Print
E-mail
Share
digg
Newsvine
Facebook
Stumble
Technorati
reddit
Fark
twitterFORECLOSURES:
Obama tells Sun: Nevada’s housing pain is on my mind
PETE SOUZA / WHITE HOUSE
Thursday, June 25, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Topics
Sun Archives
- Courts prep for wave of foreclosure mediation requests (6-17-2009)
- County, cities hammer out plans for foreclosure funds (6-16-2009)
- Smaller home price drop may signal bottom (6-12-2009)
- Affordable housing topic still relevant despite price drops (6-12-2009)
- Vegas economy shows glimmer of hope (6-12-2009)
- Foreclosures increase as Nevada keeps top spot (6-11-2009)
- Dead in the water: Your bailout (5-3-2009)
- Las Vegas counts on Obama housing rescue (2-27-2009)
Sun Coverage
Washington — President Barack Obama said Wednesday he is acutely aware of Nevada’s foreclosure crisis and is evaluating whether more can be done to help homeowners, including by redirecting unused bank bailout money for homeowner relief.
Obama warned that using a portion of the $70 billion returned from the banks may require help from Congress.
On a particular problem vexing Nevadans — the inability of many homeowners to qualify for refinancing because they have lost so much equity in their homes — the president would not commit to any changes. The question is under review, he said.
“There are folks who still find themselves having done all the right things, always made their mortgage payments, always been responsible, and are still suffering,” Obama said during a round-table with a handful of reporters in the West Wing. “This is something that we’re taking very seriously.”
The president said just days ago he asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a top-to-bottom evaluation of the administration’s homeowner relief program, Making Home Affordable, to determine “what’s working and what’s not, and whether there’s more that we can do.”
Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, who had asked the administration to address shortcomings of the program, welcomed the review as a chance to continue pressing her case for changes.
“We always looked at the housing programs as works in progress and felt they would be modified and would be adjusted,” Titus said.
Announced in February, the Making Home Affordable plan has been the administration’s signature effort to help families avoid foreclosure. Nevada’s foreclosure rate has topped the nation every month since January 2007, according to RealtyTrac.
One part of the Obama plan is to help 3 million to 4 million homeowners at imminent risk of loan default by working with banks to lower the interest or principal on mortgages to less than 38 percent of homeowners’ income. The administration offered $75 billion to help lower interest rates. Bankers are paid for each loan modified.
The other part of the Obama plan is to help 4 million to 5 million homeowners refinance at today’s lower interest rates, which could provide relief by potentially shaving hundreds of dollars off monthly mortgage payments.
But it is this second part of the plan that has bedeviled Nevada.
The problem is this: To qualify for refinancing, homeowners must owe no more than 105 percent of the home’s current value — say, a $210,000 mortgage on a $200,000 home.
That’s increasingly difficult in Las Vegas, where housing prices have fallen by one-third in the past couple of years and equity has vanished.
Nevada has a greater rate of mortgages underwater — meaning the homes are worth less than the mortgages — than anywhere in the nation, according to the most recent data from First American CoreLogic for the final quarter of 2008. In one northwest Las Vegas ZIP code, mortgages are 20 percent more than home values.
Some homeowners say they would rather walk away from their homes than keep paying off a house that may take decades to recoup value.
The White House refinancing plan was an improvement in that previously loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac needed to have 20 percent equity to qualify for refinancing.
Still, Titus, and more recently Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, have urged the Obama administration to loosen the equity requirement, arguing that with unemployment now at 11.6 percent, refinancing could help avoid foreclosures.
Opponents, however, have warned that taxpayers will hold the bag if homeowners default on the refinanced loans. Fannie and Freddie are essentially backed by the government.
Plus, politicians risk populist unrest over bailout fatigue.
Obama was well aware of the problem facing Nevada’s underwater homeowners, but not ready to commit to its solution.
“I know one suggestion that has been made is to further drop the equity requirements,” Obama said Wednesday. “I don’t want to weigh in yet because I haven’t seen the conclusions from Treasury about how that would impact the program, if it would cost additional money to taxpayers in order for us to get the banks to play along with it ... I just want to see what works within the constraints of the resources that we have.”
Obama did indicate, however, that bank bailout money is being eyed for housing — a move supported by Titus, Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley.
“If those resources are now available and can be recycled in even more help for homeowners, that’s something that is worth considering,” Obama said.
Last week Titus, Berkley and other House lawmakers sent a letter to Geithner saying the additional funding could “help more principal homeowners in severely affected areas to stay in their homes.”
The legality of reusing the funds has been questioned by other lawmakers who argue the bank bailout law was more narrowly drafted.
Obama seemed well aware of the potential battle ahead.
“We may need some cooperation with Congress if we end up doing that,” he said.
“One of the things that we’re having to struggle with is the magnitude of this recession. The depth of it — starting back in September but really picking up speed in the first of January — meant that a lot of the resources were used up very quickly.”
The Treasury Department could not immediately comment on when it will produce the president’s request for a program evaluation. It could also not say how many foreclosures have been prevented since the Obama housing plan was launched.
Discussion: 38 comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy.
Post a comment
Spotlight
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas to close in May
- Pricey land buy on Strip a bit of a surprise
- Engineering marvel taking shape near Hoover Dam
- Harry Reid’s co-writer unloads while discussing polls, Obama quote
- Grim numbers show Nevada leads nation in suicides over 60
- Police: Legal runner returned to home, shot husband and wife
- UNLV back in the polls: No. 23 in AP, No. 25 in ESPN/USA Today
- MGM Mirage to leave N.J. in dispute over Macau partner
- The 10 best steakhouses in Las Vegas
- GOP should blame itself for deficit, not Democrats
Blogs
Shark Bytes
Willis reminds me of another great UNLV guard (4 Comments)
Elsewhere
With aggressive push, Internet gambling again in play
The Kats Report
A very quick list of which females could replace Steven Tyler in Aerosmith (12 Comments)
A 3.5-day sprint, highlighted superflously at Flamingo with Las Vegas newcomers
Politics: Ralston's Flash
Horsford: No taxes now, but tax reform later (14 Comments)
Gibbons: Cutting the budget can help me raise money (11 Comments)
Gibbons: Lawmakers made State of State worse with taxes (5 Comments)
Calendar »
- 9 Tue
- 10 Wed
- 11 Thu
- 12 Fri
- 13 Sat
-
Far East Movement at Blush
Blush Boutique Nightclub | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Benji Madden at Moon
Moon Nightclub | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Hugh Fink at the Riviera Comedy Club
The Riviera Comedy Club
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Barry Soetoro is a a liar and thief of Command!
Harry Reid knows it...
Where is the Birth Certificate?
Obama has steadfastly refused to release evidence of that Hawaiian birth -- a valid, long-form birth certificate that would show details of the birth, such as the hospital and the attending physician. Because the short-form "certification of live birth" he released to select news organization was at least sometimes issued for foreign births on the basis of an affidavit by one parent, it proves nothing as far as constitutional eligibility -- and, in fact, raises suspicions about a foreign birth.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.vie...
Obama tells Sun? How misleading as it suggests the Sun had a one on one interview with Obama...which judging from this vague article/editorial is not the case.
Where does Obama specifically talk about Nevada? What did he say he was going to do specifically?
"president would not commit to any changes."
"but not ready to commit to its solution."
This is leadership? This is no better than the previous 8 years of Bush! Change? Puhleeze
All I see are glittering generalities from Obama and no specifics.. not unlike the rest of his administration to date.
"It could also not say how many foreclosures have been prevented since the Obama housing plan was launched."
Zero.. none.. Period.
I see the little children woke up early this morning to comment. How's that birth certificate thingy coming along, anyways? LOL. Love the O Bonds thing, too. By the way, recess was pushed back to after 4th period today.
You neocon clowns absolutely crack me up. Stay classy!
the banks need to release all the housing stock they are holding, let it go at low prices, only then the market will start to recover, the houseprices currently are still far from affordable... and any bank holding stock are making the situation worse empty houses rot slowly and pulldown an area..
Jahreb; Yes, a lot of tin-foil going to waste this morning. Man, it must suck to wake up every day and think "The President's an alien! I must act now!"
Ooooo, look, the non-regular posters are here.
TARP (troubled asset reform program) remember that? The whole thing was about saving forclosures. Thanks to our government we saved banks (crooks) wall street and GM. Now Obama says we might have some change leftover for the small housing problem.
obama's plan = tax all the evil "rich" people to the point they won't be able to buy homes then take that tax money and give it to the "disadvantaged" so they CAN buy a house.
that will raise home values.
i want to barf every time i see a photo of our precedent obama.
The same guy is losing sleep over the budget deficits? Now he found some FREE money in the Treasury Slush Fund. He will spend like no tomorrow to buy votes for himself and his attempt to save democrats like harry Reid. No way to run a business or a government.
Yes, I also see that any question or recitation of the facts regarding the Kenyan's birth certificate are met not with counterrpoints about the issue itself, but subjective comments about the posters.
Way to try and deflect from the issue at hand, but here's a newsflash for you; namecalling isn't going to change the facts and it certainly isn't going to make the question of Hussein's birth certificate go away.
This reminds me of the responses by Edwards and his staff to allegations involving him and the baby mamma; as I recall, they consistently used words such as
"garbage" and other dismissive terms, but such dismissiveness never really addressed the initial
question.
Why HAS the Marxist in Chief spent over one million dollars with three top drawer law firms,
hindering efforts by those who have the temerity to want to see the birth certificate of this man who
is in occupation of the White House?
And, why won't he reveal his health records and academic record from college and law school,
including his applications to these institutions? No other politician seeking such high office has
been so secretive about revealing such basic information and NOR should they be allowed to be.
Why is he so resistamt? What is this man hiding and why is he going to such great lengths to prevent such basic information from being disclosed to the public?
Of course, the lamestream media refuses to address these questions, but people have a right to ask these questions and get an proper answer-not one that dismisses them in a condescending, elitist manner.
In the meantime, I'm still waiting for Hussein to show us his birth certificate and until I see it, I have no choice but to believe that he is hiding information, the discovery of which could result in his arrogant behind getting kicked to the proverbial curb.
The birth Certificate has been on the web for about a year now.
If you don't like the Government, don't participate in the mortgage program and stop cashing your social security and unemployment checks. Didn't Irwin Shiff try to claim he was mentally ill to try to beat his tax evasion charges? Please check your self in.
Trying to buy Vegas out of this housing situation would cost trillions, not tens of billions. It also wouldn't fix the problem that is prolonging the crisis, which is increasing unemployment.
Imagine if Bush and Obama didn't bail out the banks and credit was still frozen. Unemployment would be much much higher if businesses could not get credit. Housing prices would be significantly lower if mortgages were unavailable and the only people who could buy houses were people who could pay cash.
TARP is a fund to be loaned, not spent. It was established to loan money to banks that couldn't get a loan anywhere else. Banks that survive are required to pay the funds back with interest. It has been a few months since I read the bill, but I think the rate was 6%.
When TARP is dismantled, the money will be used to buy back the treasury bills sold to finance the fund, that way we don't keep those hundreds of billions as national debt.
Using the federal govt's credit to prevent the nation's complete financial collapse was the smart and responsible thing to do. Bush and Obama obviously BOTH thought so.
Thanks for proving my point, Angry Reade. Your lame response of, "we won, you lost" doesn't address Hussein's continued refusal to provide his birth certificate and school applications and records.
This "plan" will just reward people you used their home as a savings account and how want to be rewarded or will walk away. These people did not do "all of the right things". They re-financed or 2nd mortgaged during the good times or just bought and now are underwater. What happened to all of that money and the cooresponding tax savings if they re-financed or if they just bought the idea to stay in the home for 10 years or more as our current real estate market is just making this paper losses?
Instead, eliminate mortgage deduction and capital gains tax savings when selling home on anyone who forecloses.
We need some "Tough Love" to get homeowners/investors to do the right thing and only buy homes for the long term along with paying a mortgage instead of the "flipper" profit taker mentality.
Let's face it people, every four years we elect a lying, no good, rotten, not my guy, Human Being to an office that nobody in their right mind would want. We then expect them to solve all the problems left over from the last idiot and all the new ones dumped on them by circumstance. And do it right now, we want it done yesterday, what are you waiting for? After all, we believed in your "elect me" promises. Chill. If any of us had the answers we would have the job. There are no answers, just process. In four years we will elect another lying, no good, rotten, not my guy, Human Being to an office that nobody in their right mind would want. Unless the meteor hits, then the cockroaches will have to.
I truly believe that the American people have no clue what this president is doing to our Nation. A president that speaks of transparency and yet hides information and rushes bills to votes before they can even be read/vetted is NOT transparent. Obama is extremely deceptive. Every move he has made indicates that he is a Socialist and pushes our nation closer to Socialism. The Democrats and their leaders Pelosi and Reid are the most irresponsible Congress I have seen in my lifetime. Obama is worried about Nevada's housing crisis, OMG the last thing we need is another Obama fix. I think we have learned early in his presidency his idea of aid is another government take over of another industry. Why, because that's he answer for EVERYTHING! This is not leadership, it's Socialism.
AngryReader:
It is not the ARMs but the "homeowners/investors" that took out 2nd mortgages or refinanced and took money out to pay for a lifestyle they could not afford. The mortgage brokers and banks were the "pushers" of this drug (Debt).
How these users who lived beyound their means wants someone else to pay. Sounds like these homeowners are addicts that will go back to becoming highly leveraged and be back to the same place as before wanting someone to save them again.
AngryReader:
For the small percentage that are ARMs that are impacted (note that more reports are coming out about Fixed rate mortgages that are going into foreclosure so your greedy bankers/class warefare arguement is not valid where my arguement is valid), eliminate those mortgages and make them renters. They should not get a free ride to make money on selling for a profit that real estate.
For Angry Reader:
What is so bad about being a renter? The US government does not owe everyone the right to own a home. Your class warfare arguement of taxing (STEALING) from one group of taxpayers and give the money to another class of privlaged people is either Racist or Sexist.
I have been a renter all of my life because either financial or employment situation warrented the adult decision to rent instead of the child-like attitude of wanting it now. This has cost me more in taxes for me and my family. Why should I support other individuals unruly lifestyles?
He probably "feels our pain", too.
What a crock of crap!!!!
Angry Reader:
A short sale property I looked at was selling for $199,000 but was orignally purchased in 2001 for $179,000. Tell me how a property purchased 8 years ago with payments being made by a homeowner is doing the "right" thing? Where did the money go? It was not the banks but the Homeowner who stole the money.
The next wave of foreclosures will be a result of purely greedy Homeowners. This next scam is underwater homeowners buying another home and then walking away from the orginal letting it go to foreclosure. This is the type of individual (my definition is a thief) that Angry Reader wants to help. To stop this bad behavior, the government must eliminate interest deduction and capital gains profit tax savings from anyone who forecloses.
If you bought a home stay and pay the mortgage and you can reap the rewards. If you need to move earlier then you can pay the difference in lost equity (which could be less than renting). Anything else is stealing from society.
Angry Reader has stated the facts as they are without drama & bull! Amen to 'AngryReader' comments. PS< I was once a lifelong republican and voted for Obama after what the republicans did for our national debt in the last 8 yrs. (the final straw was the socialist bailout of Wall Street by G W Bush.) Why can Republicans accept the Wall Street Bailout but are against the bailout of normal main street Americans?
SHREK:
I guess you are not reading my facts and instead beleive the distortion of facts that Angry Reader is talking about.
Where is all of the money these underwater Homeowners took out for their refinancing or second mortgages? If you bought in 2004-2006, did you not plan on living in your home for a long time or were you just trying to 'flip' it for a quick profit? If you are staying for awhile then all you have is paper losses. If your took on another mortgage or took additional money out, you were living beyound your means and need to pay the price.
It takes guts and fortitude to stand up for your beliefs in the face of 'Popular Opinion'. I have taken the time and effort to research this issue thoroughly and penned a published Internet piece with my results.
http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/...
Please let us know about your research and conclusions on this issue before you decide to denounce the facts.
Would you agree... 'An honest man has nothing to hide'?
"An honest man in politics shines more than he would elsewhere." Mark Twain - A Tramp Abroad
"If you Don't care that Your President is not a natural born Citizen and in Violation of the Constitution, then Delete this and go (back) into your cocoon.."
AMERICANS DESERVE ANSWERS by SK
http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/...
I certainly do not wish for my children and family to live in a country that has a 'Get over it!' Legal System!!!
So, leave the country?
"I have taken the time and effort to research this issue thoroughly and penned a published Internet piece with my results."
ZOMG! Published on the INTERNET? It must be true!
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/bir...
http://msgboard.snopes.com/politics/grap...
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/breakin...
What is going on?
Half the comments have nothing to do with the article.
This article is about housing!
The comments sound like a bastion of loonies
-is it a full moon?
This is bizarro!
AngryReader:
It is not the ARMs but the "homeowners/investors" that took out 2nd mortgages or refinanced and took money out to pay for a lifestyle they could not afford. The mortgage brokers and banks were the "pushers" of this drug (Debt).
How these users who lived beyound their means wants someone else to pay. Sounds like these homeowners are addicts that will go back to becoming highly leveraged and be back to the same place as before wanting someone to save them again.
For Angry Reader:
What is so bad about being a renter? The US government does not owe everyone the right to own a home. Your class warfare arguement of taxing (STEALING) from one group of taxpayers and give the money to another class of privlaged people is either Racist or Sexist.
I have been a renter all of my life because either financial or employment situation warrented the adult decision to rent instead of the child-like attitude of wanting it now. This has cost me more in taxes for me and my family. Why should I support other individuals unruly lifestyles?
If you want public housing join the military, they will house you and your family in exchange for working.
It is the same Obama who told busineses not to have conventions in Las Vegas. That hurt business here a lot!
Is it true that Acorn counted the votes in Iran
AngryReader, "sucked it up"??!!, don't drink and post.
I am the one who should be angry. I OWN my house, pay my credit card off every month and don't need every loser in the U.S. in my back pocket.
Thanks to Obama and his stealing pack of goons my everything is going up to pay for idiots who the system is coddling too much.
The consequences of making bad decisions is this; you will lose you car, your home and your credit. Deal with it.
Or as Obama will say "I am from the government and I am here to help"
watch out......because if he is going to help the housing market like he ended the war, didnt want to raise taxes, closed the prison in Cuba, helped the economy with the billions of dollars or all the other lies that he has spewed....should be a train wreck coming
Some economist suggest that Bush is the new Hoover and Obama is the new Roosevelt.If this analogy is true,then the economy won't turn around until World War Three begins.A modest exchange of nuclear weapons on top of everything else going on ? The world has never seen this much potential disaster at one time.Greed may be the biggest vice to ever threaten the human race.FUBAR
It's apparent that we have some leftist lunatic democrats posting here. I have to ask, seeing how you voted the lunatics into office, how is change working for you?
Are you feeling less pain?
Are you getting enough freebies from hard working Americans?
Did you get a god deal on your GM car?
Did the banks lower you interest rate?
Did the credit card companies forgo payments or wipe your debt?
Has you Green Power utility bills decreased or are your bills going to double?
I know you're going to find it hard to be honest with yourself but try to take your head out of your arse and ask, what has this administration done to help me and what changes are occurring that will benefit me? If you're on welfare, depend on the government system, don't work, and really like to be lazy then you've won the lottery and you must feel like you have a million dollars.