In his Saturday radio address, President Bush cautioned against too much government involvement in resolving problems in the US economy. Focusing on housing market woes and Sub-Prime Bailout proposals, Bush noted: “If we pursue some of the sweeping government solutions that we hear about in Washington, we could make a complicated problem even worse…”

Worse? What’s worse than families  losing their homes to foreclosure? What’s worse than choosing between buying food and fuel or making the mortgage payment on time? What’s worse for neighborhoods and communities than blight and lost revenues caused by foreclosed homes? What’s worse than mortgage executives retiring with golden parachutes while legions of their customers are losing their homes?

Hope Now, the housing assistance coalition, has assisted more than one million households struggling with foreclosure. It’s important to note that approximately 278,000 of these cases involved loan modifications. Modifying the terms of a mortgage loan can help homeowners maintain their payments by eliminating rapid rate increases, negative amortization and other “exotic” terms that can make it difficult for homeowners to make payments once the initial period of very low payments expires.

Read the rest of this entry »

Washington’s new economic stimulus plan, made public this week, contains key provisions designed to stimulate the housing market. The greatest impact of this proposal is expected to occur in those markets that need it the most, according to CNNMoney. The proposal submitted by Congress and the Bush administration would place the majority of the focus on the hardest-hit markets like California and Florida by making it easier to purchase a house with a selling price in the range of $417,000 to $625,000.

Read the rest of this entry »