“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”- Ronald Reagan
H.R. 5830 emerged from the Barny Frank led House Financial Services Committee last week, and I couldn’t be any less surprised. The latest variant can be found at OpenCongress, but here are the Cliff Notes.
FHA will […]

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New legislation that will enable the government to finance $300 billion of troubled mortgages was just approved by the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. It includes a mandate to FHA to guarantee loans on properties that have declined in value since the mortgage was taken out.
OK, we’re talking about properties with “distressed” mortgages, […]

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I’ve received a few emails as of late about my my thoughts on HVCC (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) and why I hadn’t written or documented HVCC the way we did HR3915. The truth is that it slipped by me until I got up to speed on the ramifications of HVCC today, even though Paul […]

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While the Bush administration is talking up its mortgage rescue operations for delinquent borrowers, a New York Times article implies that the cash-strapped agency may not be able to pony up. For the first time in its history the Federal Housing Authority faces a deficit, primarily due to defaults on loans featuring seller-financed down payments. […]

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I knew it was coming, and considering my perception of how Zillow’s business model is constructed, I really wasn’t surprised to see that they’re the first RE.net blog to try to grab some election traffic. If the whole world said their favorite color was green, mine would still be red. So I don’t pay much […]

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Last August, I proposed  A “tax cut” everyone could agree on. This week, it came to fruition. I’d love to take credit for it. I seriously doubt I can.  But that’s alright. It’s enough that the government actually did the right thing here and passed the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Release Act of 2007. Kudos […]

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“Past performance does not necessarily predict future results”
That’s a line you heard before. It’s required by the SEC for mutual funds to disclose to potential investors. The SEC? They are a government agency. They exist (in part) to protect us consumers from misinformation and underhanded dealings.
Yesterday, it was reported in an […]

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