The government is trying to change regulations so that showers can spray more water. The Department of Energy recently announced a new proposal to change how much water a showerhead can release each minute as it seeks to get more water flowing out of showers. That could mean the trend of installing multiple showerheads in luxurious residential bathrooms would spew out significantly more water pressure.

Under the new proposal, each showerhead included in a product with multiple showerheads could output 2.5 gallons per minute. That is significantly more than current standards allow.

In 1994, the Department of Energy limited the flow rate on residential showerheads from 5.5 to 2.5 gallons of water per minute. The rule was to conserve water. But as new shower head fixtures emerged boasting multiple nozzles, the need for more speed in water pressure has grown. Homeowners have been limited to a total of 2.5 gallons of water per minute for water pressure even with multiple nozzles.

In other words, if a home has four nozzles for showerheads, all four nozzles together must meet that 2.5 gallons limit, under current guidelines. However, the new proposal would allow each nozzle to pump more water. So a shower with two heads could release 5 gallons of water per minute.

The proposal came after reportedly President Trump complained about getting too little water from his shower. In July, he joked with reporters that he couldn’t get enough water to wash his hair properly.

Shaylyn Hynes, a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy, told The Associated Press that the new rule would allow Americans more freedom to choose what kind of showerheads they have in their homes.

The proposed rule has been met with controversy. Some opponents have criticized the new water guidelines as being excessive and a waste of water. With four or five or more nozzles, “you could have 10, 15 gallons per minute powering out of the showerhead, literally probably washing you out of the bathroom,” Andrew deLaski, executive director of Appliance Standards Awareness Project, an energy conservation group, told the Associated Press. deLaski adds that existing appliance and plumbing energy and water conservation standards save homeowners about $500 a year on energy bills.

“The country faces serious problems,” deLaski continues. “We’ve got a pandemic, serious long-term drought throughout much of the West. We’ve got global climate change. Showerheads aren’t one of our problems.”

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates showers account for nearly 1.2 trillion gallons of water use daily—about 17% of all indoor water use in the U.S.

Public comments on the proposed rule, published in the Federal Register on Aug. 13, runs until Sept. 14.

Ultra-competitive housing markets have fueled bidding wars as buyers frantically compete for a limited number of homes for-sale. Real estate professionals are finding themselves helping their home-buying clients navigate multiple offer situations. But they must be careful to avoid misunderstandings and reduce the risk of discrimination in the process, too.

“Real estate professionals can help avoid complaints and fair housing issues while helping both the buyer and seller understand their options,” Deanne Rymarowicz, associate counsel at NAR, says in a new “Window to the Law” video posted at NAR.realtor.

Rymarowicz highlights three principles for real estate professionals to follow when navigating multiple offer situations:

Be mindful of your legal and ethical duties. Your state likely has laws and regulations regarding timeframes for presenting offers and what needs to be disclosed to the other party in a multiple offer situation. Some states, for example, prohibit revealing the terms of a buyer’s offer without the buyer’s consent. The REALTOR® Code of Ethics also speaks to handling multiple offer situations, such as requiring that REALTORS® “protect and promote the interest of their client” in multiple offer situations.

Watch for potential fair housing red flags. “Buyer love letters”—letters, videos, and photos given to the seller from the buyer expressing their desire for a home—could possibly lead to some fair housing violations. “These ‘love letters’ often innocently include personal information that reveals a prohibited basis for discrimination, such as ‘we can see our family celebrating Christmas around the fireplace’ or the ‘wide hallways will accommodate my wheelchair,” Rymarowicz says in the video. Fair housing centers on eliminating discriminating and “love letters” could potentially cause an implicit bias. “Accepting an offer based on anything other than the price, terms, and merits of the offer might violate fair housing law,” Rymarowicz says.

Let the client make the decision. Educate your client about multiple offers and strategies for responses. “You may even offer suggestion and advice based on your knowledge and experience,” Rymarowicz says. But ultimately, “it’s up to the client to decide what offers and counteroffers to negotiate, reject, and ultimately accept.”

Window to the Law: How to Handle Multiple Offers from NAR on Vimeo.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is using its authority in the name of public health to place an eviction moratorium to prevent landlords from evicting certain renters nationwide for the rest of the year. The moratorium calls up a 1944 public health law that was created to help prevent the spread of an illness, the White House announced Tuesday.

While the rule may temporarily assist struggling renters, it fails to help landlords who must still make their payments and obligations on properties, real estate professionals say. The National Association of REALTORS®, along with other housing leaders, have voiced concern about the moratorium.

“While NAR appreciates and is supportive of administrative efforts to ensure struggling Americans can remain in their homes, this order as written will bring chaos to our nation’s critical rental housing sector and put countless property owners out of business,” Vince Malta, NAR’s president, said in a statement. “Any eviction moratorium must also come with rental assistance for property owners, the vast majority of which are mom-and-pop investors and are still required to meet their financial obligations even as they cease to receive income on their properties.”

The eviction moratorium will run through Dec. 31. It applies to renters who earn less than $99,000 a year. Renters also must certify that they are unable to pay their rent due to the coronavirus crisis. When the moratorium expires at the end of the year, renters who received protection will need to make up the missed payments to their landlords.

Previous eviction moratoriums applied to only properties with federally backed mortgages from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. However, this moratorium applies to all rental units in the U.S., administration officials said.

“An untailored eviction moratorium will bring more havoc to our economy, not less, and will put America’s 43 million renter households at significant risk,” Malta warned.

NAR has strongly urged Congress to pass immediate legislation that would instead provide emergency rental assistance programs to housing providers.

Wells Fargo is being sued in a proposed class-action lawsuit that accuses the lending giant of automatically placing some borrowers’ mortgages in forbearance without their permission. The borrowers claim that the forbearance has reflected poorly on their credit reports and prevented them from being able to obtain other financial services, such as refinances.

However, Wells Fargo told media outlets that the bank placed accounts in forbearance after those customers reached out to them and expressed financial hardship during the pandemic. The bank wanted “to ensure that every customer who needed payment relief would receive it without unnecessary delay,” Wells Fargo said in a statement.

“We sincerely apologize to any customer who received a forbearance and did not expressly request one, and [we] are actively working to assist each customer who may have been negatively affected,” Tom Goyda, spokesperson for Wells Fargo, said in the statement to Law360.

The federal government’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act includes a provision that mortgage borrowers facing economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic can ask for a temporary forbearance on their mortgage.

Pamela Delpapa, who has brought forward one of the lawsuits against the bank, says she was unable to refinance her home to get a better mortgage rate because her loan had been placed in forbearance, which she says she never asked for. “Banks may not institute it automatically,” the lawsuit against Wells Fargo states. “But that’s exactly what Wells Fargo did. As documented by the plaintiff and in consumer complaints from across the nation, Wells Fargo automatically placed borrowers in forbearance when they contacted the bank by phone or online to merely inquire about their options.”

An additional lawsuit filed on July 31 made similar claims against Wells Fargo. Last month, NBC News reported on borrowers in Chapter 13 bankruptcy who also claimed their loans were placed in forbearance without their consent.

Wells Fargo’s Goyda explained in a statement to Law360: “For a short period during the early stages of the crisis, in an attempt to ensure that all customers received the payment relief they needed in the midst of unprecedented levels of customer calls, we made a decision to provide mortgage forbearances to certain customers who had made an inquiry or expressed hardship but had not explicitly requested a payment suspension.”

Goyda says that the bank notified any customers whose loans were placed in forbearance and explained to them how they could change that status if they wanted.

Wells Fargo is one of the largest underwriters and home loan servicers in the U.S.

© REALTOR® MAGAZINE

Mortgage rates remain near all-time lows, and many economists believe they will stay for the remainder of this year and well into next year.

“This year has been anything but normal and as the uncertainty lingers, mortgage rates remain” low, says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “These rates continue to incentivize potential buyers and the home buying season, which shifted from spring to summer, will likely continue into the fall.”

The Federal Reserve this week announced the adoption of a more flexible policy to achieve inflation that averages 2% over time. “This significant change can keep interest rates low for longer periods, which could translate into both long periods of cheap mortgages and a strong job market,” the National Association of REALTORS® said in a statement. “More and more home buyers and homeowners are expected to take advantage of these ultra-low rates.”

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Aug. 27:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 2.91%, with an average 0.8 point, dropping from last week’s 2.99% average. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit an all-time low of 2.88% at the beginning of this month. A year ago, 30-year rates averaged 3.58%.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 2.46%, with an average 0.7 point, falling from last week’s 2.54% average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 3.06%.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 2.91%, with an average 0.2 point, unchanged from last week’s average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 3.31%.

Freddie Mac reports average commitment rates along with average fees and point stop reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage.