Why does Pres. O want to spend 15 BILLION to refurbish foreclosed homes???

[dixiegrrrrl]

According to an article breaking down the costs of Pres. Obama's jobs bill.

15 billion, under the "construction" category, would go to "refurbishing foreclosed homes".

Who would benefit from that besides the banks that now have ..possession ( if not legal title) to the foreclosures.?

[JuniperLea]

1. got link? eom

[dixiegrrrrl]

40. here:

tiny url to a LONG Yahoo Finance page sotry

http://tinyurl.com/3jr8954

[jberryhill]

2. They should have been properly furbished the first time /nt

[Donnachaidh]

3. ahh, looks like another back door bailout, doesn't it?

Gee, who is surprised by this?

[jayfish]

4. How about 15 billion to help refurbish homes that people own and live in?

I need a roof in the worst way and can't get financing to save my life.

[we can do it]

5. Who Would Benefit? Neighborhoods, Workers, Businesses When People Spend Money

[Donnachaidh]

12. banks, who own the foreclosed properties and would make DOUBLE the profit

Have the taxpayer pay to fix them up, then re-sell them for profit. Win/win for the banks -- backdoor double bailout for the banks.

That grand sucking sound is BofA stepping up to the government teat AGAIN, thanks to this admin.

[hifiguy]

15. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!

Correct!

[sufrommich]

16. We (the government) own almost half of the foreclosed

homes out there.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Mises-Economics-Blog/2010/0701/Fed-owns-nearly-half-of-all-foreclosed-homes

[mopinko]

25. no

these are properties owned by the taxpayers.

[TwilightGardener]

6. I remember reading something on DU about a private/public partnership

to buy foreclosures, get them off the market, and rent them. I wonder if this isn't related? Might provide some construction work--those guys have been hit HARD.

[sufrommich]

7. You must not live in a neighborhood with a lot of

foreclosed homes.

[Donnachaidh]

10. and the banks own those homes - but WE will have to pay to fix them?

HOW is this fair?

[KamaAina]

8. I'm hearing there are lots of rental units around here that need refurbishment.

In a place that has a severe shortage of affordable rental housing (San Jose/Silicon Valley).

We need to get at least a billion or two of that pot redirected to creating housing that's actually where people need it.

[mopinko]

9. neighborhoods.

these properties are a sinkhole for a neighborhood.
and for property values. of the sort that ordinary people own.

such a program already exists, as mentioned /\upthread /\

[mopinko]

11. btw, most foreclosed homes go to fannie or freddie

that was part of the TARP- fannie and freddie take them off the bank's hands, and dispose of them at fair market value. and keep the money.

[Gman]

21. But they must be inhabitable

as well as worthy of purchase.

[mopinko]

24. yes, they must be inhabitable. by law.

worthy of purchase? well they all sit on land. other than that....

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. The construction industry?

[Silent3]

14. People living next to those homes

Run-down, foreclosed properties lower the value of neighboring properties. It takes just a few run-down, unsold homes in a neighborhood to start a downward spiral that drags the whole neighborhood down.

Will the banks benefit from refurbishing these homes? It seems likely. I have no idea how the funding of this would be structured, and as things go in Washington, it wouldn't surprise me if there's some (or a lot) of what Barney Frank called "collateral benefit".

Of course, the money would also provide construction jobs and a boost businesses which provide building materials.

[leftyohiolib]

41. not sure if taxpayer dollars should be spent that way.

devaluation should be left as an incentive for the banks who took the property to maintain the property. more bank bailout

[Pirate Smile]

17. Jobs! Geez, doesn't the unending negativity ever get old?

Gawd, I'd hate to go through life like that.

[phleshdef]

18. I frankly don't give a shit. Anything that helps the housing market pick up is fine with me.

[DevonRex]

19. Hahahaha. Looks like your question has been definitively answered by mopinko

and a few others who value knowledge over outrage.

[jpbollma]

22. Yes this could help the banks

but it could also help the government who owns many of these homes, and most importantly PEOPLE. do you know what these foreclosed homes do to all of their neighbors house value? Also, no one wants to live in a neighborhood where homes are left to fall apart. This can also help people better afford these homes. Many low or middle income people who can't afford all of these renovations up front will be able to buy these homes. Geeze, let's try and support the good in this jobs bill, it is likely the only one we will see and we know the GOP will shoot it down anyhow.

[mopinko]

26. there you go again.

ha

[DevonRex]

30. This is getting funny now.

And have you been going to the gym? You look like it. :P

[mopinko]

31. you are going to get me in so much trouble.

:P

[DevonRex]

37. From now on I'll be an...

O8)

[Enrique]

27. what's wrong with asking questions?

i agree the question is pretty well answered, but I'm glad she asked it.

[DevonRex]

32. Can you point to where I said it shouldn't be asked? And can you show me that question

without the implication that went with it?

[Enrique]

the real people to laugh at are the people that never question anything

those are the people that make me :rofl: :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[DevonRex]

33. Oh so obvious one, don't hurt yourself with all that rolling around.

[Enrique]

38. omg look what you made me do

:spray: :spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray:

[Gman]

20. The idea is to get them back into condition to be resold at affordable prices

and get the glut of houses off the books of the banks. Holding worthless property on the books no only skews the banks financial statements (they're not worth near what they show on the statements as) but inhibits the banks ability to loan more money for not only housing but other things including business loans.

[sufrommich]

23. It's not just banks that suffer, getting houses sold for a

decent price is a real need for struggling cities. Because of foreclosures bringing down the prices to practically nothing here, my property taxes went down $700.00 a year. Imagine what that does to a small city.

[mopinko]

29. happened to mine, too. granted

that chicago was a big part of the bubble. but prices have dropped to ridiculous levels in my hood. dropped by 70-80% in some cases. seriously.
and the transfer taxes were a big part of the city budget, too. that got us slammed immediately.

my hood is still pretty good, but we have been climbing out of the cellar for a couple decades now. we need to clean these properties off the books.

[Enrique]

28. THANK YOU FOR ASKING THIS QUESTION

nothing wrong with thinking about things and asking questions.

:toast::toast::toast::toast::toast::toast::toast::toast::toast:

[bbgrunt]

34. I'm also wondering about refurbishing schools to be turned into

privately owned charter schools.

[Lionessa]

35. Shhh! Don't question the all powerful O.

Hasn't anyone told you, little details like more sly bank bailouts, no defense cuts, more free-for-everyone's-job-to-become-outsourced agreements, and all those similar teensy weensy details aren't for folks to actual look at and think about. Just focus on the big, vague rhetoric of the deal. It's title says jobs, it must be good for jobs, right?

[jpljr77]

36. Because you can't outsource construction and repair jobs....

yet.

[leftyohiolib]

42. you cant outsource the job but you can import the labor

now

[BR_Parkway]

39. Actually, between Fannie, Freddie & AIG, the US Govt owns more of the

foreclosures than the banks. Refurb to put them back in use, rent them out as affordable housing

[OneGrassRoot]

43. +1 for affordable housing. :) n/t

[mmonk]

44. Because he didn't want to enforce reworking loans to save the housing market.

Our banking gods would be disappointed. I'm a victim of that and soon to be victim of damaging my chances at affordable healthcare concerning Medicare. I'm truly the forgotten American and there are millions like me.

[RedRocco]

45. meanwhile, I'm going to lose my house because I cant

afford to fix my roof. comdemnation hearing is the 14th :(