11 million Americans are underwater in their mortgages.  That's roughly 1 in 4 homeowners.  How about another government bailout to help?

The Obama administration is pulling a lever or two so this nasty problem should be fixed just in time for the election, right?  Didn't they try something like this before or did that just not work last time?

There are several reasons why we believe it won't work this time either.  The Republicans will be blocking it.  Then there's that persnickety problem of exactly where will the money be coming from.

Here's the main article from Bloomberg, plus several more interesting takes we've found across the net.

Obama Wants To Expand Government Reach Of Federal Assistance …

Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the refinancing plan proposes “to get out of the hole we're in by digging deeper.” “He wants lenders to make more of the same risky loans …

Publish Date: 02/01/2012 17:52

http://newsone.com/nation/associatedpress6/obama-government-housing-assistance/

Geithner: More Fannie reform details in spring | Hot Penny Stocks

By Ronald D. Orol , MarketWatch WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Thursday discussed some of his goals for financial reform in 2012, including a plan to provide more details in the spring about the … He said the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie and Freddie's regulator, is “still open to examining the economic case” for reducing the principal owed by borrowers who have mortgages owned by the two mortgage giants.

Publish Date: 02/02/2012 16:33

http://www.hotpennystocks.co/wall_street/top_stories/geithner-more-fannie-reform-details-in-spring/

Related articles

• Why Fannie and Freddie are Hesitating to Help Homeowners (propublica.org)
• Obama wants Congress to act on expanded home refinance plan (usatoday.com)

Forbes has a slide show featuring properties across the nation which are selling for around $1 million.  Some of the cities are Phoenix, Nashville, San Francisco, New Orleans, and New York, or course.

I think what is interesting is how many days the properties have been on the market which is a good market gauge.

It is not surprising that your million dollars doesn't buy you much in San Francisco for example.  When you compare that property to the one from Dallas,  it's almost a no brainer.

Here's  the list of $1 million properties

Related articles by Zemanta

• Osama bin Laden's Abandoned Florida Mansion (neatorama.com)
• In San Francisco, Shopping 3 Big-Ticket Properties (dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Mansion squatters return in a big way (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

• Internet Network Marketing - Using Zemanta Video Tutorial Internet Network Marketing Strategy! Image via CrunchBase There are many tricks and shortcuts you can use in your internet network marketing business.  Recently I stumbled upon something that is really cool and totally free Called  Zemanta. There has been a buzz about social networking. Probably by now you have heard......
• Make More Money With These Affiliate Marketing Tips If you still haven't gotten used to affiliate marketing, use the following tips to really boost your business and enhance your profits. {Whether|Regardless of whether|Whether or not|If perhaps} you {want|would like|intend} to target a {niche|specific niche market} {like|such as} {video marketing goldmine|video marketing goldmine|video marketing goldmine|video marketing goldmine|video marketing goldmine......
• Real-estate Hosting - Don't Overpay! Recently, I d been using WordTracker.com to see which "real estate property website" phrases get searched quite often through Google, Yahoo and similar major search engines. It surprised me that the phrase "property web hosting" and also the longer "real-estate internet page hosting" were two of the most commonly searched......
• Top 3 Places to Buy Coins When Looking for a Deal Having a coin collection is something which more and more people are getting into every year. This is because it is fun and it can be quite profitable when you get a good deal on a coin. This is because some coins can be worth nothing more than the face......
• Obama at Home After Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Image by Nick Bygon via Flickr Well here at home our good weather has changed to the cold we have been expecting and I woke up to a chilly 15 degrees.  But, it is a lot worse elsewhere so I can not complain too much. Presidedent Obama heades home......

Case in Point:  I have an old house with several tenants.  One tenant  has been very quick to ask for things he really doesn't need.  In fact, at times he has demanded we fix things we don't have the budget for.  How to handle a tenant like this without him moving?

Here's what we did and so far the psychology  is working. 

He has a little garden that has costs much higher water bills.  Unfortunately, all the tenants share the same water meter.  We can't change that, and that is a different subject for a different post.

We explained the water bill to him and told him we had checked the entire property for any leaks.  We think the extra $150 jump in the bill was coming from his garden.

"What?  I don't water that much."

To summarize we had all our facts and figures to present to him.  We know exactly what the averages are for the water per unit per month.  Math is math and really isn't easy to dispute, no matter how hard people sometimes try.

He tried to blame it on some of the other tenants, but we were ready for that argument also.  In other words, we had done our homework.  We know what they use too.  We were ready to go to "court". 

In the end, he saw it our way, but it took some patient convincing.    He had tried to "ask" for a new kitchen floor.  We explained to him he was not in a position to negotiate anything.  Times are hard, we told him.   Besides, we reminded him, he is paying $50 less rent per month than he should be paying. 

"We may need to do up on the rents," we said.

He is getting rid of the garden.  Case closed. 

Take Away:

1. Do your homework.  Make sure you have all your facts and figures before you approach a tenant about anything.  You will be a force to reckon with when you are armed with knowledge.  Knowledge really is power, and even your dumbest tenants will know that.

2. Be nice.  You don't have to get rough with them.   Keep the dialogue open but let them know you won't be bullied.  Adult bullying is no different from kid bullying.  Don't let them take the first punch.

3. Be confident.  Let your tenants know you are running a business.  

Related articles by Zemanta

• 51 Blog Posts Written by Landlords about Nightmare Tenants(rentersinsurance.org)

• To Heck with 2008 - Bring On 2009, and My Resolutions 2008 sucked!  The only folks who seemingly made any money last year were the bankruptcy lawyers and the uber bears that shorted the market.  Like most, I'm welcoming the new year a little more than usual. That said, most of us have the pleasant (or foolish) belief that a new year brings new hopes......
• How To Avoid Paying $900/Month For Your iPhone If you reached this site with questions about AT&T, I can help you. I can help you get free minutes, free text messages, and your cell phone bill reduced, even if they are legitimate charges. Just send me an email, I'll respond quickly and we'll get any unnecessary charges removed.......
• Four Tips to Make your Money go Further If you're a regular reader, you know that I'm almost always trying to make my money work harder. Sometimes I have personal stories about my quest for a cheap smartphone plan and other times I have more generic tips on how to save save money. Despite all this, I'm not......
• Shopaholic Takes Manhatten Shopaholic Abroad a.k.a. Shopaholic Takes Manhatten was the fifth book I read for my book challenge. This sequel is just as funny as the first with no loss of charm, wit or sheer hilarity. Despite getting herself back on a fiscal even keel at the end of the last outing, Becky just......
• Where I Stand on My Resolutions - 2nd Quarter Well, that's it, the year is nearly half over.  The summer is here (I hope it's a cool one, as I don't care much for the heat), and with it, it's time to look back over my goals for the year and see how I'm doing on completing them.  I......

Those are the questions being asked since the Federal Reserve came out proclaiming it would continue to keep the bank's rates to zero, for a while anyway.

Kansas City Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig is dissenting with the policy.

Read Hoenig Says Rates Dangerous

XE.com – MONEY MARKETS-Interbank dollar rates fall on Fed economy view

on U.S. interest rates. Minutes of the June 22-23 Fed meeting released on Wednesday. showed officials wanted to be ready to consider additional. steps to boost the U.S. economy if an already softening outlook …

Publish Date: 07/15/2010 12:49

http://www.xe.com/news/2010-07-15%2013:49:00.0/1276889.htm

Pimco's Gross: Fed won't raise rates for at least two years …

Pacific Investment Management Co.'s Bill Gross said the Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise interest rates for two to three years as it seeks to keep the economy from slipping back into recession.

Publish Date: 08/13/2010 6:59

http://www.thetradingreport.com/2010/08/13/pimcos-gross-fed-wont-raise-rates-for-at-least-two-years/

Fed official sees bigger risks in future, not now | The Daily …

One of the many challenges of being a Fed official is having to make decisions on interest rates and other policies actions now — based on your best thinking of what the future will hold. When James Bullard, president of the Federal …

Publish Date: 08/13/2010 11:25

http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/13/fed-official-calls-low-rates-a-dangerous-gamble/

Who will fix the economy? The Fed, Congress, shoppers and …

Typically, the Fed can lower interest rates to encourage Americans to borrow money and spend it, invigorating the economy. But the benchmark interest rate controlled by the Fed has been almost zero for more than a year now. …

Publish Date: 08/13/2010 16:15

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nation/who-will-fix-the-economy-the-fed-congress-shoppers-and-businesses-all-shrug-100638024.html

Related articles by Zemanta

• Fed economist: US must avoid mistakes of the past (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• UPDATE 1-Fed's Hoenig-Keeping rates too low 'dangerous gamble' (reuters.com)

• Default Rate: It's Not Just If a Loan Defaults, But When I had a very interesting email exchange with RGF.  (I emailed him after using his forum posts in articles last week). Here is a portion of that email exchange on default rates over time and their affect on yield. RGF: Default rate:  It's not just if a loan defaults, but......
• Compound Interest Week: Real Interest Rates of High-Interest Saving Accounts On Monday we learned about how long it took to double your money at various interest rates. Yesterday, we learned that in order to come up with the real rate of return we need to subtract inflation. Personal Finance bloggers love to write about about high-interest savings accounts. As of......
• So Long Annaly Capital! In October 2008 I bought Annaly Capital Management (NLY)  at around $13.  Annaly Capital is a REIT that buys mortgage-backed real estate securities that are essentially guaranteed by the government via GSEs (or government sponsored agencies). According to Google finance "it owns mortgage pass-through certificates, collateralized mortgage obligations, agency callable......
• Prosper People-to-People Lending Market Survey San Francisco – October 9, 2007 – Prosper (www.prosper.com), America’s largest people-to-people lending marketplace, today released its September People-to-People Lending Market Survey.  Prosper’s People-to-People Lending Market Survey provides key statistics and a market commentary by Chris Larsen, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Prosper.   Prosper’s People-to-People Lending Market Survey......
• The Rule of 72, 114, and 144 This is a guest post by Dax Desai. I write at a self-named blog about daytrading, financial planning, and small business issues, and whatever invades my mind at the moment. I was interested in doing a guest post at this blog and when I saw he was going on vacation......

Thanks to the Trouble Assets Relief Program some states will be receiving mortgage payment relief.

This is almost unbelievable.  Where will all this money come from?  

The government feels the mortgage crisis has now reached the middle class or those folks who used to be able to pay their bills.

Here's another suggestion.  Holding on to a job might be the best way to pay off a mortgage.  People are losing their jobs so therefore they lose their homes.  What people need most now are jobs.

Here's more information

• Personal Finance Equations You Should Know: the Cash Flow Equation Paying bills is a fact of life. We all have them, and we're required to pay them. Otherwise, after a few months of not paying them, you'll probably find yourself sitting in a cold, dark house with no electricity, no water, and probably not have a house/apartment to sit in......
• Tips For Obtaining A Condo Mortgage Loan With A Low Credit Score Finding a way to obtain a condo mortgage loan can be difficult as there are many people searching for the loans and not many lenders offering them.  Obtaining mortgage loans with a low credit score has become difficult as many lenders have raised interest rates and discontinued some of the......
• Personal Finance Equations You Should Know: the Leverage Ratios If you're a believer in The Stuff You Own Ends Up Owning You philosophy, it's only natural that you should spend a few minutes of every month actually calculating how much, if any, that you're leveraged and how much of income goes solely to repay your debts. Yes, I know......
• The Benefits And Downsides Of Jobs Online The WORK AT HOME sensation has grown to be popular to many people in recent times. JOBS ONLINE have grown among the list of effective tactics to make cash while you are functioning from their home. The online jobs nowadays are the biggest motivator for people who desire to start......
• My Job Now Has People Asking If We Want to Do Some MLM Photo Credit: The Wandering Angel It's Monday again and I'm getting ready for work later today.Friday I found out that some people had been asked other employees (including a manager) if they would like to join a business opportunity to earn some extra money on the side. It involves......

Housing sales took a nose dive in July, according to the numbers crunch.  I'm using Nashville as an example because that's the real estate market I am directly involved in and I know it all too well.

The last year has been very difficult for us as landlords.  We've had a huge turnover in tenants; much larger than usual.  We're still getting 30 day notices, which is very strange for this time of year.  Usually, the season starts to wind down along the middle of August.

The article from the Tennessean sums it up.  The Obama tax credit for first time homebuyers is gone.  The article further points out  those  new homebuyers have already bought.  That means houses were sold earlier this year and sales are not being spread out over the remaining months of 2010.

I won't criticize the Obama tax credit.  I've already done that ad nausium.  But I will say this.  You can't keep on interfering with the markets.  I don't think you can tweak and play with the real estate market, or any market for that matter without causing further damage. 

The important thing is to look to the future.  What can we expect?  More of the same, perhaps?

I am guessing there won't be any more stimulus for first time buyers.   It will go the way of the clunkers for cash program, thank goodness.   What I do see as a possibility is that the Team Obama will now turn to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae distressed homeowners and will give them some sort of bailout.  I didn't think that was conceivable a few weeks ago.  I now know anything can happen with this White House.

That will be cataclysmic.  Homeowners who are paying off their mortgages will think it isn't fair and why should they keep on struggling?  One suggestion is to bring hope and change to Freddie and Fannie in the form of a complete makeover.

Still, I'm generally optimistic.  I think once we're past the New Year, things will improve.  Real estate will make a comeback.  It always has.  That is what keeps me going.  I know the cycle will turn.  But I think the government ought to leave these markets alone now and let the chips fall where they will. 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Pending Sales of Existing U.S. Homes Decreased 2.6% in June (businessweek.com)
• Freddie Mac Post Huge Loss, Wants 1.8 BILLION In Federal Aid (huffingtonpost.com)
• Gov't likely to keep big mortgage market role (sfgate.com)
• Fannie Mae Seeks $1.5 Billion in Aid as Loss Narrows (businessweek.com)

• Investing Strategies for Good and Bad Markets Have you noticed that the internet is full of articles that have a lot to say but they don’t get down to the nitty-gritty? Many of those well-meaning articles don’t understand that what you’re looking for is truly actionable steps. What should you do when you believe that the market......
• Brief Clarifications On Internet Marketing So what is internet marketing? Internet marketing is using the Internet as a tool to look for a product or products, examining that products or product competition or competitors. Then depending on this research using the Internet as an advertising and or marketing path to endorse and sale a definite......
• Questions To Ask Your Financial Planner..... Greetings from the metropolis of Cedar Crest, NM! Today's post comes from a question from a friend of mine.  It is a detour from real estate, but like most of us, we have investments in different types of vehicles....stocks and mutual funds for example.  So...I thought this may be......
• Home Prices Continue to Fall CNN has an article about The National Association of Realtors saying that home sales dropped 8.6% in November. That's a pretty steep drop for just one month. What I take from that is that this may be one of the best times to buy a home. Buyers have not only......
• Mini Sites Vs. Authority Sites - Which Is Better? Mini sites and authority sites represent two alternative online marketing models, and not everyone understands the real differences. Inexperienced internet marketers often don't know the difference or have trouble choosing between these alternatives. Among the many considerations that are involved, you can't ignore Google's algorithms when it comes to ranking......

Dean Gardens, Atlanta's pink elephant mansion has finally sold after being on the market for a whooping fifteen years.

The Pepto Bismal Pink colored manse sold finally with a $25 million price slash.  The house will be demolished soon.

It's 32,000 square feet of, well, unique decorating. The nursery  actually looks somewhat sinister to me.  Kind of reminds me of an old department store here in Nashville where they had carousel horses floating all over the place.

Reasons for selling?

"The operating expenses far exceeded my expectations," says home seller Larry Dean.

Yep, some real estate investments are like that.

Read more about Atlanta's Pink Elephant 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Atlanta's Pink Elephant Finally Sells, $25 Million Off (blogs.wsj.com)

• Vulture Investors Love the Real Estate Bubble & the 50% Plus Discounts For vulture investors, the real estate bubble is about to become an all you can invest eat buffet. As a vulture investor myself, I'm finally beginning to see some additional capitulation in sellers (and bank owned REOs) lowering their asking price to meet lower demand. Case in point: a 3BR/2BA......
• Making Your Money Back: Similarities between the Tech Bubble and the Housing Bubble This post is a summary of a private discussion I've had with reader Josh regarding my post on spotting investment bubbles. He asks: When could I reasonably expect my Atlanta condo to be worth what it was 4 years ago when I bought it? I thought the discussion and similarities......
• Investing in Canada's Real Estate Market With the Bank of Canada holding interest rates at 0.25%, some are saying that Canada's housing market is overheating.  Housing starts are up 21% over 2008 and building permits are up 18% (which are forward-projections). At the very least, it is a sign of the strength of the Canadian housing......
• Housing Update From WSJ Todays WSJ had a decent article on housing, 'Housing Glut Gives Buyers Upper Hand'. Seems like certain parts of the country are in for a bumpy ride. Here are some excerpts.*A quarterly survey of housing conditions in 28 major metropolitan areas by The Wall Street Journal showed that the inventory......
• Stocks vs. Real Estate May's Money Magazine tries to answer the Stocks vs. Real Estate question (see page 94). I had thought that real estate was going to come out the big winner. I know that real estate has been really popular of late, but I had it as the favorite due to the......

What does this mean?

We believe it's political.  He's trying to aid distressed homeowners who got on the wrong side of the real estate cycle.  But hey, people do that all the time.   They over invest or they invest in the wrong real estate at the wrong time.  Does that mean our tax dollars should be used to bail them out?

Most importantly, exactly where will this money be coming from?  They're having to look underneath the couch cushions now for coins.

Read Obama's  Freddie/ Fannie Bailout

Related articles by Zemanta

• Conservatives Already Slamming Obama Over Rumored Fannie And Freddie Mortgage Giveaway (businessinsider.com)
• Treasury Denies Talk Of Massive Homeowner Bailout (businessinsider.com)
• An Even Bigger Gigantic Bailout from the Obama Administration? (yzerfonteinchronicles.blogspot.com)
• Fiscal Stimulus, Executive Branch Style (wallstreetpit.com)

• Real Estate Investing in El Paso, Texas Greetings from El Paso, TX. Wow....it is hot down here! El Paso, TX is where I grew up. My family is still here and so are many of my investments. One thing that is very interesting and exciting about El Paso is that it is a growing economy. That is......
• Things to Consider Before Investing in Real Estate This post was written by Tony.  Real estate is a great investment, because as Teddy Roosovelt once said “you should buy land; they’ve stopped making it.” It’s a great uber-long term investment. But like any good investor, you need to realize a few important points before jumping into the......
• Commercial Real Estate - What Asset Types Are Best To Invest In? Apartment Buildings Mini-Storage/Self-Storage Senior Housing Raw Land Entitled Land, Ready-To-Build Office Buildings Mobile Home Parks Campgrounds/RV Parks Car Washes Ground Leases (With a business on the land owning the building it occupies - a common model for fast food franchises) Hotels Golf Courses Entertainment Centers (mini golf, go carts,......
• Rental Demand Rising: Balance Returning to Real Estate? One of my most important metrics for jumping back into the real estate investing game is on the rise: apartment demand is finally showing signs of life. With millions of families switching from being homeowners to renters, apartment-building values have soared. That isn’t good for renters, who enjoyed falling rents,......
• Housing Update Interesting update on some markets from the Real Estate Journal. Utah homes worth their salt Utah apparently has missed the news about the end of the housing boom, with median selling prices on the way up. For example, Utah County's Alpine area saw median selling prices rise 57.2% to $529,000......

The trend is that people will be moving closer to cities-again.  They will not be locating farther away in the suburbs because of higher gas prices and expenses.  Baby boomers want to be closer to what they need.  They do not want to drive everywhere.  Younger people want the neighborhood experience instead of the big lawn, super maintenance of the burbs.

That means savy real estate investors need to pay close attention to these trends.  This is very important because location is everything.  The younger generations want to connect more- and they want to do a lot of it on foot.  They want to be able to walk around and see their neighbors. 

Baby boomers will be driving less and want to be able to get groceries and supplies without getting into their cars. 

Drive around the outskirts of your city and notice the rehabbing going on in the closer neighborhoods.  If a coffee shop has already opened up, you may be already behind the trend.  Look, observe and then invest in houses that need rehabbing- easy rehabbing.  Or if zoned right, you could just tear down a old house and build a new one or two on the lot.

Read ABC's Special Report: Real Estate Investors Investing Closer to Cities

• What is Debt Leverage? Leverage is a term that is often used synonymously with debt, and for this reason, it is important that people come to understand what debt leveraging actually means, and how it works in an ordinary financial transaction, such as buying a home for example. Let us suppose that you are......
• Free audio on how to build wealth investing in commercial real estate Greetings! Below, I have some interesting links regarding 1) the impact of the economy on commercial real estate 2) Real Estate investing vs. stocks 3) Job growth or lack of. We are coming up on interesting times.....opportunities abound! Anyway.... I was going through my email tonight and read an email......
• When Will Real Estate Investors Get Government Stimulus Funds? Many, dare I say most, people believe that real estate investors caused the real estate bubble. At the risk of upsetting the entire mainstream and non-real estate investing crowds, I don't believe this is the case. Why? Because few people seem to be realize is that the real estate......
• Getting Started in Commercial Real Estate on Your Own and Without the Sales Pitch Greetings!  My blog just got hijacked.  I wonder how that happens.....well....I guess the bright side is that the "blog terrorist" felt this blog was getting enough traffic to hijack.  Well....for those of you that had to endure the nonsense....I apologize.  I wish I could tell you it would never happen......
• How to Become a Real Estate Investor Real estate is a great investment option. One could buy a house, work on it or rent it out, and watch their initial investment double. Real estate can be quite valuable, especially if people buy the right kinds of places. With careful thought given to property types and funding options,......

Fannie is taking them to the wood shed, so to speak and it is probably about time.

Borrowers who are walking away and could have paid the mortgage will be held accountable for their actions.

Punishment:  They won't be able to get future insured mortgages.

Get tough politics? Common sense, if you're asking.

However, another sticky point arises.  How can the government really determine who could have paid vs who didn't?

It gets curiouser and curiouser as Alice would have said.

Read Fannie Mae get tough on 'strategic mortgage defaults'

• Cartoon Capitalism I'm often extremely pessimistic on the state of the US economy. In public settings my doom and gloom predictions seem to depress people so I tend to restrict my rants solely to my blog. So it makes me happy when I read an article that agrees with my thoughts on......
• Saving Money with a Government Loan Option Buying a home is part of the American dream. For more than half of a century, Americans have been set on finding homes to hang their hats. Owning a home is a sign of stability and pride. However, financing a home can be a nightmare that interrupts the American dream.......
• More signs of the bottom behind us We are now over 28% above the March 9 bottom in the S&P, one of the best run ups since the depression. A bear rally? Maybe, but obviously, all data appears in hindsight, and only when that bottom is well behind us and we are obviously in a growth cycle,......
• Is paying my mortgage off a financial priority? By Analyst: Emma Barnes Juggling all your household expenses: Establishing what your financial priorities are around the home as a property owner is an essential part of managing your money in an effective way. From meeting the mortgage repayments on time to making sure the funds are in place to......
• Debtor's Remorse, Visualized Some seriously scary underwater homeowner chartporn via Bloomberg Businessweek. Finance people and math geeks (like me) plot these types of XY graphs in their head without thinking about it, which is probably why we avoid debt like the plague, but if more people could close their eyes and visualize just......