Blacklidge

My new, $4 Hibiscus

 

• 
• 
• 

 

Housing Finance Chief. DeMarco Blocking Plan To Reduce Mortgage Principal

This is from an article I read on Economy Watch-MSNBC.com. http://economywatch.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/01/11476793-housing-finance-chief-blocked-plan-to-reduce-mortgage-principal-congressmen-say?lite It breaks my heart and I think this man, Edward DeMarco, should be demoted and deprived of his upper echelon job that pays him top dollar to screw around with our lives. No silver parachute, no early retirement. Somehow, he's must be getting something that is making him stand up for the 1%.

"A top U.S. housing regulator failed to implement a plan to cut loan principal balances for millions of underwater homeowners even though a pilot program showed two years ago it could save taxpayers money, two House Democrats said Tuesday.

Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees mortgage giant Fannie Mae, "apparently ha(s) been withholding from Congress" documents showing the potential benefits of the program to taxpayers and homeowners, according to Reps. Elijah Cummins of Maryland and John Tierney of Massachusetts. The two Democrats, in a letter to DeMarco that was released to msnbc.com, said they obtained the documents from an independent source.

Cummins and Tierney cited internal documents at government-controlled Fannie Mae describing the pilot program with Citibank, beginning in 2009, that showed that “principal reduction programs have enormous potential to save U.S. taxpayers significant amounts of money.”

Late Tuesday, Demarco responded by saying that the pilot program was ended largely due to "operational concerns" and that "there was not full agreement to proceed" with the program at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 

Since last fall, DeMarco has resisted pressure to reduce principal balances on underwater mortgages despite calls from more than 100 members of Congress, who have argued that the action could help reduce taxpayer losses on government-owned loans and keep more families in their homes. So far the government has spent more than $160 billion in taxpayer funds to prop up Fannie Mae and sister agency Freddie Mac.

DeMarco's resistance to the idea is based on his "philosophical" opposition to reducing the amount a homeowner owes, according to a former Fannie Mae official quoted in the letter.   

The collapse of the housing market in 2006 has erased some $7 trillion of equity from the value of American homes and left roughly 11 million homeowners underwater, meaning they owe their lender more than their home is worth.

Those homeowners, effectively unable to sell their homes, are locked out of the housing market and sidelined from creating the buying demand needed to support any housing recovery. Five years into the housing recession, they’re also more likely to consider walking away from their mortgage, adding to the backlog of foreclosures that could further depress home prices, forcing more households underwater.

To help stabilize the housing market, proponents of principal reduction argue that homeowners and lenders are better off avoiding those defaults and foreclosures."

This is a follow up on some previous posts, http://judibleu.typepad.com/blacklidge/2012/04/more-talk-freddie-and-fannie-to-offer-principal-reduction.html,

http://judibleu.typepad.com/blacklidge/2012/03/fannie-mae-freddie-mac-holding-us-all-up.html

http://judibleu.typepad.com/blacklidge/2012/03/-bank-of-america-principal-reduction-more-hoops-to-jump-through.html

http://judibleu.typepad.com/blacklidge/2012/01/independent-foreclosure-review-sample-letter.html

More Talk-Freddie and Fannie to Offer Principal Reduction?

On NPR today they spoke of the possibility of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae offering principal reductions at last. My friend who works at Citibank in the modification department has been giving these out to lots of people who have loans not affiliated with these two organizations, as have other mortgage companies. I have been patiently waiting for this to be resolved on a national level and yet, even if it happens tomorrow, I won't be eligible. So, as of today, no more mortgage payments until I get a modification that includes a principal reduction. Of course I say that but, like most Americans, I am conditioned to pay my bills when they are due. If these principal reductions were done properly, each loan would be scrutinized and the ones that legitimately warrant a reduction could be set aside and the owners could apply to be included in the program. As it is, unless you are behind in your payments, you won't be able to apply. This is not something I have idly considered, there are 11 million Americans in the same boat with us. Once this is in place, the whole economy will be on it's way to renewal. We as a nation cannot continue to try to recover while so many people are stuck in an untenable situation, neither in an ownership position or in any shape to walk away. I don't think people who are not in this boat can imagine the stress and pain that this has caused so many in the same situation. Of course, even if we get a reduction, it won't really put us back to square one. Since we put so much down, unless we stay in one place for another ten years or so, we'll never get that back. At least, with a reduction to market value we could maybe sell it and make a little bit and be able to do something else, not languish in a place that has turned slightly sour on us. This is not a good place for anyone to be, and it makes me wonder if it can ever get better. We'll see in the next few months whether the two largest mortgage backers in the country step up and participate. The man in charge didn't agree with concept before and is only now being persuaded by incentives from the federal government. So if tax payer money is used, some would say it isn't a good thing. Looking at the bigger picture, even if you are not upside down on your particular mortgage, the whole sad real estate market will never get better without something like this and your house will never go up again, or go up so slowly, that it won't continue to be a good investment. People like me are never going to "win" with this, we just may be able to come out of it a little less badly beaten.  

Big Oil Advertisements in the Wrong Place

Obviously, when I am watching MSNBC, you can conclude that I am a leftie. That's a given, unless of course, I'm a troll. I'm not a troll. So when I spend some evening time with Chris Matthews, Ed Shultz or Rachel Maddow, your feeble attempt to convince me that your oil sands or your BP cleanup are viable are not going to work. It makes me crazy to see that bull on this channel. So now you've made me mad, you haven't convinced me about your worth and you've totally wasted your millions of dollars. Put your damned ads on Fox. They love you, they'll believe everything you say. Okay? yeah, I'm sure you'll keep trying. At least you're giving my side some money.

First Cactus Bloom Announces Itself In Rancho Vistoso

Driving along in Rancho Vistoso today when all of a sudden I whip by this guy. I almost turned around and hurried back but had to make an appointment. Luckily I had to drive right by it on my way out or I would have forgotten about it, which is what I usually do. Drive by it again, oops, whip around and line up with 3 other cars so the owners could get out and take a picture of it. Early and amazing! Nobody else in bloom around the area. It''s going to be a great year for cactus flowers!

 

 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

 

 

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac-Holding Us All Up

Ed DeMarco—a George W. Bush appointee—oversees the country's biggest mortgage holders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. DeMarco is denying millions of homeowners the chance to bring mortgages in line with real home values because of his personal political ideology. He's rejected a plan that economists are calling for in order to help homeowners, taxpayers, and the economyt.

After spending some time on the phone with my mortgage company today, I found out that this squirrel is the guy who is holding my life up. Sure, B of A is doing principal reductions, and so is Citibank and lots of others but if you have a Fannie Mae or Freddic Mac loan, you're stuck with your big, old principal balance. The pressure on DeMarco is increasing, with the White House, members of Congress, and others questioning his decision to prevent meaningful help to homeowners. And DeMarco's own agency says that allowing homeowners to adjust their mortgages to real home values would save taxpayers $28 billion.

I'm sick of the whole subject but I guess I'll have to keep worrying about it for now.

President Obama has already shown he's willing to take brave action with the recess appointment of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Protection Bureau—now he needs to do the same to protect homeowners. Because helping homeowners keep their homes won't just save money, it will also allow the housing market to recover and the economy to rebuild.

Homeowners like MoveOn members Theodore R. of Los Gatos, CA, and Lisa F. of Philadelphia have seen their American Dream become a nightmare as they struggle to keep their homes despite stalling, fraud, and red tape from big mortgage holders. And a brave whistle-blower recently revealed that some big banks have deliberately prevented homeowners from getting the mortgage help they deserve.

 Now it's time to ask the president to stand with us and be a homeowner hero by replacing Ed DeMarco with someone who will give homeowners real help. Drop him a line or check in with MoveOn, (where I got a lot of this info, by the way).

 

Bank of America-Principal Reduction-More Hoops to Jump Through

Bank of America-Principal Reduction-More Hoops to Jump Through

You may remember the post I put up about

"Independent Foreclosure Review - PNC Mortgage", it was about a guy who allowed a short sale on his house and what it entailed and how violated he felt when it was all over. Well, here is another angle on the subject. Here is the link to the original post,  http://judibleu.typepad.com/blacklidge/2012/01/independent-foreclosure-review-sample-letter.html

It's a sad tale for you. Long term, it's been in the making since 2006. Remember 2006? Times were good, jobs were abundant and houses were selling like hot cakes. We had a great year and, with the help of a little money we inherited, we jumped back into home ownership. The prices were high, but they had been steadily increasing for several years and we were afraid that they would just keep going up and up. After looking at way too many houses, we found a nice one, affordable for the time and in a nice neighborhood. Our Realtor gave no indication of a hint of a problem in the market. This was a full time, experienced Realtor, she had to have an inkling of the future of Tucson real estate.

Flash forward, jobs not so abundant, things not as good, the whole real estate market is in the tank. The house we spent so much on is now worth more than $100,000 less than we paid for it. To hear some people, "that's tough, you pays your money, you take your chances". "Creepy, low lifes weren't qualified, those damn Democrats were just trying to make everyone into a homeowner". Well, after several years, a lot of people who were just trying to have a home are gone, their houses sit empty and neglected or people (investors, some from China) are buying them for pennies on the dollar.  In some markets, the city governments are tearing these houses down rather than let them clog up the future of everyone else. The banks and mortgage people are okay, though. Whew! That's the main thing, right? They made money, (lots and lots of money), off the original sales, off the bundling of bad loans, off the folks trying and trying to hold onto their homes. And here we are, paying a huge payment, even through months of unemployment, on a house that will never, ever regain its value, no matter how long we pay on it. Not only that, the years that we spend paying on this thing will never be back. The "investment" is nonexistent and we can never regain the possibility of increasing our net worth because of the upside down state we find ourselves in. So, hey, we don't fit into the "low-life, unqualified" group that everyone mentions and yet we are so upside down that it makes no sense to go on paying the payment. We can't do a "short-sale", we actually put way too much down on it and it would be a huge financial disaster and so dehumanizing and sad that we just keep sitting here, waiting for something to happen. We've been through the Modification route. Something new in the American lexicon, a humiliating, frustrating and totally unfair method of getting the payment down some. I've spoken to people who have had their payment reduced by hundreds of dollars but we got about $100 off per month, and there is no rhyme or reason for how they decide and they don't really care if you don't think it was done right. It took months for this small adjustment and about 1,000 phone calls. 

Now comes word from Bank of America that they will be doing Principal Reductions. Other companies have already been doing this; right along with the modification process, but for some reason B of A is just now announcing their intention to do some reductions. I was ready for it; I knew they had to do it, sooner or later. There are 11 million people in the United States with upside down loans and as long as they keep hanging on, the housing market will never recover. So, what's the catch? Of course there is a catch. Wait for it, drum roll..., you had to be 2 months behind on your loan as of last January. What? That's just ridiculous. People who have done everything they can to stay afloat are once again in the position of having to beg, plead and cajole to get anywhere in this mess. Not two months behind going forward, already behind before they made the announcement. Aye, Carumba! Of course, they don't want to make it easy for us, like they did when they sucked us into the house in the first place. Easiest loan I ever got, after owning at least 5 other houses in the past. I guess I'll go plodding along, hoping to hit the right person, on the right day that may want to help me. It makes me tired just thinking of it.

       

Catalina State Park 3-2012

New photo album off to the side! Went on a short hike this morning. Got the camera out and discovered the telephoto lens is sick! Yikes! A fundamental tool for my happiness needs a trip to the photo hospital. Not happy.

The Civil War, Now Showing in America Today

This just in, our country is adrift with divisiveness and bitter feelings. The right hates on the left, the left tries to act like they're not doing the same thing back, but they do. Why is this so surprising after a decade of television, radio and social networks that cannot live without the rhetoric? No longer is "the news", the real news. Oh, sure, you get your occasional traffic accident or robbery but mostly it has been given over to opinion. Loud, obnoxious opinions for the most part. That isn't all of the problem, either, because even if the opinion isn't strong, the volume is cranked up to support whichever side they are supporting. Whole channels have been created to push different points of view at us, on both sides. The right-wingers are the worst, but the Dems do a lot of it, too. I read mostly left wing things and sometimes they get out of hand, (mostly on Facebook). Spoken in the right tone of voice, anything can seem logical, and the lefties really want it to be logical while the right wing, for whatever reason, could care less about logic. The amps have been cranked up so high on most of their stations that hate groups have increased over 700% in the last few years.

Racism is a constant with them and they don't care who knows it. Was this all hidden for the last 50 years and only now are they able to trot it all out for all to see? Make no mistake, the louder and weirder things become, the worse the crowd becomes. There are crazies coming out of the woodwork and although everyone would like to think their friends and their family aren't part of that group, someone is making up the nutball ranks. I know of one elderly relative who was a lifelong Democrat but has recently switched sides. Why? A black president did the trick. The ones who are trying to maintain some facade of normalcy say,"Oh, no! I'm not a racist!". Yet even though the economy is getting better, out health care is getting better and there is a long list of things directly attributed to the current president, these folks can't give him any credit. Would it be the same if Hillary had made it in? Hard to say, but with the attacks on women in every state, on every level going on now, I find it hard to believe that they would like her any more,(well, maybe a little more, she is white, after all). For some reason, these nutballs can't count well enough to know that they are going to loose on every level come voting season and maybe even before that. Sure they get to read their names in the paper when they put these idiotic things up for a vote but is it really going to worth it? Women fought like hell in the 60s and 70s to gain equality and rights that we are not going to give up. There are more women than men in this country and most of the women I know who have strong, supportive men in their lives know that these men will stand for them as well. Fathers,sons, brothers and mates can and will stand with women on the tearing away of our rights. Blaming these attacks on religion or financial things is not working and the Republican guys,(mostly all guys) are so on the wrong track. 

The civil war isn't going away. It's here to stay. Maybe a legitimate third party would be helpful but don't count on the Dems or the Republicans will ever let that happen. So, maybe our society will evolve away from the destructive turn it has taken or maybe we'll all just go up in a ball of flame.

Jerry Hall's Metal Art

Jerry Hall had a yard like no other. Eventually succombing to colon cancer, he continued to decorate his space with more folk art, even during the chemotherapy.There are more than 60 pieces of this incredible metal art on this inner city lot. Hall passed away in October 2010; I drove by the other day to show another visitor the yard-gallery and noticed the house was for sale. That makes me sad. His wife, Chris, had been maintaining the yard but evidently she wants to leave. Hopefully she will find a way to decorate another space with all of her late husband's art. I first saw this yard in 2001 or so and really, this is what made me want to make metal art. It blew me away.