Ohio bailing out foreclosures

[SD Realtor]

Well Ohio has become the first state to raise the level of fiscal insanity. They are going to issue bonds that will then be used to refinance homeowners facing foreclosure. I forgot where I read this article because yesterday I was on the road all day with my family but I believe it was in the Friday SD Union… Or maybe it was on line. I am sorry I do not recall. I absolutely remember that the article stated Ohio lead the US in foreclosures AND that other states were considering doing the same thing.

Basically the bonds will be issued and the money will be used to refinance the homeowners into fixed rate 30 year loans…

Somebody get me the duct tape so I can wrap my head up so it will not explode.

[AK]

I read about that … supposedly $100 million in muni bonds to refi an estimated 1,000 homedebtors.

Drop in the bucket, but just enough to say: “I did something … vote for me!”

[SD Realtor]

Credit to Outtamojo for posting this news event a few days ago.

SD Realtor

[Bob G]

Bailout will make me a triple victim.

1) Victim of being priced out of housing market for the last three years of insanity.

2) Victim of losses in my employer’s defined benefit pension fund from default on AAA bonds, which will translate into higher co-pays for me, or pay cuts.

3) Victim of having to subsidize bad decisions by the fed with increased taxes for taxpayer bailout bonds.

If bonds for this purpose go though in my state, I’ll be forced to do like Anikin Skywalker in Star Wars 3. Ugh.

[davelj]

I am assuming that in the interest of fairness to the taxpayers that all of those homeowners who are “bailed out” will have to return some of the (eventual) appreciation in their homes back to taxpayers in order to repay them for subsidizing their stupidity.

Oh, no… that’s right… real estate is all about “heads I win, tails you lose,” or “If things go down, I need a bailout because I got screwed by my mortgage broker; but if prices go up, well, that’s all mine (I took the risk, didn’t I? I’m a genius!!).”

How deliciously rich in hypocrisy…

[PerryChase]

Are they truly bailing out the homeowners? For how long?

Guess where the money will end up? In the pockets of the lenders who should’ve gone bankrupt for bad business decisions!

[Cow_tipping]

Oh yea, I guess those bonds are going to sell like hotcakes and make a lot of money for the ones buying them. You guessed it, old people and retirement savers are going to once again be shafted.
Cool.
Cow_tipping.

[bob007]

Ohio has high foreclosure rate due to exodus of manufacturing jobs to China. The defaulting homeowners are being compensated to avoid blight. It is a lot different than the situation in California, Florida, Las Vegas, Arizona

[Happy renter]

Here is the article:

http://www.stockhouse.ca/mediascan/news.asp?newsid=8306321

[Cow_tipping]

Bob007: CA has lost high tech and medium tech and call center jobs to India and china. Its michigan in a few years. Ohio is michigan in 1-2 years. CA is 3-5 years.
Cool.
Cow_tipping.

[FutureSDguy]

I thought foreclosure *was* the bailout. It relieves the debtor from the responsibility of paying off the debt, and the house is given to the lien holder, the bank.

If this double-bailout is in effect, it will only serve to keep prices inflated. *sigh*

[Artifact]

So people who have been fiscally responsible and not mortgaged themselves over their means, will now pay to bail out those who were not responsible…and in the process help keep prices higher than they can responsibly afford.

Great!

Granted, Ohio’s prices are not as overinflated as San Diego, but the trend is not a good one to start – I consider myself a Democrat politically, but this is going too far for me. For every actual bad luck story (someone who might actually warrant some help), there are at least one, and probably more around here, stories of someone who got caught trying to work the system.

[no_such_reality]

Just in Toledo’s San Lucas county, there were 6000 sales last year, 7000 in 2005. Toledo Home Sales

Ohio is running at a 3.38% foreclosure rate, tops in the country.

I suspect that will continue to climb.

So funding 1000 homes isn’t a spit in the bucket, it’s larger, but not gravy blanket. In the end, the result will be same, but I think they are helping to make the prices stickier on the way down.

It’ll be interesting to see if the bonds have buyers. They’re muni’s, but if the economy worsens in auto-land, the state will be hard hit.

In Ohio, 6.75% may carry the day, homes at $200K are still affordable at the rate. That rate, wouldn’t save SoCal, it would still leave payments of $3500 or more for most buyers.

Hmm, a little closer look and maybe it is a spit in the bucket, 6.75% and a max 125% of median income…

In Columbus, the largest city, median household income was $48,475 in 2005. 125% of that is $60,500. Median family income in ohio is $60,800. I suspect many families aren’t going to make the cut.

[cr]

I only hope that by the time California or any other states for that matter, actually get around to deciding on the same issue, the problem will have spiraled so far out of control that the sheer cost by then will prevent any such measure.

[Bugs]

I sincerely doubt that Ohio ever became a bubble market or that those borrowers all paid so much for their properties they are underwater in terms of price. So at least part of the “prolonging the inevitable” argument is going to be different there than here.

There probably are some borrowers who wouldn’t have qualified under conventional terms, but when they go to sell they shouldn’t cause huge losses for those lenders beyond what normally happens when a lender lets a house sit vacant for a couple months. It may not even have much of an effect on pricing for everyone else there.

Of course, that doesn’t speak to the inequity of forcing the many to pay for the mistakes of the few.

[Author]

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