RELATING TO MORTGAGE FINANCING; CHANGING THE DEFINITION OF "MORTGAGE LENDER" IN THE MORTGAGE FINANCE AUTHORITY ACT AND CLARIFYING OTHER DEFINITIONS.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 58-18-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1975, Chapter 303, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"58-18-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Mortgage Finance Authority Act:

A. "authority" means the New Mexico mortgage finance authority;

B. "bonds" or "notes" means the bonds or bond anticipation notes, respectively, issued by the authority pursuant to the Mortgage Finance Authority Act;

C. "federal government" means the United States of America and any agency or instrumentality of the United States of America;

D. "FHA" means the federal housing administration;

E. "FHLMC" means the federal home loan mortgage corporation;

F. "FNMA" means the federal national mortgage association;

G. "home improvement loan" means a mortgage loan to finance those alterations, repairs and improvements on or in connection with an existing residence that the authority determines will substantially protect or improve the basic livability or energy efficiency of the residence;

H. "mobile home" means a movable or portable housing structure, constructed to be towed on its own chassis and designed to be installed with or without a permanent foundation for human occupancy as a residence; it may include one or more components that can be retracted for towing purposes and subsequently expanded for additional capacity, or two or more units separately towable but designed to be joined into one integral unit, as well as a single unit, except that "mobile home" does not include recreational vehicles, or modular or premanufactured homes built to Uniform Building Code standards and designed to be permanently affixed to real property;

I. "mortgage" means a mortgage, mortgage deed, deed of trust or other instrument creating a lien, subject only to title exceptions as may be acceptable to the authority, on a fee interest in real property located within the state or on a leasehold interest that has a remaining term at the time of computation that exceeds or is renewable at the option of the lessee until after the maturity day of the mortgage loan or an instrument creating a lien on a mobile home;

J. "mortgage lender" means any bank, bank or trust company, trust company, mortgage company, mortgage banker, national banking association, savings bank, savings and loan association, credit union building and loan association and any other lending institution; provided that the mortgage lender maintains an office in New Mexico, is authorized to make mortgage loans in the state and is approved by the authority and either the FHA, VA, FNMA or FHLMC;

K. "mortgage loan" means a financial obligation secured by a mortgage;

L. "municipality" means a county, city, town or village of the state;

M. "new mortgage loan" means a mortgage loan made by a mortgage lender to a person of low or moderate income to finance project costs and containing terms and conditions required by rule of the authority;

N. "persons of low or moderate income" means persons and families within the state who are determined by the authority to lack sufficient income to pay enough to cause private enterprise to build an adequate supply of decent, safe and sanitary residential housing in their locality or in an area reasonably accessible to their locality and whose incomes are below the income levels established by the authority to be in need of the assistance made available by the Mortgage Finance Authority Act, taking into consideration the following factors:

(1) the total income of those persons and families available for housing needs;

(2) the size of the family units;

(3) the cost and condition of housing facilities available;

(4) the ability of those persons and families to compete successfully in the normal private housing market and to pay the amounts at which private enterprise is providing sanitary, decent and safe housing; and

(5) standards established by various programs of the federal government for determining eligibility based on income of those persons and families;

O. "project" means a work or undertaking, whether new construction, acquisition of existing residential housing, remodeling, improvement or rehabilitation approved by the authority for the primary purpose of providing sanitary, decent, safe and affordable residential housing within the state for one or more persons of low or moderate income;

P. "project costs" means the total of all costs incurred in the development of a project that is approved by the authority as reasonable and necessary; "project costs" may include:

(1) the cost of acquiring real property and improvements located on the property, including payments for options, deposits or contracts to purchase real property;

(2) cost of site preparation, demolition and development;

(3) fees in connection with the planning, execution and financing of a project;

(4) operating and carrying costs during construction;

(5) cost of construction, remodeling, rehabilitation, reconstruction, home improvements, fixtures, furnishings and equipment for the project;

(6) cost of land improvements both on and off site;

(7) expenses in connection with initial occupancy of a project;

(8) reasonable profit and risk fees to the general contractor in addition to the job overhead and, if applicable, to the developer;

(9) allowances established by the authority for working capital and contingency reserves and reserves for any anticipated operating deficits during the first two years of occupancy; and

(10) the cost of other items, including tenant relocation if tenant relocation costs are not otherwise being provided for, indemnity and surety bonds, premiums on insurance and fees and expenses of trustees, depositaries and paying agents of the bonds and notes that the authority determines to be reasonable and necessary for the development of a project;

Q. "real property" means land, space rights, air rights and tangible, intangible, legal and equitable interests in land;

R. "rehabilitation loan" means a qualified rehabilitation loan within the meaning of Section 143(k)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as that section may be amended or renumbered;

S. "residential housing" means the acquisition, construction or rehabilitation of real property, buildings and improvements undertaken primarily to provide one or more dwelling accommodations for persons of low or moderate income;

T. "state" means New Mexico;

U. "state, local, federal or tribal agency" means any board, authority, agency, department, commission, public corporation, body politic or instrumentality of the state or of a local, federal or tribal government; and

V. "VA" means the veterans affairs department."