Poll: Americans favor smarter transportation spending in stimulus
WASHINGTON – Jan. 20, 2009 – Eighty percent of Americans want transportation and other infrastructure spending included in the economic stimulus bill to target projects that achieve multiple goals and create new jobs, according to a survey sponsored by the National Association of Realtors® and Transportation for America.
The 2009 Growth and Transportation Survey describes what Americans think about how development affects their immediate community. An overwhelming 80 percent believe it’s more important that a stimulus plan include efforts to repair existing highways and build public transit rather than build new highways. Forty-five percent of those polled said construction of new highways should “definitely” or “probably” not be included in the plan.
Foreclosure aid likely to help four states most
WASHINGTON – Jan. 20, 2009 – The nation’s foreclosure crisis is centered in four states. But taxpayers across the country will feel the pain of bailing them out.
California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona generated about half of all foreclosure filings nationwide last year, according to RealtyTrac Inc., even though residents in those states hold just a quarter of U.S. mortgages. Since mid-2007, skyrocketing foreclosures in those states have been magnifying the national rate.
Rescue efforts show difficulty of fixing bank woes
WASHINGTON (AP) – Jan. 20, 2009 – President-elect Barack Obama is taking office at a time the escalating troubles facing major banks around the world couldn’t be clearer.
On Monday, the British government swooped in to boost its stake in troubled Royal Bank of Scotland to almost 70 percent and offered to insure banks against large-scale losses on risky assets in exchange for binding agreements to lend out more money.
Real estate appraisers face big changes
WASHINGTON – Jan. 19, 2009 – The appraisal industry has justifiably come under fire for its role in the great housing bust. Property appraisals, required by lenders before a loan is made, are supposed to provide an independent assessment of the home’s value. But during the boom, some appraisers routinely signed off on a doubling or tripling of home values, sometimes racked up in just a matter of months. Investment properties were appraised at prices that made no investment sense. And homeowners were charged a pretty penny for what often amounted to rubber-stamp service.
Now the industry is about to undergo a shakeup. On Jan. 9, Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) announced revisions to their Home Valuation Code of Conduct. Starting on May 1, lenders that want to sell their loans to the two industry behemoths must follow the new guidelines. Mortgage brokers and Realtors are no longer able to choose appraisers. They will be selected by lenders, which are not allowed to influence appraisers by withholding payments or promising future work. If lenders have in-house appraisers, the bank’s loan-origination department is not allowed to influence their valuation decisions or supervise their work.
In recession, home builders reduce square footage
WASHINGTON – Jan. 19, 2009 – The American dream is shrinking. For the first time in at least a decade, builders are substantially reducing the size of new houses.
“We’re trending toward smaller homes,” says Gopal Ahluwalia, director of research for the National Association of Home Builders. He says growth in the average size of new single-family homes, which went from 1,750 square feet in 1978 to 2,479 in 2007, is starting to reverse.
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Few borrowers can revise loans, especially if debt exceeds home value
MIAMI – Jan. 19, 2009 – Since defaulting on her mortgage more than a year ago, Marisela Gonzalez has attended foreclosure prevention seminars, spent hours on the phone with her lender, paid a consultant, availed herself of bankruptcy protection – everything in her power to hang on to her home.
“I thought to pack and just get out,” recalled the Miami-Dade special-education teacher. ‘Then, I said, ‘ No . . . this is my place. I’ve been here 15 years and I am not going to give it back to a bank just like that.’ “
Yet Gonzalez is giving her Kendall townhome back to the bank, in this case the federal government, which took over lender IndyMac. Even with an offer to lower her interest rate, Gonzalez could not afford the payments and owes about $100,000 more than the house is worth.
