Southwest Florida Real Estate Blog Only 75 BILLION
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| Written by Greg Snow |
| Friday, 20 February 2009 14:18 |
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This sounds like and advertisement for McDonalds, www.mcdonalds.com, not an attempt by the President to help about 10 million Americans from losing their homes to foreclosure. Our wonderful area of Lee County, Florida is one of the hardest hit areas in the U.S. The Fort Myers-Cape Coral area led the nation in foreclosures in 2008 according to www.RealtyTrac.com. We have a tremendous opportunity to help unfortunate people stay in their homes. Most people who bought a home after late 2005, using an exotic or subprime loan, are "upside down", owing more (sometimes alot) to the lender than the home is currently worth. Congress will have the final approval, and the formidable bankers lobby may attempt to derail some of the more profit wrecking provisions, but in an effort to get our country back to "a chicken in every pot in your home" times, we need to stabilize the housing market.
Some of the early highlights are: Proposed powers for bankruptcy judges to reduce balance of outstanding loan on homeowners principal residence. If Fannie Mae www.fanniemae.com or Freddie Mac www.freddiemac.com holds the loan, and you do NOT owe more than 105% of your homes worth, you can refinance (not so great for Lee County) Speculators, non conforming loans, second homes and rental properties do not qualify. Lenders who agree to the lower interest rates will get federal subsides. Will this be enough to offset the unattractiveness of mortgage back securities and the depletion of banks coiffers? In southwest Florida, my best guess is we are way , way over the national average of one in four home owners with a mortgage owes more to the bank than the home is currently worth. This means, when Congress passes this bill (if it remains fairly constant), our court system and bankruptcy attorneys will be working full speed ahead. With 2.3 million households receiving forclosure notices last month nationwide, it would appear this will occur in a myriad of locations.
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Lee County Real Estate News
