Underwater Homeowners Thread

[TheBreeze]

[quote=paramount]Like RL said today, there are 2 groups of people in all of this:

1. Those who largely committed fraud buying a house they could not afford, and

2. Those who could afford their home, but didn’t do any research, got caught up in the speculative mania with large dollar signs in their eyes, paid too much by any reasonable historic measure, and now want a taxpayer bailout.

[/quote]

Very well said, paramount.

[aldante]

[quote=North County Jim]OK Breeze, I’m blind. All underwater borrowers should go down with the ship.

Would that make you happy?
[/quote]

No let’s give everyone a house.

(very very smart- because we all know if you get forclosed on you are suddenly homeless)

RIGHT?

BTW will you wire some funds to my “buy a new house fund”?

[aldante]

[quote=North County Jim]OK Breeze, I’m blind. All underwater borrowers should go down with the ship.

Would that make you happy?
[/quote]

No let’s give everyone a house.

(very very smart- because we all know if you get forclosed on you are suddenly homeless)

RIGHT?

BTW will you wire some funds to my “buy a new house fund”?

[aldante]

[quote=North County Jim]OK Breeze, I’m blind. All underwater borrowers should go down with the ship.

Would that make you happy?
[/quote]

No let’s give everyone a house.

(very very smart- because we all know if you get forclosed on you are suddenly homeless)

RIGHT?

BTW will you wire some funds to my “buy a new house fund”?

[aldante]

[quote=North County Jim]OK Breeze, I’m blind. All underwater borrowers should go down with the ship.

Would that make you happy?
[/quote]

No let’s give everyone a house.

(very very smart- because we all know if you get forclosed on you are suddenly homeless)

RIGHT?

BTW will you wire some funds to my “buy a new house fund”?

[aldante]

[quote=North County Jim]OK Breeze, I’m blind. All underwater borrowers should go down with the ship.

Would that make you happy?
[/quote]

No let’s give everyone a house.

(very very smart- because we all know if you get forclosed on you are suddenly homeless)

RIGHT?

BTW will you wire some funds to my “buy a new house fund”?

[PadreBrian]

Here’s some good news today:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51I7DO20090219

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The telephones have been ringing off the hook at U.S. mortgage lenders since President Barack Obama pledged $275 billion on Wednesday to help stem a wave of home foreclosures.

“Yesterday, LendingTree.com had the highest loan request volume day for the month showing that borrowers did indeed feel encouraged by Obama’s housing plan,” said Cameron Findlay, chief economist for the online loan broker in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In the strongest government action yet to aid homeowners since the housing market’s meltdown began, President Obama said his plan would give 9 million families the chance to refinance their mortgages.

Refinancing volume at mortgage broker LendingTree.com was up 88 percent week-over-week on Wednesday, while applications for new home purchases were up 30 percent during this time.

Traffic to real estate website Zillow.com soared as well with loan requests up 56 percent on Wednesday versus the average daily number of loan requests so far in February.

The U.S. housing market is in the worst downturn since the Great Depression, contributing to losses at banks and a global economic slowdown.

Many hopeful borrowers, however, may find their efforts to get a loan futile despite the U.S. government’s aggressive efforts.

“The government could and should do more and I think they are being overly optimistic about the number of people that are going to be helped by this,” said Professor Chris Mayer, senior vice Dean at Columbia Business School.

“It will help foreclosures, but the plan falls short in several ways, namely it is missing a provision that provides a safe harbor for servicers to modify mortgages,” he said.

Mayer said about 50 percent of mortgage servicers have some sort of restriction on modification in the pooling and servicing agreement, which can only be changed through legislation.

“The amount of homeowners helped with the housing plan is significantly less without this provision,” he said.

Under Obama’s housing plan, up to 5 million homeowners still making payments, who cannot qualify for conventional refinancing because their home values have dropped, could refinance through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Separately, up to 4 million “at risk” borrowers in danger of foreclosure could get payments reduced through modifications jointly paid for by lenders and the U.S. Treasury. Those reductions would aim to bring borrowers payments down to 31 percent of their income.

Mortgage finance giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will play a pivotal role in the U.S. government’s housing plan.

“The involvement of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in this process is significant and the impact should not be underestimated,” said Susan Wachter, real estate and finance professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

“The housing plan, however, only offers incentives, with no penalties and that could be a problem,” she said.

The plan would provide a $1,000 fee to mortgage servicers for each successful loan modification, while borrowers would receive up to $1,000 to reduce their loan principal each year if they stay current on their payments.

“There has been a stunning absence of evidence that past plans to modify loans have worked, but if we do eventually get evidence that these new loan modifications are working that in and of itself will help the housing market,” she said.

Stabilization of the mortgage and housing markets remains a prerequisite for a turn toward normalization of financial markets and the economy, according to Torsten Slok, senior economist at Deutsche Bank in New York.

“The policy measures taken have already had a significantly positive effect on housing affordability, and they show promise of helping further to ease the downturn in housing ahead,” he said.

“But, they will not be enough to prevent substantial further declines in either residential investment or home prices over the quarters ahead,” he said.

[PadreBrian]

Here’s some good news today:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51I7DO20090219

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The telephones have been ringing off the hook at U.S. mortgage lenders since President Barack Obama pledged $275 billion on Wednesday to help stem a wave of home foreclosures.

“Yesterday, LendingTree.com had the highest loan request volume day for the month showing that borrowers did indeed feel encouraged by Obama’s housing plan,” said Cameron Findlay, chief economist for the online loan broker in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In the strongest government action yet to aid homeowners since the housing market’s meltdown began, President Obama said his plan would give 9 million families the chance to refinance their mortgages.

Refinancing volume at mortgage broker LendingTree.com was up 88 percent week-over-week on Wednesday, while applications for new home purchases were up 30 percent during this time.

Traffic to real estate website Zillow.com soared as well with loan requests up 56 percent on Wednesday versus the average daily number of loan requests so far in February.

The U.S. housing market is in the worst downturn since the Great Depression, contributing to losses at banks and a global economic slowdown.

Many hopeful borrowers, however, may find their efforts to get a loan futile despite the U.S. government’s aggressive efforts.

“The government could and should do more and I think they are being overly optimistic about the number of people that are going to be helped by this,” said Professor Chris Mayer, senior vice Dean at Columbia Business School.

“It will help foreclosures, but the plan falls short in several ways, namely it is missing a provision that provides a safe harbor for servicers to modify mortgages,” he said.

Mayer said about 50 percent of mortgage servicers have some sort of restriction on modification in the pooling and servicing agreement, which can only be changed through legislation.

“The amount of homeowners helped with the housing plan is significantly less without this provision,” he said.

Under Obama’s housing plan, up to 5 million homeowners still making payments, who cannot qualify for conventional refinancing because their home values have dropped, could refinance through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Separately, up to 4 million “at risk” borrowers in danger of foreclosure could get payments reduced through modifications jointly paid for by lenders and the U.S. Treasury. Those reductions would aim to bring borrowers payments down to 31 percent of their income.

Mortgage finance giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will play a pivotal role in the U.S. government’s housing plan.

“The involvement of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in this process is significant and the impact should not be underestimated,” said Susan Wachter, real estate and finance professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

“The housing plan, however, only offers incentives, with no penalties and that could be a problem,” she said.

The plan would provide a $1,000 fee to mortgage servicers for each successful loan modification, while borrowers would receive up to $1,000 to reduce their loan principal each year if they stay current on their payments.

“There has been a stunning absence of evidence that past plans to modify loans have worked, but if we do eventually get evidence that these new loan modifications are working that in and of itself will help the housing market,” she said.

Stabilization of the mortgage and housing markets remains a prerequisite for a turn toward normalization of financial markets and the economy, according to Torsten Slok, senior economist at Deutsche Bank in New York.

“The policy measures taken have already had a significantly positive effect on housing affordability, and they show promise of helping further to ease the downturn in housing ahead,” he said.

“But, they will not be enough to prevent substantial further declines in either residential investment or home prices over the quarters ahead,” he said.

[PadreBrian]

Here’s some good news today:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51I7DO20090219

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The telephones have been ringing off the hook at U.S. mortgage lenders since President Barack Obama pledged $275 billion on Wednesday to help stem a wave of home foreclosures.

“Yesterday, LendingTree.com had the highest loan request volume day for the month showing that borrowers did indeed feel encouraged by Obama’s housing plan,” said Cameron Findlay, chief economist for the online loan broker in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In the strongest government action yet to aid homeowners since the housing market’s meltdown began, President Obama said his plan would give 9 million families the chance to refinance their mortgages.

Refinancing volume at mortgage broker LendingTree.com was up 88 percent week-over-week on Wednesday, while applications for new home purchases were up 30 percent during this time.

Traffic to real estate website Zillow.com soared as well with loan requests up 56 percent on Wednesday versus the average daily number of loan requests so far in February.

The U.S. housing market is in the worst downturn since the Great Depression, contributing to losses at banks and a global economic slowdown.

Many hopeful borrowers, however, may find their efforts to get a loan futile despite the U.S. government’s aggressive efforts.

“The government could and should do more and I think they are being overly optimistic about the number of people that are going to be helped by this,” said Professor Chris Mayer, senior vice Dean at Columbia Business School.

“It will help foreclosures, but the plan falls short in several ways, namely it is missing a provision that provides a safe harbor for servicers to modify mortgages,” he said.

Mayer said about 50 percent of mortgage servicers have some sort of restriction on modification in the pooling and servicing agreement, which can only be changed through legislation.

“The amount of homeowners helped with the housing plan is significantly less without this provision,” he said.

Under Obama’s housing plan, up to 5 million homeowners still making payments, who cannot qualify for conventional refinancing because their home values have dropped, could refinance through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Separately, up to 4 million “at risk” borrowers in danger of foreclosure could get payments reduced through modifications jointly paid for by lenders and the U.S. Treasury. Those reductions would aim to bring borrowers payments down to 31 percent of their income.

Mortgage finance giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will play a pivotal role in the U.S. government’s housing plan.

“The involvement of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in this process is significant and the impact should not be underestimated,” said Susan Wachter, real estate and finance professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

“The housing plan, however, only offers incentives, with no penalties and that could be a problem,” she said.

The plan would provide a $1,000 fee to mortgage servicers for each successful loan modification, while borrowers would receive up to $1,000 to reduce their loan principal each year if they stay current on their payments.

“There has been a stunning absence of evidence that past plans to modify loans have worked, but if we do eventually get evidence that these new loan modifications are working that in and of itself will help the housing market,” she said.

Stabilization of the mortgage and housing markets remains a prerequisite for a turn toward normalization of financial markets and the economy, according to Torsten Slok, senior economist at Deutsche Bank in New York.

“The policy measures taken have already had a significantly positive effect on housing affordability, and they show promise of helping further to ease the downturn in housing ahead,” he said.

“But, they will not be enough to prevent substantial further declines in either residential investment or home prices over the quarters ahead,” he said.

[PadreBrian]

Here’s some good news today:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51I7DO20090219

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The telephones have been ringing off the hook at U.S. mortgage lenders since President Barack Obama pledged $275 billion on Wednesday to help stem a wave of home foreclosures.

“Yesterday, LendingTree.com had the highest loan request volume day for the month showing that borrowers did indeed feel encouraged by Obama’s housing plan,” said Cameron Findlay, chief economist for the online loan broker in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In the strongest government action yet to aid homeowners since the housing market’s meltdown began, President Obama said his plan would give 9 million families the chance to refinance their mortgages.

Refinancing volume at mortgage broker LendingTree.com was up 88 percent week-over-week on Wednesday, while applications for new home purchases were up 30 percent during this time.

Traffic to real estate website Zillow.com soared as well with loan requests up 56 percent on Wednesday versus the average daily number of loan requests so far in February.

The U.S. housing market is in the worst downturn since the Great Depression, contributing to losses at banks and a global economic slowdown.

Many hopeful borrowers, however, may find their efforts to get a loan futile despite the U.S. government’s aggressive efforts.

“The government could and should do more and I think they are being overly optimistic about the number of people that are going to be helped by this,” said Professor Chris Mayer, senior vice Dean at Columbia Business School.

“It will help foreclosures, but the plan falls short in several ways, namely it is missing a provision that provides a safe harbor for servicers to modify mortgages,” he said.

Mayer said about 50 percent of mortgage servicers have some sort of restriction on modification in the pooling and servicing agreement, which can only be changed through legislation.

“The amount of homeowners helped with the housing plan is significantly less without this provision,” he said.

Under Obama’s housing plan, up to 5 million homeowners still making payments, who cannot qualify for conventional refinancing because their home values have dropped, could refinance through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Separately, up to 4 million “at risk” borrowers in danger of foreclosure could get payments reduced through modifications jointly paid for by lenders and the U.S. Treasury. Those reductions would aim to bring borrowers payments down to 31 percent of their income.

Mortgage finance giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will play a pivotal role in the U.S. government’s housing plan.

“The involvement of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in this process is significant and the impact should not be underestimated,” said Susan Wachter, real estate and finance professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

“The housing plan, however, only offers incentives, with no penalties and that could be a problem,” she said.

The plan would provide a $1,000 fee to mortgage servicers for each successful loan modification, while borrowers would receive up to $1,000 to reduce their loan principal each year if they stay current on their payments.

“There has been a stunning absence of evidence that past plans to modify loans have worked, but if we do eventually get evidence that these new loan modifications are working that in and of itself will help the housing market,” she said.

Stabilization of the mortgage and housing markets remains a prerequisite for a turn toward normalization of financial markets and the economy, according to Torsten Slok, senior economist at Deutsche Bank in New York.

“The policy measures taken have already had a significantly positive effect on housing affordability, and they show promise of helping further to ease the downturn in housing ahead,” he said.

“But, they will not be enough to prevent substantial further declines in either residential investment or home prices over the quarters ahead,” he said.

[PadreBrian]

Here’s some good news today:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51I7DO20090219

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The telephones have been ringing off the hook at U.S. mortgage lenders since President Barack Obama pledged $275 billion on Wednesday to help stem a wave of home foreclosures.

“Yesterday, LendingTree.com had the highest loan request volume day for the month showing that borrowers did indeed feel encouraged by Obama’s housing plan,” said Cameron Findlay, chief economist for the online loan broker in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In the strongest government action yet to aid homeowners since the housing market’s meltdown began, President Obama said his plan would give 9 million families the chance to refinance their mortgages.

Refinancing volume at mortgage broker LendingTree.com was up 88 percent week-over-week on Wednesday, while applications for new home purchases were up 30 percent during this time.

Traffic to real estate website Zillow.com soared as well with loan requests up 56 percent on Wednesday versus the average daily number of loan requests so far in February.

The U.S. housing market is in the worst downturn since the Great Depression, contributing to losses at banks and a global economic slowdown.

Many hopeful borrowers, however, may find their efforts to get a loan futile despite the U.S. government’s aggressive efforts.

“The government could and should do more and I think they are being overly optimistic about the number of people that are going to be helped by this,” said Professor Chris Mayer, senior vice Dean at Columbia Business School.

“It will help foreclosures, but the plan falls short in several ways, namely it is missing a provision that provides a safe harbor for servicers to modify mortgages,” he said.

Mayer said about 50 percent of mortgage servicers have some sort of restriction on modification in the pooling and servicing agreement, which can only be changed through legislation.

“The amount of homeowners helped with the housing plan is significantly less without this provision,” he said.

Under Obama’s housing plan, up to 5 million homeowners still making payments, who cannot qualify for conventional refinancing because their home values have dropped, could refinance through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Separately, up to 4 million “at risk” borrowers in danger of foreclosure could get payments reduced through modifications jointly paid for by lenders and the U.S. Treasury. Those reductions would aim to bring borrowers payments down to 31 percent of their income.

Mortgage finance giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will play a pivotal role in the U.S. government’s housing plan.

“The involvement of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in this process is significant and the impact should not be underestimated,” said Susan Wachter, real estate and finance professor at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

“The housing plan, however, only offers incentives, with no penalties and that could be a problem,” she said.

The plan would provide a $1,000 fee to mortgage servicers for each successful loan modification, while borrowers would receive up to $1,000 to reduce their loan principal each year if they stay current on their payments.

“There has been a stunning absence of evidence that past plans to modify loans have worked, but if we do eventually get evidence that these new loan modifications are working that in and of itself will help the housing market,” she said.

Stabilization of the mortgage and housing markets remains a prerequisite for a turn toward normalization of financial markets and the economy, according to Torsten Slok, senior economist at Deutsche Bank in New York.

“The policy measures taken have already had a significantly positive effect on housing affordability, and they show promise of helping further to ease the downturn in housing ahead,” he said.

“But, they will not be enough to prevent substantial further declines in either residential investment or home prices over the quarters ahead,” he said.

[ra633]

As I stated in the OP, I think that Underwater Homeowners should go for it, ie. walk. This is one way to counter the ridiculous housing bailout plan that is out there.

The government should not be trying to set a floor for the housing market, Prices need to drop further, especially in places like downtown SD where I live.

Interest rates should not be so low either.

These moves are just prolonging this recession.

As I predicted on 2/13/2009, the Obama Administration did not figure out how to solve the housing crisis.

To the Underwater Homeowners out there that replied to the original post – sorry to not reply and support you, because I do. I was away from this board for a few days…

[ra633]

As I stated in the OP, I think that Underwater Homeowners should go for it, ie. walk. This is one way to counter the ridiculous housing bailout plan that is out there.

The government should not be trying to set a floor for the housing market, Prices need to drop further, especially in places like downtown SD where I live.

Interest rates should not be so low either.

These moves are just prolonging this recession.

As I predicted on 2/13/2009, the Obama Administration did not figure out how to solve the housing crisis.

To the Underwater Homeowners out there that replied to the original post – sorry to not reply and support you, because I do. I was away from this board for a few days…

[ra633]

As I stated in the OP, I think that Underwater Homeowners should go for it, ie. walk. This is one way to counter the ridiculous housing bailout plan that is out there.

The government should not be trying to set a floor for the housing market, Prices need to drop further, especially in places like downtown SD where I live.

Interest rates should not be so low either.

These moves are just prolonging this recession.

As I predicted on 2/13/2009, the Obama Administration did not figure out how to solve the housing crisis.

To the Underwater Homeowners out there that replied to the original post – sorry to not reply and support you, because I do. I was away from this board for a few days…

[ra633]

As I stated in the OP, I think that Underwater Homeowners should go for it, ie. walk. This is one way to counter the ridiculous housing bailout plan that is out there.

The government should not be trying to set a floor for the housing market, Prices need to drop further, especially in places like downtown SD where I live.

Interest rates should not be so low either.

These moves are just prolonging this recession.

As I predicted on 2/13/2009, the Obama Administration did not figure out how to solve the housing crisis.

To the Underwater Homeowners out there that replied to the original post – sorry to not reply and support you, because I do. I was away from this board for a few days…

[Author]

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