Avoidable Financial Crisis

According the conclusions in a report by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, government failings as well as corporate greed & ineptitude by several financial institutions are the greatest contributors to what was an 'avoidable" disaster, the financial collapse of 2008. The Federal inquiry casts blame upon the Federal Reserve for allowing shoddy mortgage lending excessive packaging of loans in order to sell them to investors taking risky bets on securities backed by those loans. The report points blame to several financial institutions as well as the Fed.

Fault lies with Fed Chairmen Alan Greenspan for failing to stem the flow of toxic mortgages and Ben Bernanke for failing to foresee the crises calling the actions of both Fed Chairmen negligent. Treasury secretary Tim Geithner was also cited for failing to recognize signs of trouble while he was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

- “The captains of finance and the public stewards of our financial system ignored warnings and failed to question, understand and manage evolving risks within a system essential to the well-being of the American public." In one of the reports findings it quotes bank executives admitting that they paid little attention to risks or the inevitable consequence of those risks that the American public continues to suffer and endure. When housing collapsed, risky short term loans and assets collapsed resulting in financial chaos and panic.

The commission interviewed 700+ witnesses and will post the report online as well as transcripts of the testimonies.

George Sinacori 



Abacus Directory - Seo Friendly Web Directory

Short Sale or Foreclosure Seem To Be The Only Choice

Home foreclosures are accelerating. More than a year after the government launched HAMP (Home Affordable Mortgage Prevention) a program to aid financially distressed borrowers, many more are losing their homes.


Modifications now look like nothing more than a band aid, temporarily stopping the bleeding for a few. Eventually just about everyone who owns a home will either need to sell or will decide that it's beneficial to just walk. People are beginning to ask "is it worth sacrificing health and well being" in order to avoid losing a house. As the housing market continues to struggle, more and more are deciding that it's time to move on. After all if the market isn't going to recover any time soon it may be time for folks to begin considering their own personal recovery.

With foreclosures again on the rise many are attempting to move a property through a short sale whereby a seller will sell for less than what is owed on the mortgage. A tedious and complicated process because the first mortgage lender will decide how much they'll accept after all outstanding debts against the property are considered, including any HELOC or 2nd mortgage. A short sale requires that the property be listed with a Realtor and required documents must be submitted to the lender.

Foreclosure filings in March totaled 367,056, jumping nearly 19 percent from February and up almost 8 percent from March 2009, according to RealtyTrac.
It was the highest monthly total since January 2005, when RealtyTrac began issuing its reports.
Lenders repossessed nearly 260,000 properties in the first quarter – a record for any quarter, and a 35 percent increase from a year earlier, RealtyTrac said.


More than a year after the Obama administration launched its foreclosure prevention program, only 230,000 homeowners have gotten permanent modifications with lower monthly mortgage payments, (according to a report Wednesday by the Treasury Department) while more than 1.4 million homeowners received offers for trial modifications, which typically last for three months. A band aid.

The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is lagging well behind the pace of the crisis, and most homeowners in financial trouble will never receive help, according to a report this week by a congressional oversight panel.
For every borrower who avoided foreclosure through the federal program last year, another 10 families lost their homes, that report said.

For more info or for a complimentary consult please call or email me at 561-306-6736 or rebuygeorge@yahoo.com

Streamlining the Short Sale Process

Hoping to positively influence the nations housing market by shortening and simplifying the short-sale process, the Treasury Department released new guidelines for borrowers, lenders and loan servicers. Adding another acronym to its list of government-sponsored programs, (this one is called HAFA) Home Affordability Foreclosure Alternatives.

The new guidelines offer incentives to borrowers and loan servicers for utilizing a short sale in order to avoid foreclosure. Some of the key features of HAFA include:
- Seller / Borrower can recieve up to $1500. for relocation expenses
- Borrowers are fully released from any future liability for the debt.
- Treasury Dept. will share the cost of clearing junior liens from 2nd mortgage holders in order to help release any claim that may interfere with the short sale process.


According to the Treasury Department publication,
"The program will publish streamlined and standardized documentation, including a Short Sale Agreement and an Offer Acceptance Letter. Creating one standard set of documents that the industry can use is expected to minimize the complexity of these transactions and significantly increase use of the short sale option."

The property must be listed with a licensed real estate broker and no foreclosure action can take place during the marketing period as long as the seller/borrower is acting in good faith. There is a maximum marketing period of 1 year to ensure that everyone is moving as quickly as possible in order to accomplish the short sale. Currently expiration of the program is scheduled for Dec. 31 2012.

For a complete text of the Treasury Departments guidelines please call me directly at 561-306-6736 or email rebuygeorge@yahoo.com. You can also go to my website at http://www.ges-realty.com/

Taxpayers $700,000,000,000 Handout

"Wall Street" has never translated to "housing". Try as they may to make them synonymous it isn't so just because someone says it is or want us to believe it. Looking at the players in the current economic debacle, this madcap comedy of errors, I'm reminded how much the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve emulate a classic cartoon comic strip of old. Cartoonist Jeff Fisher's characters Mutt and Jeff were business men, almost smart enough to be con men. Mutt was tall and lanky, slightly bent forward while Jeff, his partner, was shorter, a stockier physical makeup and balding with a mustache and beard. I'll give you a moment here to visualize. OK! See any similarity yet? If not here's a link to Mutt and Jeff. Almost uncanny I think.

These two energetic little lunatics were always looking for the easy way to get something. They would attempt the craziest most hair brained schemes and act on them, believing that they couldn't or wouldn't fail. Mutt and Jeff were always surprised to be tossed on their butts, from wherever they were trying to sell their junk by much more sane level headed people.

Our Treasury Secretary and Chairman of the Federal Reserve however have achieved what the fictional Mutt and Jeff only aspired to. They've somehow convinced the most advanced, most sophisticated and supposedly most intelligent government in the world that they need $700,000,000,000. Is that enough zero's? Congress is busy running around convincing each other to vote one way or the other. The House and Senate have each already voted, one no and the other yes to give. What they've forgotten is that the real issue with the economy is still housing. How does Wall Street translate to housing? I just don't get it. A recent First Time Homebuyer tax rebate has not stimulated people to buy houses. A $300,000,000,000 FHA initiative designed to help refinance "troubled mortgages" has done little. Although that was made available only last week I don't see any rush on FHA refinancing. Federal takeovers of both Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac have cost us tens of billions of dollars and still banks and industry giants continue to fail under multi million dollar leadership.

Corporate greed, corruption and politics as usual have put us all on the edge of our seats waiting to see or hear whether or not Mutt & Jeff have made the ultimate score. A taxpayer handout to rescue Wall Street. What happened to rescuing housing? The aforementioned Homebuyer Tax Credit, FHA plan and Corporate bailouts were all initiatives of our Treasury and Fed leaders. These guys weren't thrown out like Mutt & Jeff, they just haven't worked. Hey here's another hair brained scheme. Give them $700B to try to bail out Wall Street. It may not work but heck if you guys are in a giving mood and your pockets keep getting deeper give it up. No guarantees, no need for oversight or regulation, Mutt & Jeff will let you know when it fails. In the meantime Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer keep watching and keep waiting. Something good may happen someday.

Like the more sane, level headed business minded people that kept throwing Mutt & Jeff out on their backsides, I want to remind everyone of a little word seldom used anymore when it comes to doling out billions of dollars in response to tantrums born of greed and overindulgence.

Just say NO. Say no to the Wall Street power brokers, say no to the corruption, say no to the partisan politics that have lead us to a dark place in our country's history and say No to any more Mutt & Jeff like schemes. Let the corporations and their overpaid CEO's wallow in not being rescued by taxpayers. Let's get the ball back on the court and concentrate efforts on straighten out the housing crisis.

Push the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, pressure banks to employ forbearance efforts for troubled borrowers, move forward with the already in place FHA reforms that as of Oct. 1 are available, and let's take a long look at the arbitrary actions of HELOC lenders in capping or eliminating lines of credit in order to accommodate their own selfish greed.

Mutt & Jeff my answer is NO !