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Arkansas Restricts Wall Street Home Resale Fees

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe has signed House Bill 1388, making Arkansas the 22nd state to ban the use of Wall Street home resale fees, also known as private transfer fees.

""The governor and legislature stood up for Arkansas homeowners by protecting consumers from these for-profit[IMAGE] [COLUMN_BREAK]

fees,"" said Wes Lasseigne, VP of the ""Arkansas Land Title Association"":http://www.arlta.org. ""This bill is an important step in enhancing consumer protections and safeguarding a fragile real estate market from further abuse.""

Private transfer fees require that homebuyers pay a percentage of the final sale price of a home to a private third party every time the property is sold, typically for 99 years. Issuers of these fees attempt to sell the right to collect them on Wall Street.

The bill is the latest in a series of government actions to limit the fees.

Arkansas joins Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, and Utah in restricting private transfer fees.

The ""Federal Housing Finance Agency"":http://www.fhfa.gov has also issued a proposed rule that would prevent ""Fannie Mae"":http://www.fanniemae.com and ""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com from investing in mortgages with these fees.