Michael Oxley, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, has written a letter to Comptroller General David Walker requesting that the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an investigative branch of the Treasury, examine and issue a report on the recent abuses in the industry involving RESPA, title companies, real estate professionals, lenders and home builders.

Oxley asked that the GAO examine and address several questions, including factors that influence price, title insurers' market share, and other items.

He's not through with the real estate industry quite yet, even though he has been thwarted so far at every turn.

As chair of the Financial Services Committee, Oxley has untiringly worked to benefit banks.

In May 2005, he co-proposed a bill H.R.2660, also known as the "Fair Choice and Competition in Real Estate Act of 2005" to amend the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956. This would "clarify that real estate brokerage activities and real estate management activities are authorized financial activities for financial holding companies and financial subsidiaries of national banks, and for other purposes." The bill was referred to the House committee on Financial Services. Co-sponsored by another member of the Financial Services Committee, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.,) the bill has yet to attract more sponsors.

NAR, meanwhile, supported the "Community Choice In Real Estate Act" to keep banks out of real estate, and it has 249 sponsors in the House and 26 sponsors in the Senate.

To throw a wrench under NAR's motorcycle, Oxley held public hearings looking into the competitive practices of real estate, and also called for an investigation into real estate industry competition which culminated in a report by the GAO.

To his certain disappointment, the GAO report found that the real estate brokerage industry "has a number of attributes that economists normally associate with active price competition." Despite its close range of fees between 5 and 7 percent on average, brokerage is "characterized more by nonprice competition (service, quality, reputation, etc.) than price competition," said the report.

Not content, Oxley is turning his sights on the title industry. Title companies perform title searches, provide title insurance so that property can be sold and purchased with more confidence. Title companies are usually in charge of closings, which means that in charge of loan packages at closing, along with perform.

Title companies, like real estate companies, have resisted banks coming into the real estate industry because banks would like to control closings. Banks are behind the HUD, hud.gov investigation into the costs of closings, and have proposed a "single-package" closing to HUD that would save consumers money by putting banks in charge of the loan and closing documents. The problem with that, says the real estate industry, is that banks would use their powers to force title companies to lower their fees while not lowering their own fees.