Useful Links and Websites for Housing Lawyers
Compiled by Forrest David Milder, (c) 2001
Brown, Rudnick, Freed & Gesmer
One Financial Center, Boston, MA 02111
Tel: 617-856-8181, e-mail: fmilder@brfg.com
ABA --  The Website of the ABA's Housing Forum, and how to join our Listserv
HUD -- The HUD Libraries, Datasets, and listserv
IRS -- Getting IRS Publications and Forms
Other Government Organizations -- The Millennial Commission, Other Federal and State Links
Tax Credit Links -- Finding AFR, Credit Rates, Qualified Census Tracts, QAPs, etc.
Investors in/Syndicators of Low Income Housing Tax Credits --  Directory of Investors
Organizations Devoted to Housing -- Directory of Organizations
Compliance -- Monitoring Low Income Housing Tax Credit Compliance
Collections of Links, Calendars, and Glossaries -- Useful Links and Websites
Other Real Estate Sites -- Miscellaneous Real Estate Sites and Forms
New Markets Tax Credit (Section 45D) -- Overviews of the Section 45D Credit
Other Sites of General Interest -- Google and Pocket Digital Assistants
Website:  The ABA Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law
   http://www.abanet.org/forums/affordable/home.html
Listserv-Discussion Group:  To join our listserv, send a message to listserv@abanet.org with the following
   in the body of your message:
     subscribe homeforum first name last name
   for example:
     subscribe homeforum Forrest Milder
  For further information, please email Teresa Ucok, the Forum's Manager, at tucok@staff.abanet.org, or me
     (I'm the Forum's Internet and Technology Chair), at fmilder@brfg.com.

[Top]

HUD maintains three major sites with an enormous amount of information:
  www.hud.gov, www.huduser.org, and www.hudclips.org

Here are some illustrations of what you can find:
  HUD's On-line Library -- There are 19 "bookshelves" of information
    http://www.hud.gov/library/index.cfm
  HUD's Datasets, including fair market rents, qualified census tracts, and income limits
    http://www.huduser.org/datasets/pdrdatas.html
  HUDuser news Listserv -- How to join the HUD listserv
    http://www.huduser.org/emaillists/hudnews.html
  HUD Clips - (CFR, Federal Register, Internal Revenue Code, etc.)
    http://www.hudclips.org/cgi/index.cgi

[Top]

Maintained by the IRS
The main IRS web is: http://www.irs.ustreas.gov
  IRS forms and publications
    In general:
      http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs/index.html
    By number:
      http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/forms_pubs/formpub.html
    Forms that can be filled in "on-line"
      http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/forms_pubs/fillin.html
   The "Low Income Housing Market Segment Specialization Program", essentially an IRS audit manual:
     http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/prod/bus_info/mssp/lihc-1.html

Maintained by Others
  Millennium Tax Links
    Main site -- includes search engine to find letter rulings and procedures and state and federal tax forms
       http://www.taxlinks.com/
    Find revenue rulings by year and number:
       http://www.taxlinks.com/rulings/findinglist/revrulmaster.htm
  UncleFed
    Collection of IRS forms, rulings, cumulative bulletins (mostly 1996 and later),
      and also links to state forms
      http://www.unclefed.com/
   "For Tax Professionals" site, that includes Chief Counsel's determinations, Actions on Decision,
      TAMs, private letter rulings, etc.
      http://www.unclefed.com/ForTaxProfs/index.html
      Private Rulings back to 1995
      http://www.unclefed.com/ForTaxProfs/irs-wd/index.html

[Top]

Federal
Millennial Housing Commission -- This is the bi-partisan Congressional commission on housing
  http://www.mhc.gov/
US Federal Legislative Information. Bills, Laws, Congressional Record, reports, and links to further information
  http://www.thomas.loc.gov/
Access to Many Federal Documents, including the Federal Register, the US Code, the Congressional Record,
  and Many Others
  http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/index.html

Links to State Housing Agencies
  http://www.novoco.com/stcaa.htm
  http://www.ncsha.org/ncsha/public/statehfadirectory/INDEX.htm

Links to State and Local Government in all 50 States
  http://www.piperinfo.com/state/index.cfm

Links to Many Federal and State Programs
  http://www.novoco.com/subsidy%20programs.htm

State Housing Credit Programs
List compiled by Jim McDermott, Esq., of Holland & Knight, as of 1999
  http://www.housingonline.com/statehistoric.htm

[Top]

Applicable Federal Rate
This is the rate that applies to "below market federal loans".
  http://www.timevalue.com/afrindex.htm
  http://www.pmstax.com/afr/
  http://www.riahome.com/tools/afr.asp

Table of Tax Credit Percentages
 http://www.novoco.com/TCpercen.htm

Qualified Census Tracts and Difficult Development Area
  http://www.huduser.org/datasets/qct.html
  http://www.danter.com/taxcredit/findtract.html

Look up Census Tracts by Address
  http://map.sba.gov/hubzone/init.asp#address

Qualified Allocation Plans
  http://www.novoco.com/QAP.htm

Maximum Tax Credit Rents by County
  http://www.danter.com/taxcredit/getrents.html

[Top]

Table of Investors with Basic Details
  http://www.novoco.com/sponlist.htm
  http://www.lamarellis.org/sponsors_listing.htm

Individual websites
Boston Capital
  http://www.bostoncapital.com/
Lend Lease (acquired Boston Financial Group)
  http://www.lendlease.com/
Merritt Community Capital
  http://www.merrittcap.org/
National Partnership Investments Corp.
  http://www.napico.com/
Regency Housing Group
  http://www.regencyhousing.com/
WNC & Associates
  http://www.wncinc.com/
Fannie Mae
  http://www.fanniemae.com/neighborhoods/index.html
First Union
 http://www.firstunion.com/capitalmarkets/prodcap/pc_refp_afhsg.html
John Hancock
  http://reig.jhancock.com/reig/afford
Newman Financial Services (NFS)
  http://www.newmanfs.com/sp_ps_structured.html
    (Note: Paramount was acquired by NFS)
   http://www.paramountpfg.com/taxcredits.htm
National Equity Fund
  http://www.nefinc.org/content/
The Related Companies
  http://www.relatedcapital.com/door4.html
BancOne
  http://www.bankone.com/capcorp/housing/
The Richman Group
 http://www.trgofct.com/
Edison Capital
 http://www.edison.com/
National Association of Housing Partnerships
 http://www.nahp.net/

[Top]

Corporation for Supportive Housing
  http://www.csh.org/
Council for Affordable and Rural Housing
  http://www.carh.org/
Council of Large Public Housing Agencies
  http://www.clpha.org/
Local Initiative Support Corporation
 http://www.liscnet.org/
Housing Assistance Council
  http://www.ruralhome.org/
National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials
  http://www.nahro.org/
National Housing Conference
  http://www.nhc.org/nat_housing_goal.htm
National Leased Housing Association
  http://users.worldweb.net/~hudnlha/
National Council of State Housing Agencies
  http://www.ncsha.org/
National Association of Housing Cooperatives
  http://www.coophousing.org
National Housing & Rehabilitation Association
  http://www.housingonline.com/about.html
National Low Income Housing Coalition
  http://www.nlihc.org/
    Table of State Organizations Affiliated with NLIHC
    http://www.nlihc.org/states/index.htm
Public Housing Authorities Directors Association
  http://www.phada.org/
Southern California Housing Development Corporation
  http://www.schdc.org/hope.htm
The Community Builders
  http://www.tcbinc.org/
The Community Reinvestment Fund
  http://www.crfusa.com/default.htm

[Top]

National Compliance Professional's Website
  http://www.nationalcompliancepro.com/
NCSHA's Recommended Compliance Practices for the Housing Credit Program By Elizabeth L. Moreland
  (at the NCP website)
  http://www.nationalcompliancepro.com/BestPrac.htm
A Web-based discussion group of compliance professionals:
  http://www.taxcreditlibrary.com/hcdb/
Compliance Packages Used by Spectrum Enterprises in several states
  http://www.spectrumlihtc.com/state_one.html

[Top]

Almost every site has a collection of housing-related links, and I hesitate to rate any as "more useful than others".  Here, at least, are few of the links that I have used:

Collections of Links
Don't forget HUD, above.
NAHRO's Collection of Links
  http://www.nahro.org/reference/internet.html
NLIHC's Collection of Links
  http://www.nlihc.org/linkshsg.htm
Novogradac & Company's Affordable Housing Resource Center
  Main Page
    http://www.novoco.com/resource.htm
  Links
    http://www.novoco.com/hotlinks.htm

Calendars of Low Income Housing Events
Novogradac Calendar of Housing Events and Seminars
    http://www.novoco.com/Event_Calendar.htm
List of Upcoming Conferences compiled by "Affordable Housing Finance"
    http://www.housingfinance.com/ahf/ahf_articles/01MarComingEvents.html/index.html

Glossaries
NAHRO Glossary
    http://www.nahro.org/reference/glossary.html
NHC Glossary of Terms Related to Cooperative Housing:
    http://www.coophousing.org/glossary.shtml
Affordable Housing Lexicon
  http://www.novoco.com/lexicon.htm
NeighborWorks® network Glossary
  http://www.nw.org/resources/glossary/

[Top]

Miscellaneous
Multi-Housing News
  http://www.multi-housingnews.com/
e-Housing
  http://www.ehousingcredit.com/
USABoard – Secondary trading of partnership interests
  http://www.usaboard.com/typesoflps.htm
Rent.net – Find out about neighborhoods and available apartment units
  http://www.rent.net
Summary of RealFoundation's study of technology used in the management of multi-family
  housing -- http://www.multifamilyexecutive.com/Pages/MFE%20Pages/mfemain.html
National Association of State and Local Equity Funds Page of "Best Practices"
  http://www.naslef.org/resources/
Rental Housing on Line -- A large collection of rental-related webpages, including everything from accounting to lead paint to tenant selection and screening to pets
  http://www.rental-housing.com/

Real Estate Forms
At the ABA Conference, one attendee at my seminar on using the internet asked if it was possible to find real estate forms on the net.  The answer is yes.  PLEASE NOTE:  I don't vouch for these forms; I simply tracked them down on the internet -- they may be great, and they may not.  Please use your discretion!
  http://www.vandema.com/Forms.htm
  http://www.realestatesupport.com/forms.htm
  http://kaktus.com/index.html
  http://www.ilrg.com/forms/index.html#leases
  http://www.alllaw.com/forms/real_estate/
  http://www.alllaw.com/forms/leases_and_tenancies/
  http://192.41.4.29/formb.htm  (Scroll down for real estate forms)
  http://www.findforms.com/

[Top]

Summary prepared by LISC
  http://www.liscnet.org/resources/new_markets/tools/nmtc_next.shtml
IRS notice of proposed rulemaking
  http://www.ustreas.gov/cdfi/programs/newmarkets/pdf/irs_anpr.pdf
IRS Summary of the law
  http://www.ustreas.gov/cdfi/programs/newmarkets/pdf/nmtc.pdf
Summary prepared by Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund
   http://www.ustreas.gov/cdfi/programs/newmarkets/

[Top]

Google -- my favorite search engine
I especially like Google for two reasons:  First, if used with IE5, it can be set up to put the "Google Toolbar" at the top of you browser.  This provides you with an always available search engine and "find on the page" utility.  Second -- when a page identified by Google is "not found", you can click on the word "Cache" in Google's list of results, and this will take you to Google's own copy of the missing page.
  Main Page
    http://www.google.com
  To install the Google Toolbar
    http://www.google.com/options/toolbar.html

Palm Pilot and Other Pocket Organizers
Palm
  http://www.palm.com/
Visor
  http://www.handspring.com/
Hardware Guide to Pocket Digital Assistants ("PDAs")
  http://www.pdastreet.com/hardware.html

[Top]