Does Anybody Have An Idea?
Readers suggested a topic on what to do with the foreclosures. “Uncle Sam got stucco with 248,000 repossessed homes and needs your suggestions by September 15 on what to do with them. I say quietly auction them off to the highest bidder, just like mineral rights are auctioned, and be done with the REO biz. What good does it do the U.S. taxpayer to hold on to vacant homes until they eventually fall down to the ground? You can’t store vacant homes in caves, the way government cheese is stored.”
A reply, “I think we need to form a group of renters/responsible owners who are willing to be more active in representing the interests of those of us who are neither irresponsible lenders or irresponsible borrowers. Anyone up for this? We can exchange e-mails and focus on letter writing campaigns and possible lobbying efforts, perhaps getting involved with some other groups who are interested in seeing justice done WRT housing.”
One said, “I like your idea, but it is time consuming, and can the ground swell meet the deadline? Bruce Norris (The Norris Group) was part of the roundtable to have infestors get govt. funding to buy up the stock and rent it out.”
Another added, “Here’s what I sent them:
Um… how about we let housing fall back to market prices and quit trying to re-inflate a popped balloon? Prices are not going to ‘come back’ until the last of the Baby Boomers sells the McMansion and dodders off to assisted living.
Quit lying to us and get real in your assessments. (Literally. Use the county tax records for appraisal values.) Seriously, I can buy tulip bulbs for less than a dollar apiece now. Mentally cut a zero off the price of housing and we’ll be back on track.
I applaud the DOJ’s announcement of intent to sue major lenders for mortgage fraud. Please hold their CEO’s (Anthony Mozillo, I’m talking to you,) personally accountable and put the bloody lot of them in prison after confiscating their ill-gotten assets. Then go after all the greedy citizens who lied on their mortgage applications, HELOC’ed out ‘their’ equity, and bought multiple ‘investments’ on the government dime.
Hey, a girl can dream….
FNMA/FRMC FHA– Let’s all pretend it’s 1980 again.
-Require 20% down-payment– from verified personal funds held more than six months.
-Mortgage can not be more than 3X annual income (as documented on income tax statements over last three years.)
-Guarantee no loans over $175,000. Yes, in California and New York, too. There’s not a first-time buyer’s house in this country that’s worth that much.
-FHA loans for veterans and first-time buyers ONLY. (And by first-time buyers, I mean first-time buyers, not the first time in three years buyers.)
-Require mark-to-market accounting.
-Loans for primary owner-occupied single-family residences only.
-Subject the MLS to anti-trust prosecution. Make all listings available online on your website and at no charge. -
-Quit pandering to and partnering with the NAR. Employ salaried sales staff (FNMA employees,) to move govt inventory. AGAIN: Use the county tax assessors’ figures to ascertain fair market valuation– NOT some dubious “appraiser.”
-Require banks to hold back 10% of any mortgage loan they make.
-Eliminate the mortgage interest deduction
Eliminate Fannie Mae entirely over the next ten years. (By the time you get this passed, all the fifteen year loans will fall within its purview.) All loans must convert to private within that period.
-Convert unwanted inventory (especially tract housing,) to “green” Section 8 and Senior housing. Employ out-of-work and youth labor to do so, with preference to military veterans who are NO LONGER IN AFGHANISTAN or making war of dubious necessity. Pay them no more than the equivalent military pay grade.”
One said this, “We are being played. The PTB do not care what we sheeple think, they only want to mollify and shape our outrage.”
And finally, “After visiting w/childhood friend who made real good as mtg broker in PHX, he said his 800k+ went to 1/4 of that. Asked me what was property doing in the desert here. I did notice that one house in the swanky portion of town went from over 2+mill a few yrs ago to 900k 2 yrs ago to REO now at 389k. When it gets to 200k then it will be back to 1994 prices.”
From BusinessWeek. “For sale or rent by distressed owner: 248,000 homes. That’s how many residential properties the U.S. government now has in its possession, the result of record numbers of people defaulting on government-backed mortgages. With even more homes moving toward default, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration are looking for a way to unload them without swamping the already depressed real estate market.”
“Trouble is, they haven’t figured out how to do that. The government admitted as much in August, when Fannie, Freddie, and FHA issued a joint plea to the public for ideas about how to solve the problem. (Give it your best shot: You have until Sept. 15 to submit ideas to reo.rfi@fhfa.gov.)”
“‘It isn’t necessarily our preference that FHA is going to itself continue to hold these properties,’ says FHA Acting Commissioner Carol Galante. ‘We want to move homes through the system so we can recover.’ The agency has to be careful as it goes, she says. ‘If you’re putting too much through that system you are helping to drive down prices.’”
“The government’s call for ideas is a sign it is deluged with repossessions, commonly known as real-estate-owned properties or REO. ‘It’s almost like having the captain of the Titanic go on the public address system and say, ‘Does anybody have an idea?’ says Mark Wiseman, a former director of Cleveland’s foreclosure-prevention program.”
