for Mortgage Consumers
Navigation Guide
The AllStreets Bailout Plan, a Good Bank Plan:
Summary and details of our unique housing rescue plan
More details and examples of how it works at themortgagenews blog
Contact your lawmakers to lobby for the plan: go to Links page
Donate to support our efforts to implement the plan (donate link on sidebar)
Mortgage and Economic Crisis News: See headlines below or go to our blog
Mortgage Regulation News: Headlines below or go to blog or see Links page
Facts Page: Interesting facts about mortgages, real estate and interest rates
Rates and Mortgage Page: selected mortgage rates for the week and mortgage spotlights
Links Page: a pre-written e-mail message and links to your government officials to support the All Streets Bailout, and many links to useful Information relating to mortgages, interest ates, real estate and legislation (not advertsing links)
I hold a B.S. in Economics from the U of MN, and have six years experience as a mortgage originator. I'm intensely interested in issues about national economic policy, and I work to help Americans understand and get out of the housing/credit crisis in the least damaging way.
Please donate to support our efforts to promote our plan to achieve a meaningful housing and economic rescue that's fair to all Americans (please, not less than $5.00 per donation). It will be used to maintain and improve this site and for the labor needed to publicize the plan broadly and quickly in as many ways as possible.
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NEWS
(click a headline to read the full article posted on our blog)
Release on 2/24/09 of S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for Declember, 2008: home prices down 18.2% year over year, 26.7% from August, 2006 peak.
2/18/09 Obama Administration Announces a New Housing Rescue Initiative: Once again, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geitner, the presumed architect of the new housing rescue plan, has complettely missed the main problem of upside down mortgages. The Housing Affordability and Stabilization Plan will only help a small minority of borrowers reduce their mortgage payments, but not their principals, so it won't do much to stop foreclosures, restrain housing supply, improve housing values, improve lender balance sheets, or the economy. It's supposed to help refinance up to 9 million homeowners, including making low-interest-rate refinances available to 4 to 5 million people with conforming loans that are now in the range of 80-105% loan-to-value based on current appraised value. It's fine if the program does help some folks reduce payments, but the success of that part of the plan depends on whether mortgage rates stay low. In any event, those borrowers aren't the ones in the most trouble.
In addition, the plan is supposed to reduce interest rates and payments, but not principals, for 3 to 4 million borrowers immediately at risk of foreclosure, but, only if they have conforming size loan balances, and only if their lenders like the idea for the borrowers situation, since the plan is entirely voluntary. However, since the plan doesn't reduce the principal of any loan, the plan completely misses the critical problem in the housing and banking sectors, the excess mortgage principal on the 25% (approximately 27 million) residential properties that now have zero equity or are upside down. The reach of the plan is very limited since it excludes investment properties, second homes, jumbo sized loans and borrowers who are unemployed, a growing number.
