Good News on the Housing Front!

[FallbrookFarmer]

The president has announced that the Government is going
"freeze" mortgage payments to 31% of peoples incomes and reduce the amount owed to borrowers.Source: Washington Post)
This should open the floodgates for money to flow into mortgage funding IMHO
One of these days I am going to figure out how to link to a storyhttp://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/images/smilies/mad.gif

 

[brin]

Is this the article you were referring to ? All you have to do is right click on the URL of any thing you want to copy in your address bar and click copy and then click paste in your post here...Like this..is this the story > washingtonpost.com

 

[dave1949]

The president has announced that the Government is going
"freeze" mortgage payments to 31% of peoples incomes and reduce the amount owed to borrowers.Source: Washington Post)
This should open the floodgates for money to flow into mortgage funding IMHO
One of these days I am going to figure out how to link to a storyhttp://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/images/smilies/mad.gif

I guess the bankers must have told Geithner they owned enough homes already I am certainly glad the economy is showing some signs of life. Not sure about the housing/mortgage thing. Not many of fixes seem to be reaching the ground.

Last stat I heard was 25% of mortgages were underwater. If folks are able to make their mortgage payments that is neither here nor there - as long as they don't have to sell their home in the near term.

Obviously jobs are the ultimate answer. Since we've spent the past 20 years sending those overseas, it will not be easy to increase employment rapidly. I really fear the idea that this could be the mother of all jobless recoveries is true.
Dave.

 

[Sigarms]

Here is a rule of thumb when buying a house...

If you can't put 20% down, don't buy it.

Here is another rule of thumb to follow...

When someone tells you that you can afford a house with an ajustable rate loan with less than 20% down, call me because I have some property for sale in New York City that will make you rich.

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

Is this the article you were referring to ? All you have to do is right click on the URL of any thing you want to copy in your address bar and click copy and then click paste in your post here...Like this..is this the story > washingtonpost.com

Thank you! You young guys know all this cool stuff,
my overseas visitor's installed a Garmin app on my Cingular 8925! Now I know where I'm at! Although Dave and Keegs and Loren 49 would disagree BTW Where is Loren49? Hope everything is okay. Loren, you out there???

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

I guess the bankers must have told Geithner they owned enough homes already I am certainly glad the economy is showing some signs of life. Not sure about the housing/mortgage thing. Not many of fixes seem to be reaching the ground.

Last stat I heard was 25% of mortgages were underwater. If folks are able to make their mortgage payments that is neither here nor there - as long as they don't have to sell their home in the near term.

Obviously jobs are the ultimate answer. Since we've spent the past 20 years sending those overseas, it will not be easy to increase employment rapidly. I really fear the idea that this could be the mother of all jobless recoveries is true.
Dave.

I'm sure that Timmy the Tax Cheat will not have to look far for a job after his tenure at the Treasury . The banks can now off load MOST of their bad paper to the G.
Thanks, Timmy
In terms of job opportunities, I hear they are hiring 15,000 new IRS agents,
I'm sure that after this program is done the value of most homes will have appreciated and that no more people will be affected.
Yes, and I also have some land for sale

 

[dave1949]

Here is a rule of thumb when buying a house...

If you can't put 20% down, don't buy it.

Here is another rule of thumb to follow...

When someone tells you that you can afford a house with an ajustable rate loan with less than 20% down, call me because I have some property for sale in New York City that will make you rich.

Those are good, time-tested rules of thumb. Does the NYC property come with a bridge?

I am sure I don't have very deep understanding of the housing/banking issues. The only thing I have read that really makes sense to me, is the idea that if a bank makes a loan, they should hold the paper. If that concept were in place, the housing market would not have had a bubble and collapse. The banks and mortgage lenders certainly knew they were passing off bad paper. Fannie and Freddie knew/should have known - they were facilitating that.

The government may have played an enabling role by opening the purse, but ultimately Wall St. reached in and took the money - and some of them paid dearly for that stupidity. Add in a couple million clueless consumers and there are no good guys here.

I can understand the sentiment that we should just let the idiots fail as that would satisfy our sense of justice. In this case the failure was/is looking pretty catastrophic, I think there would have been lots more collateral damage to the innocent. Imagine how the banks would have been shredded without FDIC and it's easy to see how this could have snowballed into Great Depression 2.0.

Now that Finance Reform is being discussed, what measures would make a repeat scenario less likely?

Dave.

 

[Sigarms]

Now that Finance Reform is being discussed, what measures would make a repeat scenario less likely?

First, take the goverment out of the banking business

Second, put bankers in state prisons instead of Federal prison.

Third, always remember, don't spend more than you make, and always remember that nothing in life is free.

Does the NYC property come with a bridge?

No, they're high rise apartments that I just had my buddy appraise. I only spent 300k on them, but my buddy uh...loan officer at the bank valued them at 10 million and now I don't need to sell them because I now have a loan for 5 million for renovations. Going to leave the country for a while now

Hey, here's an idea, why don't we just have the goverment print more money?

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

Those are good, time-tested rules of thumb. Does the NYC property come with a bridge?

I am sure I don't have very deep understanding of the housing/banking issues. The only thing I have read that really makes sense to me, is the idea that if a bank makes a loan, they should hold the paper. If that concept were in place, the housing market would not have had a bubble and collapse. The banks and mortgage lenders certainly knew they were passing off bad paper. Fannie and Freddie knew/should have known - they were facilitating that.

The government may have played an enabling role by opening the purse, but ultimately Wall St. reached in and took the money - and some of them paid dearly for that stupidity. Add in a couple million clueless consumers and there are no good guys here.

I can understand the sentiment that we should just let the idiots fail as that would satisfy our sense of justice. In this case the failure was/is looking pretty catastrophic, I think there would have been lots more collateral damage to the innocent. Imagine how the banks would have been shredded without FDIC and it's easy to see how this could have snowballed into Great Depression 2.0.

Now that Finance Reform is being discussed, what measures would make a repeat scenario less likely?

Dave.

Dave,
I KNEW there was hope for you
You and I are in total agreement on banks holding their own paper, but let's go back and see what happened.
CRA(Community Reinvestment Act) told bankers , if you don't make some loans to "underserved" populations "We will be looking at your charters very carefully"(Janet Reno)
OK some genius now figures out how to package them and sell them as securities to the Chinese and everyone else, plus the G will "Guarantee" any that go bad(Fannie-Freddie)Bankers make their initiation fees etc and push the paper out the door, Everybody's happy right?
If you were a banker and the G walks in and says "make the loan or your out of business", Are you going to make the loan? You and I both!
Now the SAME people are in charge Farney Brank and Diss Codd, and they want MORE power to do the same.
Sounds like a good plan to me!

 

[kevincook]

How long before appraisers start UNDER appraising the value of homes just so people can get their mortgage loans reduced.

I just need to find an appraiser to say my house is only worth $10k and I'll be all set.

More government interference isn't the solution.

Kevin