Daily Archives: June 7, 2014

New Program Offers Peer Support for Women

Posted on by NAWRB

It has long been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. At City of Hope, researchers are implementing this concept of imitation—of making one thing similar to another—in a leading-edge approach to treating difficult cancers.

City of Hope’s new chief of surgery and an enthusiastic researcher, Yuman Fong, M.D., has been developing a therapy that essentially makes resistant breast cancer respond like thyroid cancer, which is cured in 90 percent of patients.

Triple-negative breast cancer—named for its lack of three important receptors that can be targeted with common, effective therapies—remains a challenge for women, as well as for the oncologists who care for them. Fong is energized by this challenge and the promise of discovery. “If we can find something that can kill [these types of] cancer cells, it would be a big breakthrough for the field,” he says.

Fong has been developing a new approach to treating triple-negative breast cancer by starting with what he knows and loves: viral therapy. He has long studied how viruses can kill cancer. Happily, his expertise in viruses and affinity to the challenge of treatment-resistant cancers is a good fit.
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How Businesses Can Incorporate the Sharing Economy for Higher Success

Posted on by NAWRB

If you’re not already aware, the sharing economy is picking up speed. The sharing economy is a peer-to-exchange of goods and services, in which citizens rent or share resources. Companies involved in the sharing economy include Airbnb—where a host rents out part of his or her home to someone looking for a temporary place to stay. Companies like this are growing in size and it would bode well for business owners to adopt some of these characteristics in order to increase the chances of being successful.

A huge reason as to why companies within the sharing economy are so successful is because they are all about the customer experience. These companies bring an interpersonal connection so that all parties involved feel connected. For example, with the company Lyft—a service much like a taxi except the drivers use their own car—the service is able to create a more personal experience by offering the rider to sit in the front seat, next to the driver. This makes the ride seem less like the customer is being chauffeured around, and more like they’re being picked up by a friend.
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Exercise: Tackle Your Busy Schedule With Renewed Energy

Posted on by NAWRB

Being a successful woman in the real estate industry means your days are most likely hectic and stressful. The last thing you probably want to do is go to the gym. If you can motivate yourself to go, you may end up on the treadmill the entire time because the weight area intimidates you and/or you’re scared to ask questions. Sure, you look and feel great in your designer power suit, but that feeling can quickly melt away once the suit comes off.

Now many of you know that you should use weights to reap maximum benefits for your body but perhaps you’re too busy to learn the right exercises. Or, maybe you’re against weights because you believe you’ll bulk up like one of those bodybuilders. This is where a personal trainer comes in.

Because the real estate business can be exhausting, hiring a personal trainer who’s experienced enough to know how to design customized workout routines can be just what you need. This can maximize your exercise results and help keep your heart rate up throughout your entire workout. It can also help you burn a great deal of fat, while sculpting your body.
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FHFA Decision: Path to Affordable Housing or Another Crash?

Posted on by NAWRB

Mel Watt, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), is facing mounting pressure regarding his decision to lift a temporary suspension on allocating funds to the national Housing Trust Fund (HTF) and Capital Magnet Fund (CMF). With the lifted suspension, 4.2 basis points of each dollar of the unpaid principal balance for new business purchases from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be diverted towards the funds.

Enacted in the summer of 2008, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) created the HTF and CMF. According to Housing and Urban Development (HUD), HTF “is a new affordable housing production program that will complement existing Federal, state and local efforts to increase and preserve the supply of decent, safe, and sanitary affordable housing.” Extremely low- and very low-income households are eligible for the program. Updated income limits for extremely low- and very low-income households for each county in the U.S. can be found on HUD’s website.

The HTF works by providing funds to eligible state and state-designated entities for activities that include real property acquisition, relocation assistance, demolition, and site improvements. In regards to eligible households, assistance can appear in the form of deferred loan payments, grants, interest subsidies, and equity investments.

Similar to the HTF, the CMF promotes affordable housing but utilizes Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and non-profit housing developers as the vehicles for creating inexpensive housing options. The CMF can also use funds for community facilities and economic development projects that encourage affordable housing. As a competitive grant program, the CMF is unique in that it was created to increase investments and attract private capital.

Although HERA established the allocation of funds to the HTF and CMF, it was temporarily suspended when the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) were placed into conservatorship under the FHFA. The steep financial woes generated by the subprime mortgage crisis led to the eventual conservatorship decision.

Fast-forward to December 2014, Watt wrote a separate letter to the respective CEOs of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae that explicitly called for the termination of the suspension on allocating funds to the HTF and CMF in order to help bolster affordable housing.

According to 12 U.S.C. § 4567 (b), the suspension was due to allocations violating one or more of the following:

  • Contributing or would contribute to the financial instability of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac.
  • Causing or would cause Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac to be classified as undercapitalized.
  • Preventing or would prevent Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac from successfully completing a capital restoration plan.

Watt’s decision and his reasoning is the epicenter for the arguments of both proponents and opponents. In his letters to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Watt used four main reasons to support his decision which is summarized below:

  • The decision to temporarily suspend allocations was a product of the circumstances at the time. Currently, those circumstances have changed.
  • Financial operations have stabilized to a reasonable level. In addition, allocations and set aside would not be a contributing factor to financial instability of the GSEs in question.
  • 12 U.S.C. § 4567 (b)(2) and (3) are no longer applicable. These sections refer to the classification as undercapitalized and the successful completion of a capital restoration plan. Currently, the capital classifications are suspended under the FHFA and the GSEs in question are not seeking to complete a capital restoration plan. Both GSEs have entered into Senior Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (SPSPA) to avoid receivership.
  • Since 2012, the GSEs have not endured profit levels that are anticipated to be sustainable. However, projections reveal that they will maintain profitability in the future. The decision to resume allocating funds can always be reversed or updated based upon the financial situation.

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