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fannie mae: Will Homeownership in America Become Out of Reach? - 05/20/11 01:13 PM
 
Will Homeownership in America Become Out of Reach?
According to recent studies, it is widely perceived that we Boomers will be the first generation in this country to pass on a less prosperous and bright future for our children. I’ve just returned from a week in Sacramento followed by a week in Washington DC and nowhere is that prophecy more clearly demonstrated than by the current attack on the future of housing in our country.
As National Association of Realtors (NAR) Chief Lobbyist Jerry Giovaniello phrased it, “We are facing a perfect storm which, if brought to fruition, will bring … (8 comments)

fannie mae: Fannie Puts Some Teeth Into Strategic Defaults. Does It Matter? - 06/25/10 04:13 PM
Up until now about the only thing preventing millions of homeowners from strategically defaulting on their home was the moral dilemma many of them faced. With as many as 1/3 of the nations 45 million homeowners currently upside-down in their homes (owing more than they can sell it for), lenders fear that a 3rd (or 4th, depending on how you keep track) wave of foreclosure activity could be launched by millions of owners simply walking away. They can afford to make the payments but the strategic argument is that they can re-build their credit and build equity in a new home … (2 comments)

fannie mae: California Association of Realtors® posts hotline for HVCC Complaints - 12/22/09 01:47 PM
Since the inception of HVCC, problems and complaints have become pandemic acorss the country. I've written about the problem before - from the NAR Convention where HVCC became a major point of contention at a panel discussion with Freddie, Fannie, FHFA etc. and later when a study was released showing appraiser fraud up 46%. From more than 100 commenters on these and other sites where these blogs are posted, there has only been one (1) person who has been adamantly in favor of HVCC, plus the spokeshole for Fannie Mae at NAR who noted that her complaints were 'way down'. She … (2 comments)

fannie mae: Social Control of the Housing Crisis vs. Strategic Default - 11/30/09 11:34 AM
Brent T. White, an Associate Law Professor at the University of Arizona, has published a 50+ page paper on why he believes homeowners who are upside down in their mortgages should just walk away. It's an interesting piece and, while I don't agree with some of his hypothesis and conclusions, he does have some valid points.
You can read the whole paper here and I would love to hear your comments. I know we are seeing more 'strategic defaults' in our area and there are those that are voicing concern that a new wave of these may derail the fragile recovery … (2 comments)

fannie mae: Fannie Mae lanuches 'First Look' Program - Might Actually Help Buyers? - 11/27/09 02:36 PM
On November 24 Fannie Mae launched their 'First Look' program which, if applied as intended, could prove to be a real value to frustrated homebuyers in many areas. Prospective homebuyers in our area have suffered through much of this year seeing offer after offer go begging as homes are sold to investors with cash. Adding to that frustration, many times the accepted offers net the seller (bank) less than their offer would have but cash has been king.
As encouraging as this program sounds, it will remain to be seen what impact it has on the market. If Fannie operates in good … (6 comments)

fannie mae: More HVCC Problems - Fraud up 46% over last year? How can that be? - 11/16/09 12:24 AM
My rant on the NAR program "HVCC Problems? Not According to the Government", stirred up quite a response from Realtors on AR, just as it did with Realtors at the NAR program. Nobody - NOBODY but the government and the people making money off the program think HVCC is working. It's not working for appraisers, it's not working for Realtors and MOST IMPORTANTLY IT'S NOT WORKING FOR THE PUBLIC - OUR CLIENTS, whom it was supposed to protect. One might almost think Andrew Cuomo was getting some kind of payback for this because in terms of a workable program, this one … (60 comments)

fannie mae: At the NAR. HVCC Problems? Not according to the Government. - 11/13/09 11:04 PM
One of the seminars I attended today at NAR was entitled 'Managing the Risks and Opportunities of the New Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC)."
Let me say at the outset, I sat through the whole friggin thing and didn't note any opportunities - unless you count aggravation as an opportunity.  No shortage of risks, however.
NAR did a great job staging this - they had a panel in place that included spokesholes from FHFA, FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and an AMC. Oh, and they had two Realtors sitting in for balance. In my humble opinion, if I had … (47 comments)

fannie mae: Time Magazine vs The Realtor Party. - 10/14/09 08:22 PM
A recent issue of Time Magazine carried an article by The Curious Capitalist / Justin Fox entitled 'Get Homes Off Welfare" .  I'm not sure if Fox really is a capitalist at heart, or if he's just curious about the concept. Either way he makes a semi-literate case against the housing industry in general and the governments support of same. He bemoans the fact that homeowners are 'at the receiving end of a truly staggering array of subsidies and tax breaks', hard to put a price tag on but 'clearly in the hundreds of billions of dollars a year.'
He … (4 comments)

fannie mae: New Day - New Scam. Beware - be aware. - 08/05/09 04:18 PM
A number of you have reported being approached by investors to perform some level of service in conjunction with this type of transaction. If you are going to try it, make sure you follow the guidelines outlined by Fannie Mae or you and your investor/buyer/ client may be indictable.

… (8 comments)

fannie mae: NAR's Four Point Housing Stimulus Plan - 11/10/08 03:35 PM
11-10 BOD & stimulus plan In my ongoing effort to bring you more from the business side of the 2008 NAR Conference & Expo,  today was the Board of Directors Meeting. It was an epic event spanning more than four hours in spite of the fact that there were no items of controversy on the agenda. I'll write another post on the meeting in general as there were some interesting announcement but the item that generated the most discussion today was NAR's Four Point Housing Stimulus Plan. In an effort to be more inclusive of commercial Realtors, there were proposed amendments … (4 comments)

fannie mae: The Trillion-Dollar Bank Shakedown That Bodes Ill For Cities - Obama & Acorn - 09/29/08 04:07 PM
As you read that headline you might be tempted to believe the article is about the current financial crisis, right up to the trillion dollar pricetag. What is surprising is that the article appeared in The City Journal in their Winter 2000 issue! I have excerpted a few lines from this very long and very informative read which raises many of the issues we are facing today. Critics of this program gave voice to the same concerns we have today but they only thought the results would have a negative impact on some cities - they never in their wildest dreams … (2 comments)