Mr. President, stop throwing money at the housing industry, that isn’t the problem

Great post. You'd think the government would consult with real estate and mortgage professionals before handing out billions of dollars.

I was watching Larry King the other night and Jesse Ventura was on (don't laugh, he actually made a good point). Jesse Ventura thinks we should completely do away with republicans and democrats and only vote for independents. I think it's a good point. Maybe then the government could accomplish something.

I also read somewhere that the amount of money the banks received amounted the the equivalent of giving every American $180,000. Throwing money at the public may have done something, but throwing money at a failed business model has never and will never be a good solution.

I like your plan better. I've come to understand Obama in that whatever he says, he means the exact opposite. 

Mr. President: Stop throwing money at the housing industry; start throwing it at Me! =)

From the desk of David Dee,

Todd, would be nice to charge $500 per diem. That may help to facilitate the short sales.

Bravo Todd !  The idea of giving the banks 30 days to make a decision or get penalized is a great idea !

I would love to know if ANY homeowner has had a finalized loan modification...I have several homeowners that have had "trial" modifications...some of these have been extended 3 times, but not one has become a permanant modification. 

I like the idea of the $500 day penalty...but.....it will come from taxpayer dollars judging by all the other government programs!  That is what kills me...any government program is paid by the taxpayer...there is nothing free in life, but it's how it is marketed. 

Sounds like a plan to me - yours, that is - at least better than what is proposed. We have too many people trying to fix the problem who just don't have the knowledge and understanding to come up with a solution.

Todd, I agree, that the short sale problem is the banks. They can't seem to get these short sales to closing in a timely fashion. It seems that when they run into a snag with one, that can be easily ironed out, they throw it to the bottom of the file, never to look at it again, where they could just fix the problem and go to closing.  It's frustrating.

I agree - it is certainly a mess.  Luckily, I haven't had to deal with much of it.

Great post! This bunch running Washington is very out of touch with what is happening on the ground in America, and on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq too. I guess it would be too easy to meet with the heads of companies that can actually help get us out of this economic problem, rather than meeting with politicians in other countries, and bowing down to them saying Americans are brash and bold. Don't get me started.... 

AWESOME! REBLOGGED WITH MY 2 CENTS ADDED.

Hi, Todd.  You summarized the "problem" awesomely.

I think that it's okay to throw money at the ROOT CAUSE of a problem. However, I think you're right.  The homeowners cannot get a load mod, and they cannot do a short sale.  So they have to foreclose.  I guess that it makes that foreclosure portion go a little more smoothly with fewer interruptions during the moveout process.  Plus, fewer of the foreclosed properties should be damaged either from neglect or malicious anger.

The real problem is that banks have no incentive to hurry the earlier portions of their business.  Why should they act more quickly to lose more money?  I don't blame them.

It's tough not to jump to the conclusion that the gov and the banks were in bed together on this one.  The $1500 dollars is chump change for the bank compared to the eviction and repair costs.  How many times has an investor had to do that?

I hope they used a condom, because I sure don't want any of THEM breeding.

You see, the real problem with short sales is the banks are taking so long to respond that the home ends up going in to foreclosure and that is when the sellers are refusing to move out. They tried to do a loan modification, they tried the short sale… the banks are the problem, not the sellers.

oh ya ,, more problems thanks to more govt help

All good points/comments above for sure.....It isn't easy these days and I don't agree with how things are being handled. It isn't helping things....

Patricia/Seacoast NH

This administration throws money EVERYWHERE!  Why, because it isn't their money, and the more they can make everyone feel that they need help from the government, the more power they have.