bail (3)

Okay, here's the latest and greatest mortgage bail out plan for
California only. This one is called "Keep Your Home". It was announced
by the Califorinia Housing Finance Agency to become effective Novemeber
1, 2010.

This plan offers:

1. A subsidy of up to $1500 or 50% of the monthly mortgage payment up to 6 months.
2. $15,000 or 50% of past due payments to reinstate the loan and prevent foreclosure.
3. Up to $50,000 to reduce principal balance to market level.

Homeowner requirements:

1. Occupy residence.
2. Meet income restrictions.
3. Sign hardship affidavit.
4. Have enough income to make modified payments, be delinquent, or in danger of imminent default.
5. Property cannot be vacant or in serious disrepair.

Lender requirements:

You know the part where the homeowners can receive money to reinstate their loan? The lender must match it - dollar for dollar.

And you know the part where the homeowner can receive money to reduce
the principal balance? The lender must match it by the same amount.

Ah! This is the part the banks can't come to grips with. After all, they are not in the business of losing money are they?

So, when all else fails, the homeowner can receive a one-time grant of up to $5,000 to relocate.
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Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd, Chairman of the Banking Committee introduced his own Financial Reform Bill recent however, it didn’t have bipartisan support and died on arrival however, the White House bill that is likely to be brought to the floor on Monday has a very similar outline.

What specifically got my attention was the $50 billion fund, that will be raised out of fees charged to banks. This fund is suppose to be used to liquidate failing banks. Now, it doesn’t say anything in particular about using that money to liquidate bank nonperforming assets in the form of short sale however, follow me down the rabbit hole for a while.

This is an election year and, the last thing a politician wants is to be seen as is someone who is pro business and, pro Wall street, however the financial crisis has gotten worse than anyone will admit and therefore, the government realized their folly with the philosophy, “everyone gets to stay in their home.” So, now….here we are, elections in November, the Country is PISSED OFF at incumbent politicians and the banking crisis is worsening due to the enormous debt and weakening dollar so, what can a politician do?

They find an enemy, in this case, big banks and they find a victim, in this case, defaulting homeowners. Now, regardless of how you feel personally about who is really responsible for this calamity, let me assure you, the media is going to spin this as if it’s all the banks fault so, just a bit further down the rabbit hole, come on……you know reading my blog is like watching a naughty movie on your company laptop, you may not ever say you do it but, we know, oh trust me, we know.

Ok, I digress.

What these politicians need to do is get rid of these toxic assets on these bank portfolios now, under a capitalist system, the banks would be left to deal with the problem on their own however, that isn’t the reality of the situation. So, these politicians in control of these banks tell them that they need to do more short sales however, the banks say, we can’t take the loss.

Well, the Government can’t give them a direct bail out because, it’s not popular at the moment so, the Government decides to charge the banks fee which is essentially tax payer money anyways because the bank is Government owned. The Government then “banks” these fees at the Fed and makes the fees available to banks they determine need to liquidate some non performing assets. So, in essence, it’s a Government bailout with taxpayer dollars however, it’s hidden in the guise of bank fees.

So, how did I make the stretch that these fees would be used to create an influx of short sales? Well, I can’t tell you my source but, let’s just say, no politician in their right mind wants to be charged with kicking homeowners out of their home, no matter if the homeowner can afford the home or not. This is especially true with Progressive politicians because, keep in mind, they are following the Franklin Roosevelt 2nd Bill of Rights that says everyone gets a home.

Ok, now that I took you on a trip to Wonderland, let’s come back to reality.

America’s debt spending is weakening our dollar in foreign markets. This is why we are seeing gold prices rise. This is important to understand because, we don’t want to end up like Greece in the next 24-36 months, if not sooner. A continued weakening dollar, increased fuel prices, lower home prices, lack of real job growth, more defaults, more upside down homeowners, a tightening credit market, lack of industrial production in the country, higher taxes for everyone and we are gearing up for a perfect storm for hyper inflation.

The Government has to do something, right?

I got an idea.......JUST STOP DEBT SPENDING!

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Shadow Supply of Foreclosures

BY KATHLEEN DOLER FOR INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted 3/24/2009 Even as a few rays of hope peek out for housing, a dark cloud of unlisted and unsold foreclosed homes threatens to further delay a recovery and undermine lenders' financials. The government is riding in with new programs almost every week, including Monday, that may rescue lenders. But they also cause paralysis in the short term. Lenders are holding "between 600,000 and 700,000 residential properties that are not on the multiple listing service (MLS) ," said Rick Sharga, senior vice president at RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing firm in Irvine, Calif. This shadow supply isn't counted as part of the housing inventory. There were 3.8 million existing homes on the market in February, equal to 9.7 months' worth at the current sales pace. Add in the shadow supply and selling all the available homes will take even longer, and that suggests prices have even further to fall. There has been some good news on the home front. February existing-home sales rose 5.1%, the best monthly gain in years. Housing starts shot up 22.2% from a record low. Low mortgage rates and falling prices have made homes more affordable — though that doesn't help if you can't get a loan or you've lost your job. Meanwhile, foreclosure activity has been artificially suppressed. Mortgage delinquency rates have continued to soar in the last several months even as the new foreclosure rate has held steady. That's due to government moratoriums or voluntary lender halts. But most experts say eventually most of those homes will be foreclosed. Lenders also may be understating the impact foreclosures will have on their balance sheets. And the shadow is likely to grow as more homeowners default. Window Dressing? Specialists who handle loan modifications for borrowers say that despite a flurry of new programs, few mortgages are being reworked. "Lenders aren't doing anything," said Jim Richman, president and founder of Richman & Associates, a real estate and debt restructuring firm in Glendale, Calif. "They're waiting to see if the government will bail them out." "Everybody is stalled 100%; the lenders aren't doing anything" with modifications, said Moe Bedard, president of Loan Safe Solutions, a Corona, Calif.-based firm that does mortgage auditing for attorneys. Richman is a former banker and former Housing and Urban Development commissioner. He also believes lenders "are illegally operating under current federal rules," by not writing down their foreclosures adequately. "Lenders are doing everything they can to stay in business, but it's against all the rules," said Richman. "(Regulators) are afraid to enforce the rules because if they do the banks will fail, and the feds will have to bail them out." Sharga says he's spoken "directly with foreclosure attorneys in several states (including Texas, Michigan and California) to find out if any of their firms were reappraising properties" during the foreclosure process for their clients. "None did formal appraisals," he said. Sharga says lenders have taken huge write-downs. But if they have not reappraised their foreclosures, are the write-downs adequate? "What the banks can buy with time (holding foreclosures and not listing them for sale) is the tooth fairy," said Thomas Barrack Jr., founder, chairman and CEO of Colony Capital, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm specializing in real estate. "The government has shown that if you wait long enough, it will come out with a new program to modify the obligations of the bank and borrower. Pixie dust comes every week." The Treasury on Monday laid out its plan to partner with private funds to buy up to $1 trillion in so-called "toxic assets." It's as-yet unclear if these purchases will include actual foreclosed properties — these programs tend to morph as they get rolled out. "Why take a loss today if there's any chance that loss could be less (due to changes in government programs)?" said Terry McEvoy, a banking analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. in New York. Some shadow inventory may not be listed publicly because some lenders sell foreclosures via in-house divisions, says Bedard. Or, lenders may be selling the defaulted paper to investors. But these gray market sales can't account for all unlisted foreclosed properties. And the stalling is getting worse. "What we're seeing is slowdowns in the processing of properties throughout the foreclosure cycle . . . it's taking longer to file (default) notices, taking longer to actually foreclose and taking longer to get the properties on the market," said Sharga. "The lenders ease their way into the losses," said Jeff Davis, senior vice president and director of research at Howe Barnes Hoefer & Arnett Inc., Chicago. "If the economy would pick up, a lot of the issues wouldn't be as problematic. But that's not happening and these issues are just compounding." If banks dump their properties at once, it could cause dramatic price erosion in already hard-hit areas. Home prices, which have fallen 30% or more in some areas, still have more to go, many experts say. In some areas they need to drop "another 30% to get down to 1998 normalized levels," Barrack says. Lenders have argued before Capitol Hill to relax or suspend mark-to-market rules for valuing mortgage-backed securities. Lawmakers, in turn, have leaned heavily on the private-sector Financial Accounting Standards Board to make changes. FASB has signaled it'll modify the rule in cases where markets are illiquid. It met Tuesday to discuss the issue. Barrack, who opposes changing the mark-to-market rules, said: "When real estate and securities were booming, the lenders were booking unbelievable earnings. Now the market is going the other way. "They can't have it both ways," Barrack said. Other analysts disagree. "When you mark to the market and there is no market, you're recognizing an economic loss and a loss of liquidity," instead of an actual loss, said Davis. But he said if the underlying assets —the homes — "are collapsing in value, then there's a problem."
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