Free Republic

Demand for California’s new downpayment assistance program overwhelmed the system and depleted its $300 million budget in less than 12 days, with applications put on pause effective April 7, according to the housing finance agency.The legislator responsible for proposing the program responded optimistically to the news. “It is incredible and inspiring to see that the launch of the California Dream for All program has already been so successful,” Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said in a statement April 14. “The fact that it has helped more than 2,400 first-time homebuyers with their down payments in its first...

Left-wing billionaire mega-donor George Soros donated $408,000 in 2016 to a super PAC that supported Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, whose office prosecuted — and dropped — the Jussie Smollett case. In a shock announcement Tuesday, prosecutors dropped all 16 felony charges against the left-wing Hollywood actor, whom police had accused of faking a hate crime in January that he blamed on racist, homophobic white Trump supporters. Foxx had formally recused herself from the case in February because she had spoken with Smollett’s family. The Chicago Tribune later reported that Foxx had asked police to turn the case over...

WASHINGTON — Mortgages with low down payments can be just as safe if other underwriting conditions are met, a federal housing regulator said Tuesday. Mel Watt, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, was testifying in front of the House Financial Services Committee, after Fannie Mae FNMA, +0.47% and Freddie Mac FMCC, +0.47% both started making mortgages available to those who make down payments of just 3%. That has raised the ire of Republicans, who say the move risks a repeat of the housing bubble. “All things being equal, is a 3% down loan riskier to the taxpayer than...

What could go wrong? From the Washington Independent: “Buy new with $1,000 down,” the advertisement says, the words resting atop a trim green clapboard house offset by a bright blue sky. “The time has come. Stop wasting rent check after rent check and start building equity in your own home. And with only $1,000 down, affordable monthly payments and no private mortgage insurance required, the dream is closer than you think.” It sounds too good to be true. But it is true. This offer does not come from a subprime lender, looking to reel in thousands of unqualified and ill-advised...

The Senate today rejected a proposal by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., to impose a minimum 5% down payment for virtually all home mortgages. The amendment to the broader financial regulatory overhaul bill, which failed 42-57, would have required income verification and an assessment of borrowers’ ability to repay as well. Corker’s proposal also would have stripped out a provision that required financial firms securitizing loans to keep a 5% portfolio risk.

Despite stark disagreements about benchmarks for an aid package proposed by President Obama, the U.S. pledged $1 billion to Pakistan at an international donors conference in Tokyo on Friday — a "down payment" for billions more to be sought in Congress. Envoy Richard Holbrooke, whose trip to Pakistan with Adm. Mike Mullen last week produced protestations about strings attached to proposed aid, announced behind closed doors the development and stabilization pledge, which will be spread over two years. The uses for the aid will be determined by the International Monetary Fund. Pakistan had turned to the IMF last fall when...