Gov't losses big in home market

Gov't losses big in home market
USA Today

WASHINGTON — The nation's teetering economy has Uncle Sam playing a growing role in neighborhoods across the country — as a homeowner.

The combination of a deep recession and a foundering housing market has left the government with more than 50,000 houses on its hands — enough homes to fill a city the size of Riverside, Calif., or Miami. Now federal records show it's struggling to unload the houses and facing billions of dollars in losses.

Amid Push To Save Giant Banks, Small Ones Fail At A Rising Clip
Investors Business Daily

The federal government has put hundreds of billions of dollars into financial giants such as Bank of America to keep them afloat, claiming they are too big too fail.

But what about the 8,300 other banks and thrifts that account for a third of the nation's deposits and at least that much of business loans?

Plan to Encourage Banks to Allow Short Sales
The Washington Post

Banks could get government incentive payments for allowing borrowers to sell their home at a loss rather than go through foreclosure, under new guidelines issued yesterday for the Obama administration's $75 billion housing plan.

The program, known as Making Home Affordable, focuses on paying lenders to modify distressed borrowers' loans to affordable levels. But under this expansion of the program, lenders can also receive incentive payments even if the homeowner's loan is not modified.

When default’s not your fault
Boston Herald

It’s every renter’s worst nightmare: You move into a home or condo, then find out the owner has lost the place to foreclosure.

Your rent money and security deposit are gone, and chances are the lender that foreclosed on the property intends to kick you out.

As Fed's Role Grows, Doubt Spurs Critics
American Banker

Nearly a century after its creation, the Federal Reserve System faces growing questions over whether its structure is outdated and needs reworking.

"If we were to start over again and make a blueprint for the central bank of the United States, would we do what we did at the beginning of the 20th century?" asked Ralph Bryant, the Fed's former director of international finance who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Almost surely we wouldn't."

Mortgages Stay Below 5%
The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- Home-mortgage rates were mixed this week, but the average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages remained below 5%, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of mortgage rates.

Mortgage rates have fallen in recent months as providers try to entice buyers amid the housing market's downturn. Still, many consumers are wary of making the commitment to purchase a home, and many prospective buyers face challenges getting financing amid the tight credit market.

Fisher says U.S. 'coming back from the abyss,’ but warns of 'slow slog'
Houston Chronicle

A woman recently approached Richard Fisher in a Dallas Starbucks and thanked him.

She’d refinanced her mortgage at 4.3 percent, down from more than 6 percent, and she wanted him to know she appreciated what the Federal Reserve had done to lower rates.