spoke to agree entirely with the MBA's proposal. Here is a link to MBA's issue paper and recommendations:
https://www.mba.org/issues/residential-issues/nfip-reauthorization

Very Important Note: The National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorization is set to expire Sept. 30th. The MBA of Florida and all its members need to understand this issue in detail because it directly impacts our state, our families and our livelihoods! I strongly recommend the MBA of Florida form a committee to fully understand and address this important issue.

We're representing our industry because politics is not a spectator sport!
Chapter News
Gulf Coast MBA, by Chris Palese

 
MBA of Tampa Bay, by Cindy Maxie

Feel Comfortable Sending Your Staff to Events

MBA National in Partnership on Issues
Click  here to read the most recent  MBA Advocacy Update.
Senate Banking Committee Hearing on Access for Small Lenders:  The Committee heard testimony centered on preserving small lender participation in the secondary market. Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) received broad agreement from the witnesses on a set of bipartisan principles, including: preserving the 30-year fixed rate mortgage and the TBA market; multiple levels of taxpayer protection, including strong, robust private capital; private capital rather than taxpayers should bear non-catastrophic risk; an orderly transition that utilizes existing market structure where possible; a long-term solution for conservatorship; and, a level playing field to ensure equitable small lender access. MBA submitted a statement for the record highlighting the importance of small lender access and the small lender protections included in MBA's GSE reform plan. In addition to MBA's statement, over 100 small lenders, 36 state associations, The Mortgage Collaborative, and the Capital Markets Cooperative each submitted a statement for the record in support of MBA's GSE reform plan. Thank you to all the state and local groups that joined on the letter .

MBA Joins Joint Trade Letter on Flood Insurance:
MBA and more than a dozen industry trade groups sent a letter to Congressional leaders supporting legislation that would remedy many outstanding issues under the NFIP. The Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act (S. 563 and H.R. 1422) reaffirms the long-standing acceptability of private sector flood insurance policies to satisfy the mandatory purchase requirement of the NFIP.

MBA Comments on CFPB's Planned Assessment:
MBA's comments of the 2013 RESPA Servicing Rule noted that the assessment should be expanded as the Dodd-Frank Act requires the rule to be evaluated against the purposes and objectives of the Bureau in addition to the CFPB's specific RESPA objectives. The letter also highlights the importance of evaluating the extent to which the rule has impacted the availability of mortgage credit and the need to carefully evaluate "cause" and "effect" stemming from the RESPA rule so as not to conflate outcomes that may be due to other factors such as the national servicing settlement or consent decrees. 
 
MBA Provides Feedback to FHFA and the GSEs on Duty to Serve Program:  MBA urged the GSEs to engage with the full spectrum of market participants throughout implementation of the plans. MBA also highlighted the need for a framework that balances the trade-off between flexibility in response to performance and market conditions and the desire for certainty and longer-term planning on the part of lenders and other industry stakeholders. Following these broad observations regarding pilots and new offerings, MBA concluded with a number of technical recommendations in each of the three underserved markets covered by the plans.
Mortgage Action Alliance, Inc.® (MAA) - Sign Up Now
You can help amplify MBA's voice by taking-action with the Mortgage Action Alliance (MAA). Speak directly with your members of Congress and state legislators about the impact of proposed legislation.
 
It's free and open to anyone working in the real estate finance industry.  MORPAC, is MBA's non-partisan affiliated political action committee (PAC), is another critical component of our advocacy efforts.

MBA's 2017 National Advocacy Conference in DC the MBA rolled out the "Mortgage Action Alliance" app:
  • Receive updates on bills affecting the real estate finance industry
  • Let your elected officials know how those bills will impact you directly
  • Research bills that MBA is watching
  • Find contact information for your members of Congress
  • Join MAA, MBA's free grassroots network
  • Learn about MORPAC, MBA's political action committee
Download the MAA App for FREE: 
https://www.mba.org/get-involved/take-action-with-maa/maa-app
Have You Paid Your 2017/2018 Dues?
Dues notices were sent in June with July 1st as the payment date. Notices have been mailed via USPS and emailed twice. If your name is not on the list we haven't received your payment. Please contact mbaf@mbaf.org if you need another copy of your invoice or with any questions or concerns. We are looking forward to a great year and we need your continued support! Thank you.