According to the Comptroller of the Currency, John Dugan, who gave a preview of his latest Mortgage Metrics report:Diana Olick promotes a fantastic alternative at the end of this video: Let the properties go into foreclosure, sell them to people who can afford them (i.e. renters), and let the free market work. What a novel idea! There's no way politicians will go for it.
“After three months, nearly 36 percent of the borrowers had re-defaulted by being more than 30 days past due. After six months, the rate was nearly 53 percent, and after eight months, 58 percent.” ...
I realize that there are a lot of public and private sector programs really trying to help troubled borrowers, but the fact of the matter is that a lot of troubled borrowers are beyond help. And instead of spending so much time focusing on trying to modify these loans, perhaps we need to look at the problem from a different perspective. ...
Unless the lenders or investors or government officials are willing to simply throw the loan out and give away an awful lot of house to an awful lot of borrowers, modifications, and certainly "mass modifications" which a lot of government types are pushing, are just exacerbating the problem.
The whole "prevent irresponsible homeowners from losing their homes" effort is by definition a "prevent responsible renters from buying homes" effort.
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"Let the properties go into foreclosure, sell them to people who can afford them (i.e. renters), and let the free market work."
ReplyDeletehas any politician on the left suggested this? i only hear it from the right, and rarely at that.
million said...
ReplyDelete"has any politician on the left suggested this? i only hear it from the right, and rarely at that."
Not that I have heard. I think people go into politics because they want the make the world a better place. This means that when problems arise, they feel the need to do something. Letting events unfold naturally would be an admission that they can't do anything to make things better.