Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The plan comes as President Barack Obama is under increasing political pressure to change his strategy for helping struggling homeowners and stem the tide of rising foreclosures and is the second major housing initiative announced in as many months.
Falling home prices, together with easy availability of credit and government policies promoting homeownership, pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the brink of collapse in 2008. The Treasury seized them in September of that year and has spent $145 billion so far to keep them solvent.
The administration wants a “comprehensive reform proposal that protects taxpayers, institutes tough oversight, restores the long-term health of our housing market, and strengthens our nation’s economic recovery,” he said.
The size of the housing market is substantial enough to thwart most government attempts to prop it up. It will have to fall or rise of its own accord. And we should allow it to do so. "Interventions" only delay what is inevitable.
Actually, I think his policies are artificially keeping home prices inflated and are just delaying the inevitable further drops in house values. In many areas of the country, home prices are way out of sync with today's incomes.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nearly half of all Americans who claimed the first-time homebuyer tax credit on their 2009 tax returns will have to repay the government.
Obama is trying to shall we say mislead the public on poorly done policies... instead of saying the liberal method was an utter failure, he is going to waste YOUR money to pay someone else's mortgage... he isn't trying to fix anything, he is trying to repair the image of "Big Government is good" even when its an utter failure... if the private sector is able to do a better job (and it has), Obama should focus on letting the private sector handle the mess, instead, he wants the sheep to believe that failed policies are good by throwing at it and hopes nobody notices the debt... and when good news comes out (because good news EVENTUALLY comes out) he can claim a pseudo-success from stupid policies of big government and big debt even though the success was mostly achieved by the private sector... irony for claiming someone else's success as their own but America has a long tradition of doing that... Obama is more of the same and less of any sort of change... This is akin to something I would of expected of Bush...
Since his geithner plan; which was his #2 priotity at first for a private;government patnership fell thru the banks are controlling the housing game. They how appear to be set to workout the bundled assets over a 15 year period.
Lower prices will help more people own homes. It was only a few years ago that Bush advocated an "ownership society", so ironically, falling prices will help to make this happen.
A home shouldn't be considered an investment anyway; it's a place to live. I see homes as a commodity, similar to a car. I prefer to lease/rent both.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
