Aug 25, 2010 9
It’s a chilly, rainy day here in New Jersey under iron grey skies. If where you are is sunny, and you’re feeling happy and optimistic, and you want to stay that way, let me strongly suggest that you not finish reading this post. This is where I engage in paranoid fearmongering speculation.
You have been warned.
Actual post continues after the jump.
Aug 5, 2010 19
James Pethokoukis writes on Reuters today (h/t: Instapundit) that the Obama Administration may be planning to eliminate many/most/all underwater mortgages in a single swoop:
Rumors are running wild from Washington to Wall Street that the Obama administration is about to order government-controlled lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to forgive a portion of the mortgage debt of millions of Americans who owe more than what their homes are worth. An estimated 15 million U.S. mortgages – one in five – are underwater with negative equity of some $800 billion. (Emphasis mine)
If this does come to pass, the mind simply boggles at the thought.
The underwater mortgages would become Federal government debt practically overnight. It might be time to think about not paying your mortgage….
Jul 29, 2010 4
In part 1, I laid out some hints of what the Obama Administration has in mind for a new federal housing policy that would “reset the rules of the market” and engage in a “fundamental rethink” not just of the mechanics of housing finance, but of the objectives of housing policy themselves. The Treasury now has all of the comments that it requested from the public and we can expect to see a proposal from the Administration sometime this fall or early next year.
In this post, I’d like to engage in the purest conjectures about what such a policy might look like. I know that assumptions are dangerous, and any conjecture at this early stage is more likely to be wrong than right, but… hey, this is fun. (If you’re a real estate and politics geek like me anyhow.) So here we go.
Jul 27, 2010 18
1906 San Francisco earthquake
There was, apparently, an earthquake in Washington DC not too long ago. Thankfully, no one was hurt, and no serious property damage occurred as the 3.6 magnitude tremor rolled through. Mere days later, however, I learned that another tremor — this one not registered on any geological survey — centered around Washington DC occurred. From the Washington Post:
Responding to the collapse in home prices and the huge number of foreclosures, the Obama administration is pursuing an overhaul of government policy that could diverge from the emphasis on homeownership embraced by former administrations.
“In previous eras, we haven’t seen people question whether homeownership was the right decision. It was just assumed that’s where you want to go,” said Raphael Bostic, a senior official in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “You’re not going to hear us say that.”
While this particular tremor hasn’t developed yet into anything earth-shattering just yet, and there are absolutely no details available just yet, for anyone even remotely connected to the real estate industry, these statements amount to a tectonic shift of realignment.
What rough beast, its hour come around at last, slouches towards DC to be born?
Conjectures follow.
