Fix Housing First
 

Anybody know much about this organization?

On the surface, it seems reasonable... but I need to know more.

http://www.fixhousingfirst.com/

Mike

I know nothing about that organization but, the major problem with the housing crisis is that they were extremely over priced, and that made no difference because, the lenders would put you in a house you couldn't afford yet, make you think you could!. The old something for nothing law coming to pass.

Here's a really good synopsis of the housing market. It's pretty big, but most of the file is charts and graphs. The prediction is the worst is yet to come.

http://members.cox.net/nevermind65/T...sis%202008.pdf

Synopsis: a brief or condensed statement giving a general view of some subject.

I believe that's what I said..........

Good for you! You know what the word synopsis means. So what's your point? Do you want us to applaud?

Mike,

This is just my opinion, but I think fixhousingfirst is basically a front for NAHB. I suppose they figured it would appear a little odd if it looked too much like the National Association of Home Builders directly asked folks to write their congressmen. And the industry seems to feel left out.

That is the political populist thing to do now, start a website front to promote a call to arms seemingly unrelated to a "follow the money" united group. The good ones even conjure up their own scientists or other experts.

The claim of a great variety of support is quite fitting in that NAHB has quite a number of "Associate" members from home building related activities, all of which also own homes, of course. :rolleyes:
I was once an Associate member myself, as drywall and plaster subcontractor. Attended meetings but couldn't vote etc. Good for business though.

The good thing is that NAHB has been around for quite a while and the message Jerry Howard presents in the youtube video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG_5b9XKAYI&eurl ) is true to the extent that, since housing is the most expensive item in the American dream, fixing housing would go a long ways in rebuilding the total economy and meeting citizens greatest need. We all need the three basics, food, clothing and shelter and shelter is most at risk etc. It really does make more sense to fix housing ahead of manufacturing and banking, but it might not be possible to separate them.

Besides Jerry Howard, other officers are listed at http://www.nahb.org/page.aspx/generic/sectionID=90 .

Wes


...

The housing mess will fix itself, I don't see any remedy except time. Half the folks who received help with their 'readjusted to a more affordable mortgage', have defaulted!. The folks that were evicted are now renting, they will buy again, only this time, a home they can realistically afford. Also, hundreds of thousands of newleyweds are, and will be buying homes. IMO....

It's a group of builders/developers - more than likely the same group that overcharged people for housing in the first place - keep in mind that all the money lost relating to house values was money paid to builders and developers - some of them still have that money!

Perry,

Very true. I'll adjust itself. I guess a better term for fix-housing would be stabilize-housing, anything that will stabilize the transition in a less traumatic manner would be welcome ...as long as it didn't make matters worse.

Contrary to the sub-prime, a lot of good responsible folks, that only wanted to follow the expected and necessary path to one home, are facing eviction on this holiday. I feel for them. The "at worst" extent must be very bewildering for them.

Precisely. Follow the money. A product is worth what the market will bear. Prices, including subcontracters that actually do the building, are still overheated in my area. I've encouraged co-workers to delay re-modeling projects on the assumption that bids will drop dramatically
in the near future. I remember the early 1980's well.

Wes


...

A Synopsis of a Synopsis:

The collapse of the housing market AND the 'credit crunch' are the same problem.
It started over 30 years ago, backed at times by both Republicans and Democrats. ALL politicians share the guilt equally.
It sounded wonderful, "All Americans have the "RIGHT" to 'buy' their own home.
Not having a viable property, or a job, or a down payment, or a decent credit rating, or any prospect of making payments, were all major issues to the 'bankers.'
But small hurdles to the politicians.
So they passed laws requiring the 'bankers' to lend money, knowing it would NEVER be paid back.
'Bankers' found this slightly disagreeable and refused to throw money down the toilet. "Bankers' had the silly idea that only those that could prove they could pay a loan off should get a loan!!!
Government said, "You must!" Bankers said, "We Cannot!" "It is against the law." " Laws that you, the Government, use to regulate us!"
Government repeals those laws.
Bankers say, "What do we do with these worthless loans?" Government says, "Package them with good loans and sell them off."
Bankers said, "We Cannot!" "It is against the law." " Laws that you, the Government, use to regulate us!"
Government repeals those laws.

So the 'Slum Landlord' housing market. A separate market, not part of the actual housing market and well, well BELOW that market, joins the real housing market.
Value unknown as it has only been the slum market in the past. Rents were its value, not resale. But now slum landlords see a chance to inflate their properties by more than 10 times [maybe more than 20 times] and EXIT the market.
This causes the beginning of an insane inflation spiral from the bottom, bottom on up. And ALL caused by BAD, WORTHLESS, VALUELESS, loans, presently called 'subprime loans'
It takes 30 years of this disease and insanity to run out of speculators willing to buy these bundled "securities."
Bankers find themselves running out of money and no fools left to take their bad paper. Bankers go back to being 'bankers' Prove to us that you don't need the money and we will loan it to you! [Such 1970's thinking]
Gov. says, "Loan money!" Bankers says, "What money?" "We are broke!"

Now the Government throws Billions at the problem. The Bankers, BANK the money. They are done with the loans to the unloanable.
The cure I think is getting those worthless loans off the market. The Government willing to spend Trillions might become the replacement slum landlord and get its nose out of all other business. How that would work, I do not know.
But the "plans" so far have fixed nothing, and have changed by the hour.
Right now the PLAN is, 'we have no plan.

Dan

I agree, the government needs to stay out of it. The market will correct itself. People that lied to get stated loans, gambled with adjustable rates or option arms, bought houses they could not afford etc... will become renters again.

I am sure there are hardworking people that were caught up in this mess, but all the ones I know that are losing houses were speculators. People that would have been lucky to qualify for one house went out and bought 3-10 houses thinking they were going to flip them and make money. These same people were telling me I was stupid for locking in both of my houses at 5% in 02. They all thought equity was real, when in fact it is only real when you sell the property. If you borrow against equity it is just a secured loan not a bank account.

BTW, These people are now walking away from these houses with no loss except bad credit and the loss of payments they made towards these properties. There should be more accountability IMO. These were properties that were bought in an attempt to make money and I think they should have to pay back these loans even if it takes the rest of their lives.

I lost over 500K in a business venture and I did not have the option to walk away. These speculators are getting off way to easy IMO.

If you narrow it down, IMO, oil is the real culprit here, everything, and I mean everything, is somehow related to oil. With so many people and businesses living week to week, oil hit like a ton of bricks!. It was real easy to look at income/expenses and see it just ain't gonna work!. Now that oil has tanked, it really doesn't make any difference because the damage is done.

Tell me about it. I owned three gas stations, and a gas load went from 17k to almost 45k in three years. Our profits went down and the cost of operating went up a lot.