Wednesday, August 22, 2007

OMG The Inmates Are Testifying


The San Diego UT reports:
Put moratorium on foreclosures, state consumer coalition advises
SACRAMENTO – Consumer advocates yesterday called for a moratorium on home foreclosures, warning that California is facing a tidal wave of foreclosures over the next year as more homeowners are hit with payment increases brought on by subprime loans and risky mortgages.
...
He told the state Senate Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee that a six-month moratorium would give officials time “to figure out how to keep people in their homes.”

More than 46,000 California homes were in foreclosure in March and 76,732 more mortgage loans were seriously delinquent, the Mortgage Bankers Association estimates.
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Fisher and Leonard called for the creation of a fund to assist strapped homeowners in certain situations and for increased state oversight of mortgage lenders.
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Companies representing lenders said they try to work with borrowers to rearrange their loans to avoid foreclosures but often have trouble reaching borrowers to discuss new terms.
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She said financial support from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development covered “less than two months of activity.”

“We've reached out to the lender community (for funding) but have received a lukewarm response,” she said.
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Asked about state funding to aid embattled homeowners, he said money might be available in some regulatory agency budgets that could be used to help fund homeowner counseling groups.

As for a moratorium on foreclosures, Machado said he thought a homeowner's complaint to the state against a foreclosing lender would trigger an investigation that would have the same effect as a moratorium.
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Do I really need to comment?

16 comments:

Tony "Statman" said...

Let me be the FIRST to say this sounds fishy!

Sweet Cashback said...

Fishy ???? Like YUCK MURST shushi ???

Sweet Cashback said...

I am all for these folks to stay in their homes !!

I get to buy the house at 50% under current value from them and will rent it out to them at cost (including all carrying costs of course) for a minimum of 5 years! After that they can either buy the house at market conditions or move out.

Doesn't THAT sound like a fair bailout?

Unknown said...

This seems silly.

If the housing values were to continue to go up, the "owners" would get all of the upside, but since they aren't they want the taxpayers to pick up the downside of their "investment."

Where does this end? My 401(k) has taken a dump over the past 45 days, can I get the government to step in and make me whole? I would really like to continue to get 12% returns and this bit about breaking even sucks ass.

serinitis said...

Silly groups demanding silly things are very common. If they said something rational it wouldn't make the news.

H Simpson said...

I have no problem with this idea, BUT I propose the money set aside to pay for this come out of the campaign contributions the mortgage and banking industry gives to the elected officals.


Mr/Mz polictical hacks thinks:
I can either help a couple deadbeats wh are going to move out of state anyways, or fund my campaign?

What do you think the legislature is going to vote?

Property Flopper said...

Uh... wow.

Can I have a moratorium on paying my other bills? How about a moratorium on paying taxes... I'd LOVE that.

The world is full of morons. Unfortunately, we're not allowed to delete them.

Sac RE Agent said...

yeah, let's let everyone slide on their car payments and credit card bills too. and why not let renters slide on their rent payments.

TK said...

When is somebody going to stand the F up and say "Stop trying to push these bailouts forward!"

These people are masters of their own destiny like the rest of us. Screw them people for being irresponsible, stop pointing the finger at Mr. "Predatory Lender" and let the chips fall where they may. Bail these people out and you give them license to participate in the next Great Scam.

I want a moratorium on my rent, but I don't think my landlord will be into that.

Unknown said...

I support changing the laws to allow lenders to foreclose in 45 days or less like TX, and Georgia.

The deadbeats ALREADY get 11-12 months in CA! Thats way way way beyond generous.

This democracy thing is dangerous when there are too many poor people. They pass rent control laws and other unconstitutional crap when too many poor people gather in an city/county.

How would you like to own a rental home and you can NEVER evict your tenant and NEVER raise the rent by even one dollar? that exists in some parts of CA. Renters pay $250 a month and market rate is $3000.some capitalism.

Bay Area/Parts of Los Angeles.

TK said...

OMG I just said "them people"...

Rob Dawg said...

TK,
S'okay. We are all a little emotional on this subject. I got massively beaten up over on CalculatedRisk the other day because I objected to mortgage servicers making mods to existing loans in order to preserve "their" position. I eventually won over enough to make my point but not win the discussion. very frustrating because I know I'm right. at least I got them to retract one aspect of these "mods." They do indeed harm people not even remotely involved in the path of the debt.

Peripheral Visionary said...

Hey, I'm with Sac RE Agent on letting renters slide on the rent. Staying in an apartment, not paying the rent, and having the government prevent the landlord from evicting? Sweet™.

Actually, I think that might already be the case in Jersey . . .

Peripheral Visionary said...

Look, it's not that complicated. Let people who can't pay the mortgage stay in their houses. It's not fun falling behind on the mortgage payments, so I'm sure no one would ever even think about not paying the mortgage just because it sounds like a government bailout is coming.

And then just have the government print money to pay the people who hold the MBSs. It's win-win™. Don't worry about inflation, we'll just ask everyone to keep their prices the same, just like Zimbabwe does. What could possibly go wrong?

chickelit said...

TK said:
"Screw them people for being irresponsible, stop pointing the finger at Mr. "Predatory Lender" and let the chips fall where they may. Bail these people out and you give them license to participate in the next Great Scam."

While not excusing anybody who signed on to a loan KNOWING they would default, I say screw the lenders who never bothered to check documents...in their greed, they seemed to have lost all concept of risk.
I suspect very shortly you'll hear the lenders crying the loudest for a bailout because they don't want to face up to the consequences of throwing out simple lending protocols required not so long ago.

Unknown said...

I want a moritorium for girls saying no when I ask them out...Did you know thousand of guys are turned down every minute...