Housing Mortgage Bill — Vahl Comments
First, here are excerpts from an article that describes the Housing Mortgage Bill that will likely be signed by the President before the end of the year:
Boosting Fannie and Freddie
To help stabilize markets, which were shaken in the past few weeks by steep declines in the stock prices of Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500), Treasury Secretary Paulson asked Congress on July 13 to give the Treasury power to provide a liquidity and capital “backstop” for the two companies.Fannie and Freddie guarantee the purchase and trade of mortgages and own or back $5.2 trillion in mortgages.
The bill allows Treasury over the next 18 months to offer Fannie and Freddie an unlimited line of credit and the authority to buy stock in the companies if necessary.
Shares of Fannie closed 12% higher and those of Freddie 9% on Wednesday. Fannie’s stock is down 79% and Freddie’s 84% over the past year.
Helping at-risk borrowers
The bill also aims to help homeowners at risk of foreclosure and to bolster regulation of Fannie and Freddie. Among other things, it would:Increase the Federal Housing Administration’s role. The FHA could insure up to $300 billion in new 30-year fixed rate mortgages for at-risk borrowers in owner-occupied homes if lenders agree to write down loan balances to 90% of the homes’ current appraised value.
Lenders would also agree to pay upfront fees to the FHA equal to 3% of a home’s appraised value. Borrowers must agree to pay an annual premium to the FHA equal to 1.5% of their new loan balance. They must also agree to share with the government any profit they realize from selling or refinancing.
Create home-buyer credit. The bill includes a tax refund for first-time home buyers worth up to 10% of a home’s purchase price but no more than $7,500.
The refund, however, serves more as an interest-free loan, since it would have to be paid back over 15 years in equal installments. It would be reduced gradually for single filers with adjusted gross incomes above $75,000 and for joint filers with AGIs over $150,000.
Bar down-payment assistance for FHA loans. The bill eliminates a program that has allowed sellers to provide down payment assistance. The seller-funded program is largely the reason why the agency’s reserve has fallen by $4.6 billion, according to FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery. Currently, that reserve is roughly $16.4 billion.
The bill would also increase to 3.5% from 3% the down payment requirement for borrowers getting FHA loans.
Give grants to states to buy foreclosed properties. The bill would grant $4 billion to states to buy up and rehabilitate foreclosed properties.
Quick comments by Vahl:
I personally approve of this bill. It’s close enough to my Earth-Never solution to the Housing crisis. The only thing that bothers me is the removal of the seller assistance for down payments. I understand why it has to be this way … it just potentially delays my first home purchase. Since the home I’m looking at is EXTREMELY cheap, I know I’m not a bad borrower if I get down-payment assistance. This is what happens when government is forced to step in to solve a problem — the whole populace is punished because of a few bad apples.
Don’t believe me? Have you flown anywhere lately?
Anyway, I accept this reality.
Winners: People currently in danger of losing their home to foreclosure.
Losers: People who’ve ALREADY lost their homes to foreclosure.
LME Practitioners rewarded: The banks, some very lucky thoughtless borrowers.
I pray that Repubs and Dems who support off-shore drilling will filibuster this bill in the Senate until their voice his heard and their bill(s) are brought up for a vote.
Similar Posts:
- LDOTR: More Absurdity
- L.R: Anecdotes from Beck
- Random Thoughts on Financial Crisis
- Analogies I’ve heard the past year for the Mtg/Financial Crisis
- Another example of revisionist history
- "Shovel-Ready"
- Response to AmEx/Auto Industry Bailout
Finally some progress!
Edgar definitely opens a can of worms for induction…do you give credit to a guy who should have the counting numbers necessary for the Hall, but for the clear and provable asshattery of his baseball developmental team? I’m less offended by Edgar’s lack of defensive contribution when considering him for the HOF and more worried about his lack of career longevity. The peak is fantastic, but not really peaky enough to get him in on his own (IMHO).
Lefty Grove was a great player in 1924 when he was trapped in Baltimore, Ted Williams was a great player in 1944 when he was busy flying fighter planes, and Oscar Charleston was a great player in a career spent trapped behind the color line. I have to agree with this assessment.
Edgar Martinez was already a great player prior to getting his first real shot in the majors at age 27. Ichiro! was already a great player in Japan for several years before his ML debut. Sure, we can’t give FULL credit to Gar’s minor league stats (but if someone could dig up the info and do some MLEs, it could be interesting), and we can’t give FULL credit to Ichiro!’s Japanese stats; but their performance in those non-MLB settings are real, and we (probably) shouldn’t ignore them entirely.
Also, Gar played 563 games at third (not particularly well, but not embarrassingly bad, either), and Ichiro! has spent some significant time in center. I’d say Gar definitely has more defensive value than Thomas (though less with the bat, sure).
I stopped collecting comic books when I discovered girls.
I started again when they took a look at me and ran for the hills …
Haha…ugly ass