I don’t often agree with Michelle Malkin, but she has a column out today about the politics of the mortgage mess that I agree with completely.
Money quote:
The true victims in this “crisis” are those who paid for homes within their means and those who waited to enter the housing market. A reader in New York City wrote me last week:
“My husband and I patiently sat back and watched while our friends made a killing in real estate over the past six years. … Now, after several years, we are ready to move to the ‘burbs, and we feel it is responsible people like us who are going to get hurt by this mortgage mess. We’re the ones who have to sit back and wait for housing prices to fall, while our government, looking to protect only the homeowners, keeps prices artificially high with bailout programs and artificially low interest rates.
“What about programs to help out renters who didn’t make any money in this bubble because we were responsible? What about government intervention to lower the still-high housing prices so we aren’t locked out of the market? A natural correction in the housing market is in order, but the government seems hellbent to prevent it from taking place. In the meantime, we are priced out of the market because we aren’t willing to get in over our heads financially (unlike some of these revered homeowners).”
Sorry, responsible Americans. There’s no seat at the next State of the Union address, or the next Hillary Rescue roundtable, for you.
That pretty much sums it up.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I hear you from someone who’s waiting and responsible. I too hope they do something about the rental cost they are as much as a mortgage.
Don’t get me started on who went to the State of the Union.
You know who should have been there people who are still to this day helping people thru the natural disasters rebuild there homes and lives. All the organizations and stars that have gone to the Katrina area and even the show on tv that rebuilds peoples homes. Paying it forward they are to be commended for there efforts to see everyone gets to return to the home they worked so hard to have.
All that being said it is a great time now if you have some money and qualify or equity in a current house to buy.
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:23 am
Appraisals VS AVM’s_either way Portfolio Pollution was self-induced
*A Bank or Lender controls the entire appraisal process from beginning to end using their preferred vendors (wink wink). FIRREA gave way to AVM’s and they are a flat joke! Do you know how many local appraisers went out of business due to AVM’s. Answer: a lot! Why: because ‘AVM’s’ cleared out anyone in the business that challenged over-valued loan amounts given to them in advance (aka target price) by the client who ordered an ‘appraisal’. Banks and lenders are totally driving the bus on property valuation and that should be changed immediately!!!
I’d compare it to picking your own umpires in a game where you have home field advantage. To fix the problem we need to focus on relieving the bank or lender from their duties re: ordering, scheduling and paying for over-valued appraisals, paying for it with the purchasers money, and selecting appraisal ‘vendors’ that simply roll over and comply. After all, someone has to look at property valuations objectively.
A passionately involved membership post resulted in a dozen or more responses. The posting asked appraisers for concrete examples of pressure they had received to inflate appraisals or hit specific numbers. While we did receive a few anecdotes about such pressure, most of the correspondence was an interesting mix of finger-pointing, suggestions, and a bit of fortune telling. We have included a representative sample of these responses below. While each writer granted permission to quote him by name, they are identified only by location. See the link below to the Mortgage Daily News article entitled - Appraisers on Pressure and Reform. Also look for the online article written by Larry Levy entitled “The fraud of appraisal regulation”.
http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/5112005_Aprraisers_On_Pressure_And_Reform.asp#comments