The foreclosure plan politicians wouldn't touch
GROUPS
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Housing starts largest since 2006 The housing cost of squestration Court decision could force banks to pay much more for mortgage cons Zombie foreclosures hurt homeowners Some reality about the housing market Another give away to the banks Home prices show biggest gains in 6 years Chaos as 5,000 seek 1,000 housing vouchers Corporados move to take over rental industry The changing city: Granny flats and corner stores 2012... The cure for homelessness is a. home Housing vacancy rate drops substantially Why American Express got more bailout help then all homeowners in trouble ACLU sues JP Morgan for treatment of black homeowners The importance of the Federal Housing Administration Student debt crisis hurting housing market Time to go back to small housing? Planning an eco-friendly house One in ten reverse mortgagaged senior in deep financial trouble Shiller: Maybe no housing rebound for a generation Why we can't deal rationally with the housing crisis Some Fed economists wanted major different approach to mortgages Developers betting on apartments as their construction soars U.S. cities violate UN standards in dealing with homelessness Urban accessory housing is catching on How house purchase tax credit ended up costing buyers The best & worst counties in which to hold a mortgage The median new house size in America has dropped ten percent in three years. . .And front porches are back 2010 More state judges getting tough with banks But not in Florida where high speed rubber stamping of foreclosure is underway. LOCAL JUDGES LOCAL HEROES IN FORECLOSURE CASES
NEARLY 50% LEAVE OBAMA FORECLOSURE PROGRAM FHA TO HELP ECONOMY MAKE IT HARDER TO BUY A HOUSE THE SCAM THAT CREATED THE FORECLOSURE CRISIS LOCAL HEROES: A STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL SHOWS THE FEDS HOW TO TAKE ON WALL STREET FORECLOSURE SCANDAL FAR MORE SERIOUS THAN MEDIA IS LETTING ON BANKS MAY HAVE FORGED A HUGE NUMBER OF FORECLOSURE DOCUMENTS BANKS SUSPEND FORECLOSURES AS HOMEOWNERS SUE OVER PROCEDURES BANKS IGNORING LAW ON FORECLOSURES ONE THIRD OF HOMEOWNERS SAY HOUSE IS WORTH LESS THEN THEIR DEBT ON IT WALL STREET'S VICIOUS BACK DOOR ATTACK ON HOME BUYERS HOMEOWNERS SET RECORD FOR BEING BEHIND ON MORTGAGE HOME LOAN MODIFICATION PROGRAM A HUGE FLOP OBAMA'S FORECLOSURE PLAN HELPS BANKS MORE THAN HOMEOWNERS HOW TO DEAL WITH THE FORECLOSURE DISASTER 2009 ABOUT A QUARTER OF MODIFIED HOME LOANS STILL FALLING BEHIND ANOTHER HUD SCANDAL: DEPARTMENT TURNED FORECLOSURE WORKOUTS OVER TO WALL STREET PREDATORS HOMEOWNERS FORCED INTO BEING LANDLORDS LOCAL HEROES: SOMEONE IN GOVERNMENT WHO ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT FORECLOSURES OBAMA'S FORECLOSURE PROGRAM SUBSIDIZING SUBPRIME LENDERS OBAMA'S PLAN TO HELP HOMEOWNERS IS A BUST  THE ULTIMATE FORECLOSURE: CITY BOARDS MAN UP IN HOUSE HE LOST COURT OKAYS FORECLOSURE ON GOTTI ESTATE . . . BUT NOT UNTIL DELINQUENCY HIT $650K  FBI WARNED OF MORTGAGE FRAUD EPIDEMIC FIVE YEARS AGO WHAT A REAL STIMULUS MIGHT LOOK LIKE Sam Smith - Reduce credit card interest. As one politician once put it, "I'd frankly like to see credit cards rates down. I believe that would help stimulate the consumer and get consumer confidence moving again.'' Another politician responded by offering a bill in the Senate to cap credit card interest at 14%. The Senate voted for it 74-19. The first politician was that radical president, George Bush, in 1991. The other politician was that well known progressive, Alfonze D'Amato. Why are Obama and the Democrats more conservative than Daddy Bush and D'Amato? - Start a movement to nationalize banks. Progressives led by Robert LaFollette did this in the 1930s, giving FDR cover for his more moderate solutions. Today, all the political pressure is coming from Wall Street, which tilts policies in that direction. - All measures must put the interest of the ordinary citizen first. Neither the GOP nor the Democrats are doing that. - Deemphasize tax cuts. They are far less effective than many think. - Emphasize programs that will cheer people up and where they can see things changing for the better. Among the Wall Street bailout scam's many faults was that no one could tell what was happening as a result. Good economies need optimism. - Use revenue sharing. It's a quick way to get money down to the states and cities and to the people who live there. Sure, some of it will get corrupted but far less than is already happening with the phony stimulus packages. The upside is that citizens have a better idea of what is being done on their behalf and have some say in how it is done. - Fund public works project that have large spin-off benefits and which will be heavy in blue collar employment. These would include new mass transit service and a massive growth of America's rail system. It would deemphasize fixing up existing systems because the spin off benefits are far less. Would it include the much discussed new energy projects? We haven't seen any serious discussion of this. What is the blue collar employment potential of such projects? - Institute a shared equity program for homeowners in distress under which the federal government buys a portion of the mortgage, renegotiates interest rates with the lenders and then gets its part of the equity back when the house is sold. A similar program could be used for building new homes. - Decentralize decisions and negotiations on foreclosures and real estate interest rates, using local courts and similar bodies as was done in the 1930s. - Give the government preferred stock in companies it aids. At one point in the New Deal, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation owned bank shares that would be worth at least $20 billion today. 2008 WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE MIDDLE CLASS  Americans have been slowly transferring ownership of their homes to the banking system over the last 50+ years. These figures would look much worse if the roughly 1/3 of homes owned "free and clear" (mostly by seniors) were removed from the data, but you can see the trend is toward less equity and more debt. This is not a sign of a prospering middle-class. WHY YOU CAN'T BLAME THE HOUSING CRISIS ON POOR HOMEOWNERS TRASHING OUT ON FORECLOSURE ALLEY NEARLY ONE THIRD OF HOME OWNERS OWE MORE THAN HOUSE IS WORTH CLINTON-BUSH HOUSING BUBBLE BIGGEST IN A CENTURY Sam Smith, Progressive Review - According to a study by Yale economist Robert J Shiller cited in his book, "Irrational Exuberance," between 1890 and 1990 the sale of the average existing house (not new construction) rose no more that 25% over the inflation corrected value for 1890. In the 1990s, beginning in the Clinton years, that changed dramatically. Between 1997 and 2006 the typical house doubled in value of over the 1890 average. In other words, the Clinton-Bush housing bubble was greatest in over a hundred years. The bright side is that if the average house drops by 50% we'll be right back where we were in 1997. Throughout the preceding century, houses varied from 85-125 percent of the 1890 average value with the exception of the depression, which for housing actually began during World War I. By 1920,housing prices were down to about 65% of 1890 levels and then began to slowly rise. By 1940 they were back to the 1890 figure. In other words, housing devaluation can be a harbinger of worse to come HOUSING CRASH DISASTROUS FOR RETIREMENT SAVINGS CALIFORNIA FORECLOSURES UP 327%  IMF SAYS MORTGAGE CRISIS IS LARGEST FINANCIAL SHOCK SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION OREGONIAN FINDS JPMORGAN CHASE MEMO ON HOW TO SNEAK IN SUBPRIME LOANS HOME EQUITY LOANS NEXT CRISIS? BEN BERNANKE THREE YEARS AGO: HOUSING MARKET NO PROBLEM SUBPRIME SCANDAL AN OLD STORY IN STOCKTON, CA SUBPRIME LENDERS TARGETED BLACKS & LATINOS SUBPRIME CRISIS HELPED BY SUBPRIME POLITICS. . . AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT MORTGAGE LENDERS PREFER FORECLOSURE TO HELPING HOME BUYERS PAY OFF LOAN PRIMING THE SUBPRIME CRISIS JAMES MCCUSKER, EVERETT HERALD, WA - In the wake of the 1929 stock market crash and the subsequent global economic depression, Congress, among other actions, passed the Glass-Steagall Act which prohibited banks from engaging in securities underwriting. There was money to be made in securities, though, and after a suitable period of penance for their contributions to the crash and depression banks began to agitate for relief from this restrictive law. The banking industry's whining about Glass-Steagall eventually paid off. . . Few people spoke out against the idea, which was endorsed by America's top banking regulator, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. It is tempting to say that his enthusiasm for the idea, and Congress' action, made sense at the time, but that was not so. In fact, it made no sense then, and makes none now. . . Banks eagerly bought up low-quality mortgage loans, packaged them up and sold them as securities -- all the while using "three-card Monte" accounting constructs to keep the transactions off their balance sheets. . . The Federal Reserve, the president and Congress have their hands full at this time. Their first priority is damage control, and that is as it should be. Eventually, though, the economy will right itself, with or without Washington's help, and the president, the Federal Reserve and Congress will have time to consider what got us into this fix in the first place. If we had to pick a single event that set off this economic stink bomb, it would have to be Alan Greenspan's decision to support the expansion of bank activities into securities underwriting. While the Congress has a mind of its own, it is extremely doubtful that they would have approved this expansion in the face of his objections. He was at the height of his powers then, and his support for the idea made it bullet-proof, politically. As soon as possible, Congress should extend its damage control operations to put banking back on solid ground, and reconstruct the wall between banking and stock-market gaming. 2006 43% OF FIRST TIME HOMEOWNERS LAST YEAR PUT NO MONEY DOWN NOELLE KNOX, USA TODAY - As housing prices soared last year, an eye-popping 43% of first-time home buyers purchased their homes with no-money-down loans, according to a study released Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors. The trend is potentially ominous. The real estate market is cooling in some areas, and rates on adjustable-rate loans are creeping up. As a result, some no-money-down buyers could owe more than their homes are worth. The median first-time home buyer scraped together a down payment of only 2% on a $150,000 home in 2005, the NAR found. Already, home prices in many areas are declining, and the "For Sale" signs are hanging in front yards longer. There's now at least a 50% risk that prices will decline within two years in 11 major metro areas, including San Diego; Boston; Long Island, N.Y.; Los Angeles; and San Francisco, according to PMI Mortgage Insurance's latest U.S. Market Risk Index. . . Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research says that if housing prices fall at least 10%, it could be even more damaging than the collapse of the high-tech stock bubble in 2000. . . Baker and other economists are concerned that many lenders have pushed a series of creative but potentially dangerous loans to help more Americans afford a home. |
