Only 8,405 in Fla. get mortgage modification.

South Florida Real Estate - Foreclosure Information - 305-929-3326

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Jan. 18, 2010 – Fewer than 3,000 South Floridians have a permanent loan modification under President Obama’s nearly year-old program to stem home foreclosures.

In the Treasure Coast, just 111 troubled borrowers have seen permanent relief from the $75 billion plan announced in February.

The dismal performance of the program marketed as a helping hand for the nation’s more than 3.3 million delinquent home loans was released Friday in a Treasury Department progress report.

Throughout Florida, which by every measure is one of the states hardest hit by the real estate crash, there are 8,405 permanent modifications. In Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties combined there are 2,987 permanent modifications.

Another 96,703 Florida loans are on trial modifications.

The Making Homes Affordable program gives incentives to banks to modify loans in three basic ways; reducing interest rates to as low as 2 percent, increasing the life of the loan, and reducing the principal owed on the loan.

“You keep hearing about this wonderful program the government is doing but it’s not working,” said Joel Bienvenu, who owns a home west of Boca Raton and has been trying to get a loan modification through Wells Fargo since August. “I keep getting excuses that they are just overwhelmed.”

Nationwide, 66,465 permanent modifications have been approved, less than 2 percent of the total loans that are 60 or more days delinquent. Another 46,056 permanent modifications have been approved by the lender, but not yet by the borrower.

The median monthly decrease to mortgages that received permanent modifications was $516, according to the Treasury Department.

From the beginning of the program, homeowners have complained about having to send lenders the same paperwork multiple times, while banks say borrowers provide the wrong documents or fail to meet the requirements for the permanent modification.

Anthony DiMarco, executive vice president of government affairs for the Florida Bankers Association, said Friday that lenders have been on a learning curve, but are improving.

“I think the industry is working hard,” he said. “You can’t ramp up a program like this overnight.”

Fort Lauderdale real estate attorney and foreclosure mediator Shari Olefson said the more than 1.1 million trial modifications offered to borrowers nationwide shows lenders are making an effort.

The fact that just 66,465 have become permanent points to a fundamental problem with the program, she said.

“The program itself is a failure,” said Olefson, author of Foreclosure Nation, Mortgaging the American Dream. “It’s trying to put a square peg in a round hole.”

To qualify for a modification, a person’s monthly housing expenses must be more than 31 percent of gross monthly income. But you also must prove that you can pay for the modification.

Olefson believes high unemployment and a steep loss in housing equity is keeping the plan from working.

“The whole program was crafted before we correctly identified the problem,” she said.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Feds: Chinese drywall reports still inconclusive. Miami Real Estate

Got Miami ? Miami Real Estate Services

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida – Federal studies released Thursday cannot yet definitively link imported Chinese drywall to health problems or corrosion of pipes and wires that thousands of U.S. homeowners have been reporting for nearly a year.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is leading the multi-agency investigation, said it needs to further study the matter before it can consider a recall, ban or other solutions to help affected homeowners. Additional results from ongoing studies were due to be released next month.

“The expansive investigation and scientific work that has been done and continues to be carried out is all aimed at providing answers and solutions,” Lori Saltzman, a director in the CPSC’s Office of Hazard Identification and Reduction, said Thursday. “No connections have been made yet.”

Saltzman said the agency, which has so far spent $3.5 million on the studies, has received nearly 1,900 homeowner complaints during one of its largest consumer product investigations in U.S. history.

“We understand this problem has literally driven people from their homes,” she said.

Homeowners, however, were frustrated by a lack of answers.

“So many of us have been really waiting on these results released today to offer us encouragement, but in fact, we’re quite disappointed,” said Holly Krulik, of Parkland, Florida, about 45 miles north of Miami.

Krulik and her husband, Doug, along with their two young children, moved in with her parents about six months ago because she says the Chinese wallboard in their home was making them sick and ruining the house.

“We’re hanging on by a thread here. When is help going to arrive?” said Krulik, who will soon join hundreds of others who have filed lawsuits.

Thousands of homeowners like the Kruliks who bought new houses built with the potentially defective materials are finding their lives in limbo as the lawsuits against builders, contractors, suppliers and manufacturers wind through the courts.

During the height of the U.S. housing boom, with building materials in short supply, American construction companies imported millions of pounds (kilograms) of Chinese-made drywall because it was abundant and cheap. An Associated Press analysis of shipping records found that more than 500 million pounds (226 million kilograms) of Chinese gypsum board was imported between 2004 and 2008 – enough to have built tens of thousands of homes.

They are heavily concentrated in the Southeast, especially Florida and areas of Louisiana and Mississippi hit hard by Hurricane Katrina.

The defective materials have since been found by state and federal agencies to emit “volatile sulfur compounds.” Officials have also found traces of strontium sulfide, which can produce a rotten-egg odor, along with organic compounds not found in American-made drywall. Homeowners complain the fumes are corroding copper pipes, destroying TVs and air conditioners, blackening jewelry and silverware, and making them sick.

And some homeowners are reporting that their insurance companies are dropping or refusing to renew their policies based on the presence of the wallboard in their houses, putting them at risk of foreclosure.

The federal test results released Thursday largely confirmed what prior testing had found. The multiple agencies investigating, including the CPSC, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, acknowledged the reported health symptoms are consistent with some sort of contamination. But the culprit is unclear.

The Chinese government is assisting with the investigation.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Rates on 30-year loans rise to 5.03 percent - Miami Real Estate 800-819-5466

Miami Beach - Rates for 30-year home loans climbed to 5.03 percent this week, the third consecutive weekly increase.

The average rate inched up from 5 percent a week earlier, mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday. The last time the average was higher was the week of September 24, when rates averaged 5.04 percent.

Rates had hovered below 5 percent for nearly a month until last week. They hit a record low of 4.78 percent in the spring, but are still attractive for people looking to buy a home or refinance.

The rates have advanced despite action by the government to prop up the housing market and stimulate the economy. The Federal Reserve has pumped $1.25 trillion on mortgage-backed securities in an effort to lower rates on mortgages and loosen credit.

Rates on 30-year mortgages traditionally track yields on long-term government debt.

Still, lenders have tightened their standards dramatically, so the best rates are available only to borrowers with solid credit and a 20 percent down payment.

Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day, frequently in line with long-term Treasury bonds.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.46 percent from 4.43 percent recorded last week, according to Freddie Mac.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.42 percent, up from last week’s 4.4 percent. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 4.57 percent from 4.54 percent.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac’s survey averaged 0.7 points for 30-year loans. The fee averaged 0.6 points for 15-year, five-year and one-year loans.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Florida’s existing home, condo sales up in 2Q 2009

MIAMI, Florida – Sales of existing single-family homes in Florida rose 23 percent in second quarter 2009 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the latest housing statistics from the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). A total of 43,125 existing homes sold statewide in 2Q 2009; during the same period the year before, a total of 35,008 existing homes sold. It marks the fourth consecutive quarter that Florida has seen higher existing year-to-year home sales, according to FAR.

Sales of existing condominiums statewide in the second quarter rose 29 percent compared to the same time the previous year. This marks the third consecutive quarter for increased statewide sales in both the existing home and condo markets compared to year-ago levels.

Statewide sales activity in 2Q 2009 also increased over 1Q 2009’s sales figure in both the existing home and existing condo markets, FAR records show. For 2Q 2009, statewide sales of existing homes rose 37.2 percent over the 1Q 2009 figure; existing condo sales statewide in 2Q 2009 increased 45.3 percent over the 1Q 2009 level.

“In spite of the challenges with the economy, most people – 83 percent – still believe that buying a home is a good financial decision, according to a recent survey from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR),” says 2009 FAR President Cynthia Shelton, CCIM, CRE, a broker and director of investment sales with Colliers Arnold in Orlando. (CCIM stands for Certified Commercial Investment Member and CRE is the Counselor of Real Estate designation). “Many homebuyers are realizing that this is the time to buy – with a good selection of housing inventory, affordable pricing and low mortgage rates.

“In fact, three-fourths of those responding to the 2009 National Housing Pulse Survey said they think now is a good time to purchase a home, a number that has increased steadily the past two years,” she says. “However, providing solid financing options for homebuyers is key to returning stability to the housing market, and buyers also need programs that help with downpayment and closing costs. That’s why the federal $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit and other programs enabling eligible buyers to access that tax credit for downpayment or closing costs are so important – programs like the Florida Homebuyer Opportunity Program.”

MIAMI, Florida –

Sixteen of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported increased sales of existing homes in the second quarter compared to the same three-month period a year earlier, while 12 MSAs showed gains in condo sales.

The statewide existing-home median sales price was $143,600 in the second quarter; a year earlier, it was $203,200 for a decrease of 29 percent. The 2Q 2009 statewide existing-home median sales price was 1.8 percent higher than 1Q’s statewide existing-home median sales price of $141,000. According to industry analysts with the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half for less.

In the year-to-year quarterly comparison for condo sales, 14,742 units sold statewide for the quarter compared to 11,459 in 2Q 2008 for a 29 percent increase. The statewide existing-condo median sales price was $111,100 for the three-month period; in 2Q 2008, it was $179,800 for a decrease of 38 percent. The 2Q 2009 statewide existing-condo median sales price was almost 1 percent higher 1Q’s statewide existing-condo median sales price of $110,100.

Continuing low mortgage rates remain another favorable influence on the housing sector. According to Freddie Mac, the national commitment rate for a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.03 percent in 2Q 2009; one year earlier, it averaged 6.09 percent.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Details of FHA’s $8K downpayment advance released

Got Florida .Com South Florida Real Estate

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released more details today about its program to help first-time homebuyers use a tax credit as part of a downpayment.

HUD announced the program on May 12 at the National Association of Realtors® Housing Summit. In the interim, HUD posted an announcement and then immediately took it down, leading to speculation that the program would be pulled. In response, HUD said the rules had simply not been finalized, and the original announcement had been posted in error.

“We’ve been eager for word from the federal government since the new FHA downpayment assistance plan was announced, and even more so after the program details were first published and then quickly pulled,” says John Sebree, FAR vice president of public policy. “Luckily, that turns out to be a minor setback and there will be a federal downpayment program to complement the $30 million we were successful in securing in the Florida budget.”

The most significant change involves the amount of downpayment required by qualified first-time homebuyers. FHA mortgages require a 3.5 percent downpayment, and the $8,000 tax credit cannot be used to override that requirement. Once the 3.5 percent downpayment requirement has been met, however, the tax credit can be applied to additional costs, including a higher downpayment, paying points to lower the mortgage rate, and/or closing costs. Lenders will treat the tax credit money as a second lien on the home until it’s paid back.

“Mortgage industry leaders have indicated that this type of product may not be immediately available to consumers,” says Sebree. Since lenders will oversee the tax credit loan, they must create internal programs to handle the process.

Lenders have some flexibility on payback requirements for the upfront loan of the tax credit, though HUD also created rules to protect homebuyers from onerous terms.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

South Florida home sales spike in February. Miami Real Estate

Got Florida Real Estate ?

Prices are down as bargain-hunters, cash buyers snap up deals.

South Florida's existing home sales skyrocketed in February as irresistible prices and low mortgage rates continued to win out over the deepening economic gloom.

Broward County sales rose 39 percent last month, to 500 from 360 a year ago, the Florida Association of Realtors said Monday. The median price fell 30 percent, to $214,400 from $307,700, meaning houses now cost what they did in 2003.

The region's housing slump lingers in its fourth year, and mounting foreclosures and short sales are expected to depress prices through 2009 and most likely into 2010. While today's sellers grimace at the plummeting prices, more affordable homes ultimately will help the market rebound sometime next year, analysts say.

Despite rising unemployment and tight credit, year-over-year home sales in Broward have increased for eight consecutive months as investors and first-time buyers scoop up distressed properties. But weak job security has many potential buyers still sitting on the sidelines hoping prices keep falling and the overall economy improves.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate nationwide was 5.13 percent last month, down from 5.92 percent a year ago, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. Last week, average mortgage rates dropped below 5 percent and are expected to stay there.

"There's still a pool of people who have the financial wherewithal to buy a home, and now they're saying this is the right time," said Brad Hunter, a housing analyst based in West Palm Beach.

Broward's existing condominium sales also were brisk in February, rising 27 percent from a year ago. The median condo price was down 39 percent to $85,800.

The increased sales activity for homes and condos is making a dent in South Florida's bloated inventory of properties for sale.

Broward County has 31,921 available homes, townhouses and condos, down 14 percent from the end of November, according to a report Monday from Condo Vultures, a Bal Harbour-based real estate consulting firm.

"All-cash buyers are spooked by the stock market, and a lot of people are looking for peace of mind, and that's in bricks and mortar," said Peter Zalewski, principal at Condo Vultures.

Terry Story, a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker in South Florida, said she's running out of homes to sell. On a recent weekend, she had 27 showings, nearly triple her normal amount.

"If you're a serious seller, and you price it right, the home will sell," Story said.

But many sellers who bought recently say they can't price their properties to make a profit or break even because they paid peak prices themselves during the housing boom of 2000 to 2005.

While there are plenty of homes to choose from, some people don't want to buy now because of the declining job market and the belief that prices will fall even more in the months ahead, said Liliane Weinstein of Lang Realty in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

"Buyers are still very hesitant," she said.

Got Florida Real Estate ?

Cathy Kusuma and her husband are like many potential buyers: eager to find a home but not able to take the plunge until they sell their existing property.

The Kusumas have a sales contract on their Margate townhouse and expect to close in May. Last week, they put in an offer on a four-bedroom Parkland house, but it's a short sale and they don't know whether the bank will accept their bid.

"Circumstances have to line up just right," said Kusuma, 31.

Homeowners who have to sell before they can buy again often are left in limbo for months or even years.

A few weeks ago, Scott Kerr, 55, made an offer on a Deerfield Beach townhouse, but it was contingent on being able to sell his Delray Beach house.

He eventually had to pull out of the deal because he couldn't find a buyer. "I'm stuck," Kerr said.

In Palm Beach County, existing home sales rose 33 percent in February, while the median dropped 34 percent, to $228,100. Across Florida, sales rose 20 percent, and the median price fell 29 percent to $141,900. National new home sales figures will be released on Wednesday. Builders are reeling, with more than 100 nationwide, including the legendary Levitt and Sons of Fort Lauderdale, having folded in recent years.

Hollywood-based TOUSA Inc., which filed for bankruptcy protection early last year, said Monday it's suspending efforts to generate new sales and will focus on completing homes under construction, selling its remaining inventory of speculative homes and liquidating its land assets over time.

"The existing homes are being priced so aggressively that it's undercutting the builders quite a bit," said Mike Larson of Weiss Research in Jupiter.

Got Florida Real Estate ?

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Short sales: A win-win or a minefield ? Call The Miami Short Sale Exprets 800-819-5466

Miami Real Estate Information

MIAMI, FLORIDA – Short sales are a financial tactic that appears only in real estate downturns. Such sales are supposed to be a win-win that gets the seller out of a tight spot, a buyer a good deal and the bank off the hook.

But what sounds like a logical alternative to the usual outcome of defaults - foreclosure - can be a minefield. Critics charge banks with being shortsighted and a menace to neighborhood home values. Banks say they have obligations to their investors. Some say inexperienced real estate agents forward irrational offers and incomplete paperwork, then expect fast miracles from their inundated staff members.

The result inside this real estate downturn has often been frustration for sellers, buyers and banks. Banks have been resistant, operating in a new financial landscape that requires permission from global investors and other parties. Many real estate agents simply avoid short sales, steering buyers to bank repos. And sellers have become frustrated by complications and 60- to 90-day timetables.

"We did everything we could do, to do the right thing, and we're not getting anywhere," said Chris Britton of Orangevale, Calif. He said he's waited five months for his lender to respond to an offer.

The lender, Bank of America, insists that he pay thousands of dollars in late fees, he said, for accepting a short sale.

Britton's real estate agent, Kathy Gheen of Fair Oaks, Calif., said it's unreasonable. Meanwhile, Britton's buyer waits. All agree the house is headed to foreclosure if nothing changes.

Agents who try short sales often accuse banks of being shortsighted, even harming the market.

Miami Real Estate Information

"If we could get to a point where a quarter of sales ... were short sales, we would see price stabilization more quickly. The neighborhoods would be maintained and the properties would not be invitations to crime," said Scott Thompson, partner in Mortgage Resolution Services in Carmichael, Calif.

Thompson, one of the Sacramento region's most successful short sale specialists, said banks too often ignore short sale offers, then lose $40,000 foreclosing and more selling the home in a declining market.

Bankers agree about foreclosure losses and say it may partly explain rising short sale numbers reported to the state.

But in places like California, where 78 percent of defaults end in foreclosure, according to DataQuick Information Systems, they say short sales are troublesome.

Miami Real Estate Information

"All the lien holders have to release it. It may be palatable to us. It may not be palatable to another lender. That's one of the realities of short sales. It's a practical legal reality that has to be met," said David Bradley, spokesman for Bank of America and its recent Countrywide acquisition.

Banks prefer loan modifications over short sales, said Robert Satnick, president of the California Mortgage Bankers Association. Freezing or lowering interest rates helps people who want to stay with the house. Short sales aim at owners who just want out. He also cited problems with incomplete short sale applications.

"The banks are inundated," he said. "If you give them an incomplete application, it's going to the bottom of the pile."

Pepperdine University finance professor Len Rushfield, a former bank president, said short sales may be rising but are still too much work for most banks.

"It's easier to foreclose. There's a direct process there," he said. "It may be financially a better result if you get it done through a short sale, but getting it done is the blockage."

What's the No. 1 secret to getting a short sale done successfully?

"The first thing is to contact your servicer and let them know you intend to sell," said David Knight, vice president for Wells Fargo & Co.'s default and retention division.

"In this challenging environment, if you let us know early, we can get things ready, go through the financials and get ahead of the offer. Then we can make a decision quickly."

Miami Real Estate Information

He said too often, people submit the entire packet with their first offer. Sometimes it's incomplete.

"If you have done your paperwork, you are significantly better off to benefit from the deal that comes in," he said.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Short sales: A win-win or a minefield ? Call The Miami Short Sale Exprets 800-819-5466

Miami Real Estate Information

MIAMI, FLORIDA – Short sales are a financial tactic that appears only in real estate downturns. Such sales are supposed to be a win-win that gets the seller out of a tight spot, a buyer a good deal and the bank off the hook.

But what sounds like a logical alternative to the usual outcome of defaults - foreclosure - can be a minefield. Critics charge banks with being shortsighted and a menace to neighborhood home values. Banks say they have obligations to their investors. Some say inexperienced real estate agents forward irrational offers and incomplete paperwork, then expect fast miracles from their inundated staff members.

The result inside this real estate downturn has often been frustration for sellers, buyers and banks. Banks have been resistant, operating in a new financial landscape that requires permission from global investors and other parties. Many real estate agents simply avoid short sales, steering buyers to bank repos. And sellers have become frustrated by complications and 60- to 90-day timetables.

"We did everything we could do, to do the right thing, and we're not getting anywhere," said Chris Britton of Orangevale, Calif. He said he's waited five months for his lender to respond to an offer.

The lender, Bank of America, insists that he pay thousands of dollars in late fees, he said, for accepting a short sale.

Britton's real estate agent, Kathy Gheen of Fair Oaks, Calif., said it's unreasonable. Meanwhile, Britton's buyer waits. All agree the house is headed to foreclosure if nothing changes.

Agents who try short sales often accuse banks of being shortsighted, even harming the market.

Miami Real Estate Information

"If we could get to a point where a quarter of sales ... were short sales, we would see price stabilization more quickly. The neighborhoods would be maintained and the properties would not be invitations to crime," said Scott Thompson, partner in Mortgage Resolution Services in Carmichael, Calif.

Thompson, one of the Sacramento region's most successful short sale specialists, said banks too often ignore short sale offers, then lose $40,000 foreclosing and more selling the home in a declining market.

Bankers agree about foreclosure losses and say it may partly explain rising short sale numbers reported to the state.

But in places like California, where 78 percent of defaults end in foreclosure, according to DataQuick Information Systems, they say short sales are troublesome.

Miami Real Estate Information

"All the lien holders have to release it. It may be palatable to us. It may not be palatable to another lender. That's one of the realities of short sales. It's a practical legal reality that has to be met," said David Bradley, spokesman for Bank of America and its recent Countrywide acquisition.

Banks prefer loan modifications over short sales, said Robert Satnick, president of the California Mortgage Bankers Association. Freezing or lowering interest rates helps people who want to stay with the house. Short sales aim at owners who just want out. He also cited problems with incomplete short sale applications.

"The banks are inundated," he said. "If you give them an incomplete application, it's going to the bottom of the pile."

Pepperdine University finance professor Len Rushfield, a former bank president, said short sales may be rising but are still too much work for most banks.

"It's easier to foreclose. There's a direct process there," he said. "It may be financially a better result if you get it done through a short sale, but getting it done is the blockage."

What's the No. 1 secret to getting a short sale done successfully?

"The first thing is to contact your servicer and let them know you intend to sell," said David Knight, vice president for Wells Fargo & Co.'s default and retention division.

"In this challenging environment, if you let us know early, we can get things ready, go through the financials and get ahead of the offer. Then we can make a decision quickly."

Miami Real Estate Information

He said too often, people submit the entire packet with their first offer. Sometimes it's incomplete.

"If you have done your paperwork, you are significantly better off to benefit from the deal that comes in," he said.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !

Bush team, Congress negotiate $700B bailout

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Miami – The Bush administration asked Congress on Saturday for the power to buy $700 billion in toxic assets clogging the financial system and threatening the economy as negotiations began on the largest bailout since the Great Depression.

The rescue plan would give Washington broad authority to purchase bad mortgage-related assets from U.S. financial institutions for the next two years. It does not specify which institutions qualify or what, if anything, the government would get in return for the unprecedented infusion.

Democrats are pressing to require that the plan help more strapped borrowers stay in their homes and to condition the bailout on new limits on executive compensation.

Congressional aides and administration officials are working through the weekend to fill in the details of the proposal. The White House hoped for a deal with Congress by the time markets opened Monday; top lawmakers say they would push to enact the plan as early as the coming week.

“We’re going to work with Congress to get a bill done quickly,” President Bush said at the White House. Without discussing specifics, he said, “This is a big package because it was a big problem.”

The proposal is a mere three pages long, but it gives sweeping powers to the government to dispense gigantic sums of taxpayer dollars in a program that would be sheltered from court review.

“It’s a rather brief bill with a lot of money,” said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the Banking Committee chairman. “We understand the importance of the anticipation in the markets, but we also know that what we’re doing is going to have consequences for decades to come. There’s not a second act to this – we’ve got to get this right.”

Lawmakers digesting the eye-popping cost and searching for specifics voiced concerns that the proposal offers no help for struggling homeowners or safeguards for taxpayers’ money.

The government must stabilize the financial system “because if we don’t, it will have a tremendous impact on American consumers, homeowners, taxpayers and the rest,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in San Francisco.

But, she added, “We cannot deal with this unless this bailout helps families stay in their homes.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. said, “We cannot allow ourselves to be in denial about the threat now facing the world economy. From all indications, that threat is real, and the consequences of inaction could be catastrophic. Every single American has a stake in preventing a global financial meltdown.”

The proposal would raise the statutory limit on the national debt from $10.6 trillion to $11.3 trillion to make room for the massive rescue.

“The American people are furious that we’re in this situation, and so am I,” the House’s top Republican, Ohio Rep. John A. Boehner, said in a statement. “We need to do everything possible to protect the taxpayers from the consequences of a broken Washington.”

Signaling what could erupt into a brutal fight with Democrats over add-on spending, Boehner said, “Efforts to exploit this crisis for political leverage or partisan quid pro quo will only delay the economic stability that families, seniors, and small businesses deserve.”

Bush said he worried the financial troubles “could ripple throughout” the economy and affect average citizens. “The risk of doing nothing far outweighs the risk of the package. ... Over time, we’re going to get a lot of the money back.”

He added, “People are beginning to doubt our system, people were losing confidence and I understand it’s important to have confidence in our financial system.”

Neither presidential candidate took a position on the proposal. GOP nominee John McCain said he was awaiting specifics and any changes by Congress.

Democratic rival Barack Obama used the party’s weekly radio address to call for help for Main Street as well as Wall Street.

His language reflected a tricky balance that politicians in both parties are trying to strike, just six weeks before Election Day: Back a plan that doles out hundreds of billions to companies that made bad bets and still identify with the plight of middle-class voters.

Besides mortgage help and executive compensation limits, Democrats are considering attaching middle-class assistance to the legislation despite a request from Bush to avoid adding items that could delay action. An expansion of jobless benefits was one possibility.

Bush sidestepped questions about the chances of adding such items, saying that now was not the time for posturing. “I think most leaders would understand we need to get this done quickly, and you know, the cleaner the better,” he said about legislation being drafted.

Treasury officials met congressional staff for about two hours on Capitol Hill on Saturday. Discussions centered on how the plan would work, and Democrats proposed adding the executive compensation limits and new foreclosure-prevention measures. Details of those changes were not available Saturday. Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson conferred by phone for about 20 minutes in the afternoon, gauging how the negotiations were unfolding.

Among the key issues up for negotiation is which financial institutions would be eligible for the help. The proposed legislation doesn’t make it clear, leaving open the question of whether hedge funds or pension funds could qualify.

In a fact sheet released Saturday night, Treasury said it was seeking latitude for the secretary and the Federal Reserve chairman to expand the bailout to non-U.S. companies if they determined it was necessary to stabilize markets, but the original request sent to Congress is limited to firms headquartered in the United States, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

The proposal does not require that the government receive anything from banks in return for unloading their bad assets. But it would allow Treasury to designate financial institutions as “agents of the government,” and mandate that they perform any “reasonable duties” that might entail.

The government could contract with private companies to manage the assets it purchased under the rescue.

Paulson says the government would in essence set up reverse auctions, putting up money for a class of distressed assets – such as loans that are delinquent but not in default – and financial institutions would compete for how little they would accept.

For more information regarding the above web Blog, please call Dean or Bonnie Isenberg at 305-936-2489 / 800-819-5466 or visit them on-line at A-Realtor.Com

Click Here To E-Mail The “I-Team”

Click Here To Request More Information About The Above Web Blog

South Florida Real Estate Information

Miami Real Estate Information

Sell Your Boat On-Line

Thank You !