MarketWatch Article on Bailout Hearing

218562 Resource 178435 178982 1 1227146755660 1251404433504 Controlled Realtor® Lobbyists Enter Bailout Fray

Paulson and Bair Clash Over Foreclosure Rescue and the National Association of Realtors® Proposes Four-Point Housing Plan

Is Washington fiddling while the country collapses around the <a title="Housing or Financial Crisis?" href="item/213004" target="_blank">housing crisis</a> sink-hole? One would think so listening to testimony before the House Financial Services Committee this week. Remember when Congress passed the $700 billion bailout bill (aka the “Troubled Asset Relief Program”)? That was October. And, before that, in late July, the <a title="About" href="item/212492" target="_blank">Housing and Economic Security Act </a>became law. It appears the devil is in the implementation because the people charged with making the bailout happen cannot quite agree on how to spend all that money. Treasury Secretary Paulson, who in September insisted that $700 billion was needed to buy mortgage-backed securities or individual mortgages, now opposes that strategy and, having spent $250 billion on something or other, is not sure what to do with the rest of it and wants to save it for the next administration (which doesn’t take office until January 20). Meanwhile, FDIC Chair Sheila Bair wants to use $24.4 billion of the $700 billion to modify loans, which she says will stop 1.5 million foreclosures. <a title="MarketWatch Report" href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/CORRECT-Paulson-Bair-clash-over/story.aspx?guid=%7BA0624746-C7E0-4A27-9BF0-4E30D504F8ED%7D" target="_blank">Read the full story of this crazy hearing before the House Financial Services Committee at MarketWatch.com.</a> Don’t be surprised to hear that it’s all mixed up in politics. Bair may want to be the Republican in President-Elect Obama’s Cabinet. Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors® had its say at the same hearing, proposing a four-point plan, the last of which is very familiar: Keep banks out of the real estate business! In addition, NAR President Charles McMillan said: <blockquote dir="ltr" style="margin-right: 0px"> "The only way to overcome today’s economic turmoil is to motivate and encourage worried or cautious housing consumers to enter the marketplace. Stabilizing the housing market will lead to a quicker and greater economic recovery. Our goal is to ensure there is a healthy market and sufficient capital to support mortgage lending to qualified borrowers." </blockquote> The NAR proposal calls for eliminating the repayment of the <a title="About" href="item/210150" target="_blank">first-time home buyer tax credit</a> that was passed in the July stimulus bill, and for expanding the tax credit to include all home buyers, not just first-timers. The plan also recommends making the increased FHA and conventional loan limits permanent to stimulate home sales and stabilize prices. In addition, the NAR plan urges that the Troubled Asset Relief Program be put back on track by targeting the funds for mortgage relief through a mortgage interest rate buy-down. Finally, the plan recommends finalizing long-pending legislation to prohibit banks from entering into the business of real estate brokerage and property management. (After their performance in the last few years, that starts to look better and better, doesn’t it!) Meanwhile, home prices in Flagstaff have not been better for a long-time. If you want to buy a Flagstaff home, contact this Flagstaff broker who knows the market well: <a title="Flagstaff real estate website" href="http://bestflagstaffhomes.com/" target="_blank">Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties</a>. 9 application/xml false financial bailout financial crisis Flagstaff broker Flagstaff homes Flagstaff real estate agent housing crisis housing market mortgage bailout mortgage market NAR MarketWatch Article on Bailout Hearing Paulson and Bair clash over use of TARP funding http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/CORRECT-Paulson-Bair-clash-over/story.aspx?guid=%7BA0624746-C7E0-4A27-9BF0-4E30D504F8ED%7D Realtors® Tell Congress Increased Housing Demand Will Stabilize the Market NAR Press Release http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2008/realtors_tell_congress_housing_demand Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; Media Center PC 4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Zune 3.0; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 $Admin 67.172.146.66 false true false false true 178975 false false true false false false true 178435 blog blogsite/BestFlagstaffHomes/web