This letter was sent to me from Carl Domino. It includes his comments in the e-mail followed by the body of the letter he sent to Rep. Rubio. I post for your information only. Any thoughts are appreciated.

SOH PORTABILITY UPDATE!   Current events in the financial markets, particularly the freezing of the sub-prime lending market, make SOH portability more imperative. Attached is a letter which was sent to House leadership requesting that they take up the issue in September's Special Session.   Meanwhile, the Special Tax Commission, which is empowered to suggest changes to the constitution, is also considering portability. A statewide group of appraisers are circulating a citizens' petition in an attempt to put portability on the ballot. I am once again filing portability legislation for our next regular session in 2008.   Also, I am working with Donna Adams, a prominent Real Estate Attorney, to form a citizens committee to pursue a petition drive. Once we are up and running we will solicit your assistance in gathering signatures.   Rep. Carl J. Domino

Dear Speaker Rubio:

I am writing to request that the Special Session call be extended to include Save Our Homes Portability. Since our May Special Session, the housing market has deteriorated further and the melt down in the sub-prime market threatens to postpone any recovery in the low-end housing market. Portability, however, will materially bolster sales at the $500,000 and above level. This will reverse the disastrous decline in doc stamp revenues and would dramatically increase housing sales with a corresponding pick-up in related activity.

For several years we have forecasted that higher mortgage rates will depress housing activity, but the sub-prime debacle has made matters even worse. Banks are tightening their lending requirements and mortgage lenders shares have plummeted, in some instances, over 90%, with rumors of bankruptcy abounding.

Florida's economy is in recession, which has been caused primarily by a decline in the residential real estate market. The shares of W.C.I  Communities and Toll Brothers (two of our larger builders) have been cut in half. The re-pricing of low rate ARM's in the next 12 months will make affordability a problem for more Floridians.

Many condominium units in South Florida, now nearing completion, will remain empty and buyers, seeing declines in house prices, will walk away from their deposits.

Rarely do policy makers have at hand solutions which will address so many issues. We can watch events unfold and hope things will improve, or we can take action which will reverse the decline in the housing market and spearhead recovery. Politics and policy favor portability.

Best regards

CJD:ies                                                           Carl J. Domino