As I sit here staring at a picture of our embattled president I can't help but wonder what this man has to do to help bring the housing market back. Obama was apparently so focused on his belief that once the economy rebounded, so would the housing market. I do not think the economy is any better off today than it was three years ago, but our president seems to think so. What he is finding out now is that housing has to be fixed first, then the economy. It seems like everything revolves around housing anyway.
There is an oversupply of 3.9 million homes in the US and 20% of overall homeowners are under water. HAMP was supposed to fix all that by modifying 3 million homes, but thus far only 730,000 have been. Apparently nobody qualifies for the plan. Interest rates are lowered, but nobody qualifies for loans anymore unless they have incredible credit and a big down payment. And yes, FHA you say? Well, I have yet to close one of those this year. They can't qualify for a loan anymore than a conventional can.
Sadly, it's boiled down to who has the most cash in order to buy. And in order to sell, sellers are just dumping at any cost. Bloomberg News has a plan call shared appreciation in which Fannie and Freddie would be directed to help borrowers stay current by reducing principal and when these borrowers sell they have to return some of the profits. Another of their plans is to simply sell to investors and rent the homes in order to keep a lid on rising rental prices. This would also limit the oversupply. How come our president can't see this? Perhaps he has been in the White House too long to see so many Americans suffering and realtors eating, well, S*#t. Come on guys, get with the program and fix this housing market so we can all get on with our lives.
Our beleaguered President.
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