Mr. Baker’s concern that Freddie may be racking up losses by overpaying for mortgages derives from his suspicion that the government might be encouraging it to do so as a way to bolster the operations of mortgage lenders.
That would make Fannie’s and Freddie’s mortgage-buying yet another backdoor bailout of the nation’s banks, Mr. Baker said, and could explain the government’s reluctance to include them in the reform efforts now being so hotly debated in Washington.
“If they are deliberately paying too much for mortgages to support the banks,” Mr. Baker said, “the government wants them to be in a position to keep doing that, and that would mean not doing anything about their status until further down the road.”
Monday, May 10, 2010
Freddie Mac is a mess
Economist Dean Baker suspects Freddie Mac continues to have huge losses because the government is using it to provide a stealth bailout to mortgage lenders:
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Median home prices in NVAR are up +9% YOY in April. That makes 10 of the last 11 months where prices are up on a YOY basis.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mris.com/reports/stats/route.cfm
DEAR GOD!!! MAKE IT STOP!!! MAKE IT STOP!!! WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!
Waste of money to prop up asset prices, but its the only game in town.
ReplyDelete"Median home prices in NVAR are up +9% YOY in April. That makes 10 of the last 11 months where prices are up on a YOY basis."
ReplyDeleteYou must be a real desperate real estate agent--used car sales man/woman to be on here misleading the public. Are you one of those agents who walk people through old crappy houses telling them abouut the "charm" and how "cozy" the home is? And you call what you do a job? You are nothing more than a housing whore!
More than a fifth of U.S. mortgage holders owed more than their homes were worth in the first quarter as repossessions climbed to a record, according to Zillow.com.
ReplyDeleteTwenty-three percent of owners of mortgaged homes were underwater during the period, up from 21 percent in the previous three months, the Seattle-based property data provider said today in a report. More than one in 1,000 homes were repossessed by lenders in March, the highest rate in Zillow data dating back to 2000.
Underwater homes are more likely to be lost to foreclosure because their owners have a harder time refinancing or selling when they fall behind on loan payments. U.S. home values dropped 3.8 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the 13th straight period of year-over-year declines, Zillow said.
“Having a lot of underwater homeowners will add to the downward pressure on house prices,” said Celia Chen, senior director at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “We do expect that home prices will fall a bit more.”
"You must be a real desperate real estate agent--used car sales man/woman to be on here misleading the public."
ReplyDeleteNope, just a troll here to twist the knife and to remind you that you missed out on the bottom.
"Nope, just a troll here to twist the knife and to remind you that you missed out on the bottom."
ReplyDeleteI don't live in NVAR jackass! So stick it!
If so, why comment in the first place. Why get so worked up about an obvious troll over an area you dont care about at all?
ReplyDelete"I don't live in NVAR jackass! So stick it!"
ReplyDelete95% of the people who post here dont. Besides, NVAR to the people who post that kind of dribble are talking ONLY about arlington, not the WHOLE of Nova, which contain places decimated all the illegal El Salvidorians who got loans. You really could consider about 70% of NVAR to be little mexico, and that 70% is and has been dropping like a rock.
The reason why those who dont live here comment on your nonsense, is because its in every single thread. The admin should start taking your comments off the blog as you dont contribute anything to the actual discussion at hand. What does Freddie Mac buying bad mortgages across the entire US have to do with your post of Arlington prices being up? Unless you are trying to say Arlington is overpriced and that Freddie Mac will lose out in the future when Arlington crashes.
What does Freddie Mac buying bad mortgages across the entire US have to do with your post of Arlington prices being up?
ReplyDeleteNothing - I was trolling.
"Nothing - I was trolling."
ReplyDeleteThe reason why those who dont live here comment on your nonsense, is because its in every single thread. The admin should start taking your comments off the blog as you dont contribute anything to the actual discussion at hand.
"The admin should start taking your comments off the blog as you dont contribute anything to the actual discussion at hand."
ReplyDeleteI provide entertainment value. I know that all I have to do is put up a choice flaim bait about why this or that area is up and see what happens.
The entertaining part is people like you - knowing fully well that you "shouldnt feed the trolls" -cant stand to see my post go uncontested, and respond in kind. Its amusing to see your inability to restrain yourself. Thank you for providing us with entertainment in otherwise slow days at work.
Boring.
ReplyDeleteNothing either of you say is entertaining. The troll or the guy replying to him.
The admin wont get of the troll or the guys replying because it makes the posts counts higher, thus making the blog seem more important than it really is....
A blog of bitter guys who bought at the top, and the guys who argue with them waiting for the bottom.
"A blog of bitter guys who bought at the top, and the guys who argue with them waiting for the bottom."
ReplyDeleteThat was the 2005-2006 version of this blog. The 2009-2010 version is guys who bought at the bottom, arguing with the guys who missed the bottom and cant admit it yet.
U.S. home foreclosures climbed to a record in April, a sign that government mortgage relief efforts have yet to turn the tide of property seizures, according to a report by RealtyTrac Inc.
ReplyDelete“Right now it appears that the banks are focusing on processing the loans already in foreclosure, and slowing down the initiation of new foreclosure proceedings as a way of managing inventory levels,” Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s executive vice president, said in an e-mail. “We’ll probably see this trend continue for a while.”
"U.S. home foreclosures climbed to a record in April, a sign that government mortgage relief efforts have yet to turn the tide of property seizures, according to a report by RealtyTrac Inc."
ReplyDeleteAlso from RealtyTrac
Foreclosure activity by local area(s):
NOVA (Arl, Alx, Ffx, Lou, PWC)
down 39% YOY
DC (proper)
down 36% YOY
Suburban MD (MoCo & PG)
up 15% YOY
So I guess it depends on where you live. While not a record, MD is still seeing increased foreclosures on a YOY basis. In Nova & DC it is all over but the shoutin!!!
About 2 years ago, another anon and I were debating whether (due to imminent inflation) it was best go dump the dollar and go euro. At the time, I advised, no, the rationale being, the Eurozone would eventually have to do the same thing.
ReplyDeleteIt is thus that I note this article today
Growth, rate worries drive euro near 4-year low
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Growth-rate-worries-drive-apf-1985671169.html?x=0
To be honest, this took longer than I expected, and it hit with more severity than anticipated. Also, I had no idea that it was going to be precipitated by Greece. I thought at the time Italy would be the precursor.
You probably arent even here anymore, but if you are, heres to hoping you got out of the way of this train wreck. Good luck to all.
This will not end well. The government is working to keep a terribly dysfunction system afloat rather that making the structural changes needed to fix the mess. Worse yet, many of the very players in the government and the private sector who created this unholy mess are currently in charge of cleaning it up. Bet they do a real good job.
ReplyDeleteNow Europe is threatening to unravel, China's bubble is trying to pop, and the pseudo-recovery is becoming more 'pseudo' and less 'recovery' every day.
Man I want this to be over.
The only answer I see is really profound inflation. The debt magically melts away. Of course prices soar, savings rot, and economic turbulence merely changes key and tempo. Again, nothing is really fixed.
ANON -- good luck to you, too. Good luck to us all.