Housing at Heart of Recession Fears

RE:Housing at Heart of Recession Fears

murray k — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:00:00 GMT

We will eventually move to 60-75 year mortgages, like so many other countries. Why not do it now. we would alleviate a good pecentage of this subprime mess by making the payments more affordable. Most homeowners will never patoff their mortgages anyway, they have been refinancing an average of every 3-4 years till now. The banks have in place 40 & 50 year ammortization loans now. The reason they never worked was because of the hits to the rate the banks imposed on them. There is enough profit as is. Let's get over this hump. We will go there soon let's just do it now.

RE:Housing at Heart of Recession Fears

Yancey — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Is it probable that OFHEO will approve a temporary confomring loan limit increase to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy loans above the current 417K limit without it being considered a Jumbo? Will the White House consider an amendment to the FHA Modernization Act of 2007 to allow a temporary increase to the 417K loan limit? Considering the deepening recession the US is experiencing and the weight of the failing housing market, would these be viable options to help homeowners in higher priced housing markets such as California and the DC Metropolitan area? Subprimes is another animal in of itself, but somewhat linked to the conforming loan limits in my opinion.

RE:Housing at Heart of Recession Fears

Adam — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Remember when the fed raised rates sixteen times in a row to "slow" the real estate markets? As they continued on, they also made a statement - this is just to slow the down the real estate market - "a soft landing". They absolutely slaughtered the real estate market! The market was brutal in Chicago and surrounding suburbs 12 months BEFORE the subprime mess started to make its first headlines. Now you have the perfect storm - consumers scared to buy, prices falling across the country, inventory building, serious credit tightening and large mortgage companies at verge of collapse. Not too mention wide spread talk of recession and poor holiday consumer spending! The fed brought these problem on themseleves. They still think that they can control the price of gasoline with there policies - not any more. We have all have gotten used to $3 a gallon. The days of $1.25 were not that long ago but are gone forever. Our good friends at OPEC are not stupid - they control the outout to keep the cost artificially high. Why give away are only viable product our country has ever churned out when we can enjoy these crazy profits??? This whole situation is just the begining and will be around for at least 18 months.

RE:Housing at Heart of Recession Fears

Tom Langston — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Sounds pretty gloomey, however, my company is in the remodeling industry and all is NOT lost here. People may not be buying new homes but they are remodeling. Our business has seen steady increases in the last 6 months. We too use PVC plumbing pipe, lighting fixtures, and carpeting.