Housing industry reacts to Bush plan ("A month ago it was like he didn't take it seriously...")

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Foreclosure and late payments have spiked, especially for so-called subprime borrowers with blemished credit histories or low incomes. Higher interest rates and weak home values have made it impossible for some to pay or to keep up with their monthly mortgage payments. Some overstretched homeowners can't afford to refinance or even sell their homes. Mortgage foreclosures and late payments are expected to worsen. About 2 million adjustable-rate mortgages are to reset to higher rates this year and next. Steep penalties for prepaying mortgages have added to some homeowners' headaches.

"Is it a real shot in the arm? No," said Lynette Gibson McElhaney, executive director of the Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services, an advocacy group that counsels homeowners on the foreclosure process. "But it's a step in the right direction."

McElhaney said Bush's proposal shows the administration has acknowledged that the foreclosure crisis is growing rather than going away.

"A month ago it was like he didn't take it seriously -- 'It's only a small part of the economy,'" she said. "Now they see this is going to have a tremendous impact on communities."

http://www.mercurynews.com/realestatenews/ci_6779848

[plusfiftyfive]

1. I love that image !!!

[sendero]

2. As best I can tell...

... Bush's "proposals" to help the situation are pretty much useless.

Kind of like the Republican idea that the way to get health coverage to the uncovered masses is to make premiums tax deductible. As if that would make any difference whatsoever.

Bush and the Republicans are out of touch with reality, again. Surprise.

[POAS]

4. Doesn't the proposal limit help to

people with good credit histories?

That definition excludes vast numbers of those holding those sub-prime mortgages while effectively rewarding real estate speculators who took advantage of "zero down" and other plans in an attempt to get-rich-quick!

Think of all those info-mercials touting schemes to acquire vast numbers of investment properties with little or nothing down and even get cash in hand at closing! Now they will get a bail out and the poor will get the shaft!

[rucky]

6. No. FHA loans don't use credit scores.

you can even have a bankrupcy on your record. It's computed by debt-to-income. These are government-backed securities.

This is for people who signed up for interest-only loans two years ago, and are in a situation where it's time for them to pay the full principal. They have to prove that they can't, then will become eligible for the new HUD program. With Down Payment Assistance, they can regain some of the equity they've lost (if any) when they re-fi.

I haven't said this about government *anything* for seven years, but this is a good thing. People get to keep their homes, and get out of bad loans that they shouldn't have gotten into in the first place. Funny thing is, these government loans have been around for years, but the brokers never wanted to do the extra paperwork, so they pushed subprime for people who would've qualified for FHA.

[Aviation Pro]

3. Cue Deliverance music....

...what a bunch of extra-chromosome looking retards. I expect Motherfucker George Bush to say something like, "Some call it a sling blade, uh-huh." No disrespect intended toward retards.

[tanyev]

5. "A month ago it was like he didn't take it seriously"

Yeah, well that was before Wall Street and the banks started panicking.