Friday, November 28, 2008
Larry Lindsey with a Great Idea for the Mortgage Crisis
Take a good read of this article, and see what you think. I believe the incentives for people who wish to STAY in their homes (rather than speculators) and the cost neutral aspects of this idea make it a winner. What do you think?
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3 comments:
What of the people who wish to stay in their homes, but simply got greedy and made stupid choices? In other words, they could have easily afforded a 80 year-old $250,000 four bedroom house with no central air, but opted instead to go with a $640,000 four bedroom Toll Brothers home with granite countertops?
As you've said in previous posts, renting isn't a bad option either. And there will be PLENTY of units available to rent for the forseeable future.
Speaking of which, why not a rent-to-own option? Something where current owners who can't continue payments would be allowed to continue to live in the house under a multi-year negotiated "rent" (five or ten year blocks, with fees much smaller than the current mortgage payment). At the end of the term, if the tentant wishes to purchase the home from the bank, he may do so. Lots of things to work through (responsiblity for upkeep, additions, etc.)but it satifies the objective of keeping people in their homes and providing a source of revenue for the lending institution.
But if the gubment is going to bail people out, and it appears increasingly likely that they will, I think this is the best of all the evils I've heard.
As for the rent to own option, I imagine the mortgage holders would have gone this way if they thought that it was in their interests, no?
I like all the options you've suggested GG, just so long as it occurs between tenant and mortgage holder and the government gets itself out of the "business" of financing homes. And as much as I benefit from the home ownership tax relief, I think I'd rather have the government (state and local) stop taxing me for owning a house just so the federal government can relieve me of taxes. In other words, the federal government ought to get out of the home ownership business, incentives, etc entirely. Hey, maybe we could then shut down another cabinet post which would mean less spending which is the ONLY way we will start to tackle our dire financial conditions in our credit hungry and reckless spending culture.
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