Among the many housing policy disappointments sustained during the bust, the Hope for Homeowners mortgage refinancing program has to rank as the disappointing-est. Originally estimated as having the potential to aid nearly half a million struggling borrowers, the program has resulted in just one successful loan refinancing More…
My friend J.P. Freire, the managing editor of The American Spectator, is the brains behind NewAmericanTeaParty.com. When I saw him today after Grover Norquist’s meeting, he was driven, intense — gripping his MacBook like a life raft in the Arctic Ocean, updating the group’s Facebook page and list of More…
With credit remaining tight and banks continuing to restrict lending, it’s been up to the government to keep the mortgage markets moving. And a major player these days is the Federal Housing Administration, a Depression-era insurer of mortgage loans specifically tapped to take on a much larger role More…
Just as troubled borrowers are poised to become the next likely recipients of government help, bailout fatigue seems to have set in.
Since the government began inching toward offering homeowners more help — calling for a holiday foreclosure suspension and launching a plan to streamline mortgage-loan More…
On Thursday, TWI covered a foreclosure eviction in suburban Virginia. These evictions are continuing during the holiday season, despite a suspension called by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. After the eviction, on Monday, the former homeowner, Julio Angulo, just sat outside his house. He told us More…
This is supposed to be the season for a break in home foreclosures, a pause in evictions over the holidays.
But it’s not working out that way for everyone. And certainly not for Julio Angulo of suburban Virginia, another victim of a foreclosure machine that seems to be almost More…
Financial bloggers are in mourning today for Tanta, at Calculated Risk, who died on Sunday in Columbus, Ohio. As the tributes to her throughout the blogosphere make clear, her analysis of the mortgage crisis was closely followed and influential. She had spent 20 years in mortgage banking — she More…
Mary Kane and the American News Project investigate the spread of foreclosures across Prince William County, Va.:
As the government, housing advocates and banks like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase struggle to streamline loan modifications and stave off foreclosures, one tactic keeps coming back to life as a sure-fire weapon: the 90-day mortgage moratorium.
In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently called for the reprieve as part More…
Given the reality of a credit crunch that shows few signs of easing despite the billions of dollars of government money thrown its way, an alternative to offering the new president-elect congratulations might be: “Welcome to hard times.”
The honeymoon period that most new presidents enjoy has probably More…
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