Posted on 02/11/2011 6:00:15 AM PST by GlockThe Vote
The Obama administration proposed raising fees for borrowers and requiring large down payments for home loans as part of a long-term effort to reduce the government's outsized footprint in the housing market, but warned that these moves could increase mortgage rates and potentially reduce the availability of the 30-year fixed rate mortgage, a mainstay of American housing for decades.
In a long-awaited white paper, the administration said that it intends to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together with the Federal Housing Administration provide more than 90 percent of housing finance, but said the process could take five or more years.
It discussed three options for replacing them, including a new government agency that would insure mortgages all the time, a new agency that would only step in during times of market crisis, and then a third option that does not provide any government backing for home loans beyond the FHA.
The administration warned that this no-government option "has particularly acute costs in its potential impact on access to credit for many Americans." The white paper also warned that this option could have the greatest impact on boosting mortgage rates and would make it difficult for community banks to compete in the housing market.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Obama the Destroyer just cant leave anything alone can he?
FUBO
Trump to Fannie and Freddie...Your Fired!
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both need to go. If there is short-term economic pain caused by the government exiting the mortgage market, then so be it.
I agree they have to go, but this is going to decimate the housing market and cause a double dip.
Government intervention in the market has screwed up the housing market beyond belief. While this sucks for a lot of people the truth is their houses are still wayyyyy over priced relative to their real, aka market driven values. Housing is a utility, not an investment. You can derive the same basic function from 1,200 sq feet as you do for 3,000.
Obama the destroyer is at it again.
Obama the destroyer is at it again.
Property taxes are killing the housing market. The mortgage, no matter what the rate, can eventually be paid off, property taxes however become a never ending liability.
In the state of Texas by the time you pay off a 30 year mortgage you have actually paid the entire value of the home in property taxes and yet the bill keeps coming. This never ending tax liability will be the death of the American dream and home ownership. There is simply no point in buying property that you can NEVER actually own. You are in fact renting your property from the state.
Eh, we never finished the current recession so in a purely technical sense there is no double dip.
But as for decimating the housing market, prices will drop even more and it will enable more people to qualify as borrowers. This will end up boosting home sales.
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Except that there are so many people who are already upside down on their mortgages they can’t afford to sell for less and less.
I assume you are paying your taxes as part of your mortgage payment. That means you have an escrow account from which the mortgage company pays the taxes and you pay interest on that amount for that service. The same is true of homeowners insurance, mortgage insurance, etc., if they are paying that, too.
When you say paying the state I am sure you mean paying the government, not the State of Texas. Property taxes are assessed and collected by the county, city, hospital district, school district, MUDs and anybody else who wants on the bandwagon.
However, I think your main point is that as long as there are taxes on property you will never "own" that property in a way that it cannot be taken away. That can't be disputed.
You are correct, it's the county that collects the tax not the state but that's just semantics. It does not really matter what government entity takes your money. The point is that real estate taxes are so high in Texas and many other states that the notion of home ownership is becoming meaningless and simply not worth the associated tax liability. This in turn makes it more difficult to sell a home or any other piece of real estate.
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