Housing Multiple Choice What do local real estate insiders think is the biggest threat to housing prices prospectively? A. The winding down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. B. A spike in mortgage rates. C. Phasing out the mortgage interest deduction. D. Imposing a tax on real estate commissions. *Answer: C The above observation is...Read More
Next Up: Resolving Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Take a load off Fanny Take a load for free Take a load off Fanny And (and) (and) you can put the load right on me –Lyrics, “The Weight” With Quantitative Easing 2.0 playing out now, what’s next up for Congress and the President, economy-wise? Resolving the financial...Read More
“We ALL Caused This Mess??” Hardly. Put me in the camp that says, without an accurate diagnosis, it’s not possible to cure our current economic mess. So, here are two competing narratives explaining how we got to this juncture, both courtesy of Les Leopold (thanks to Ned Krahl for forwarding the Leopold piece): Narrative #1:...Read More
Green Gold? Interesting article in the Sunday NYT about the spiraling cost of bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The article profiles one Phoenix-area Realtor in particular, who sold homes at the peak, and now sells them for Fannie and Freddie after they’ve repossessed them (albeit at dramatically lower prices). But here’s the line...Read More
New Fannie Mae Credit Check Planning on a(nother) major purchase, but haven’t closed on your home yet? Better hold off. That’s because Fannie Mae has just announced plans to pull Buyers’ credit a second time — this time, up until 5 days before closing (credit check number one is when the Buyer initially applies for...Read More
The Fannie/Freddie Dilemma, Cont. No Government-Sponsored Entity (“GSE”) can serve two masters. –New Testament OK, so that’s not exactly how the Biblical quote goes. But it’s an apt description of the conundrum facing would-be reformers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two now-state wards that buy or guarantee a stunning 96% of all U.S....Read More
