Posted on 09/17/2012 8:26:53 AM PDT by jwsea55
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — To hear the National Association of Realtors tell it, if only banks had looser mortgage standards, another 700,000 homes would be sold and 350,000 jobs would be created.
That’s according to a release Monday from the trade association. NAR says between 500,000 to 700,000 more homes and between 250,000 to 350,000 new jobs would be created if standards weren’t too tight. There probably will be about 4.6 million homes sold this year, whereas the NAR says in “normal” circumstances some 5 million to 5.5 million would be sold.
The NAR points out that in the good ole days between 2001 and 2004, just over 40% of Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-backed loans had FICO scores over 740, compared to 75% in 2011. Even at the Federal Housing Administration, the average score for denied applications has grown to 669 from 656 for the loans originated in 2001.
Of course, real estate agents have all the upside (higher sales) and little of the downside (bad loans) to gain from looser standards.
In fact, the only way real-estate agents would suffer from looser standards is if things got so out of hand, that investors lost confidence in banks to such a large extent that a credit-led huge recession would materialize that would devastate the housing market.
But how likely is THAT going to be?
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
What is the worst that could happen?
I think realtors deserve to be in the worst circle of “hell” with lawyers and politicians.
One of the other pieces at Yahoo Finance is 2008 Financial Crisis Cost Americans $12.8 Trillion.
It seems like the people who most benefited and caused the original problem are the ones getting the bailouts from all this.
The Fed is, essentially, liberating money from the average person by depressing fixed asset investment rates so as to decrease the banks' borrowing costs so that the banks can improve their balance sheets.
as a Broker EX REALTOR, I have always resented these people. They are to Agents, what the AARP is to old people.
Just another group protecting their paycheck/commission/ss checks, nothing more. Can I include other National groups/trade organization in that scenario as well? Well, yes, yes as a matter of fact, I can.
Nationally Organized Thieves, all. I don't apologize for saying so either.
Just because it seems like most realtors would have no ethical foundation is reason to tarnish them with lawyers and politicians.
Sorry, thought the /s tag went without saying.
Huge disaster in the making if the banks start loaning to deadbeats again.
Thank God we have the tax payers to take care of it.
FANNIE MAE and FREDDIE MAC are now doing all the subprime. Excuse me, almost all subprime lending.
I did get the /s, too.
The market was over supplied to provide homes for affirmative action fraud. Realtors are right in that if the loan fraud does not resume, we will be in a state of over supply.
For investors this means - get out of real estate. It will be a cycle of crashes.
For investors this means - get out of real estate. It will be a cycle of crashes.
Unfortunately it is too easy to tar anyone or everyone involved in this disaster. I know a few honest realtors, a couple of honest mortgage brokers...that said, there was just so much greed in the entire process, including the people who bought homes that they could never afford.
I hear some friends blame those "poor" people situations (the buyers who were taken 'advantage' of) by mortgage brokers or realtors. If someone has nothing to lose and they are not worse off, how were they taken advantage of? Weren't they using the system, too? If they didn't know what they were signing, whose fault is that? Shouldn't they at least take time to find someone honest to deal with? I hear people say we should have tougher government regulation so this won't happen again?
Who was overseeing and promoting this entire debacle to begin with?
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