Free Republic

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander hopes to raise awareness about a program that could help thousands of Tennesseans. He says roughly 67,000 Tennessee homeowners with overdue mortgages could use "Hope for Homeowners" to refinance their loans. “HOPE for Homeowners" is a way for homeowners to refinance delinquent mortgages if their lenders agree to participate. This program is a good step toward boosting confidence in the housing market and helping preserve the American dream for the millions of people facing possible foreclosure,” says Alexander. His office says "HOPE for Homeowners" is a voluntary initiative to help distressed borrowers refinance their mortgages. It...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made an overnight change in the homeowner bailout he proposed at Tuesday’s presidential debate, making it more generous to financial institutions and more costly for taxpayers. McCain's staff says it was always meant that way. When McCain sprang his surprise idea at the start of the debate in Nashville, his campaign posted details online of his American Homeownership Resurgence Plan, which would direct the government to buy up bad home mortgages, allowing strapped people to keep their property. The document posted and e-mailed by the McCain campaign on Tuesday night says at the end of its...

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday outlined plans for the four biggest U.S. banks to issue new bonds to stimulate mortgage lending, the latest in a series of steps to aid the troubled housing market. Paulson outlined rules to issue so-called covered bonds backed by mortgage loans. The instruments are popular in Europe but had little appeal in the U.S. until demand for mortgage-backed securities plummeted because of soaring home loan foreclosures. C,JPM,BAC,WFC...have signed up to issue covered bonds, seen as less risky than mortgage-backed securities. "Covered bonds have the potential to increase mortgage financing...

HOME owners could be forced to turn their houses green before they can sell them under a proposal before the State Government. Planning Minister Justin Madden yesterday refused to comment on the proposal. The Master Builders Association wants laws to make it compulsory for owners of all existing homes to meet minimal environmental standards before they are allowed to sell them. The changes will cost each homeowner hundreds of dollars but the MBA says buyers of newly built homes are already being forced to meet five-star standards and they shouldn't be the only ones bearing the burden of helping the...

The U.S. Supreme Court created a huge political backlash when it ruled that local governments could use eminent domain to seize private property and transfer it to other private owners for "economic development." Since the Kelo ruling in 2005, 42 states have enacted limitations on eminent domain — not always effective ones. But like lawmakers in many other states, some California officials are trying to block real eminent domain reform. On June 3, Californians will vote on Proposition 99, a ballot initiative sponsored by groups representing cities, counties, redevelopment agencies and other pro-condemnation interests. It purports to protect property rights...

The number of properties with a filing...declined 5 percent from March. California had the most properties facing foreclosure at 64,683, an increase of 112 percent from April 2007. The number of properties declined less than 1 percent from March. The state posted the second-highest foreclosure rate in the country, with one in every 204 households receiving a foreclosure-related notice. California metro areas accounted for six of the 10 U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates, led by Merced, with one in every 66 households receiving a foreclosure notice.

In the community of Shady Grove Woods, trees are becoming more and more scarce. Residents and other anti-Intercounty Connector activists marched through the neighborhood on Saturday, pointing out the trees that were cut down to make way for the six-lane highway. ‘‘It’s just that we didn’t have a say in it in so many ways and we’re not talking about a two-lane road, we’re talking about a major highway running through here,” resident Sam Chim said of the ICC. ‘‘We have a lot of nice, private woods back here and now we’re going to have a highway running through instead....

NEW YORK (AP) — Giving a peek at a broader economic plan, Sen. John McCain is calling for federal aid for well-meaning homeowners with what he called "burdensome mortgages." "There is nothing more important than keeping alive the American dream to own your home," the likely GOP presidential nominee said in remarks prepared for a roundtable discussion Thursday at Windows We Are Inc. in Brooklyn. "And priority No. 1 is to keep well-meaning, deserving home owners who are facing foreclosure in their homes," the Arizona senator said. McCain on Thursday proposed a plan to offer deserving people the chance to...

Federal Reserve Report Shows Homeowner Equity Dipping Below 50 Percent, Lowest on Record NEW YORK (AP) -- Americans' percentage of equity in their homes has fallen below 50 percent for the first time on record since 1945, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. Homeowners' percentage of equity slipped to a revised lower 49.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007, the central bank reported in its quarterly U.S. Flow of Funds Accounts, and declined further to 47.9 percent in the fourth quarter -- the third straight quarter it was under 50 percent. That marks the first time homeowners' debt on their...

AUSTIN – Texas homeowners still pay far more for insurance than those in any other state, even after the overhaul passed by the Legislature four years ago that was supposed to lower rates. A new study from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners showed that the average annual premium in Texas for the most common homeowner policy was $1,372 a year, considerably more than the nationwide average of $764. Louisiana was the second-highest at $1,144 and Florida was third at $1,083. The premiums in all other states were less than $1,000.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, suggested Sunday that a tax break or other government financial help for homeowners facing the mortgage crunch would be the best political fix for the economy. He cautioned against meddling with home prices or interest rates to address the housing problem. Greenspan did not specifically call for a tax cut. Instead, he called for the government to apply money to the severe housing market slump. Such a cash infusion would typically come through a tax break or a new government spending program. "Cash is available and we should use...

For Immediate ReleaseDecember 7, 2007 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       Fact Sheet: Helping American Families Keep Their Homes      In Focus: Homeownership THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Today I want to talk to you about some important policies affecting taxpayers and homeowners this holiday season. On Thursday, the United States Senate passed a bill to fix the alternative minimum tax, or AMT. The AMT was designed to ensure that the wealthy paid their fair share of taxes. But when Congress passed the AMT decades ago, it was not indexed for inflation. As a result, the AMT's higher tax...

<p>The last politician who took advice from the bond market was Bill Clinton. When he pushed for a tax hike back in 1993 to cut the budget deficit, it was under the assumption that bond investors would respond by bringing down interest rates. (The theory here is that deficits are inflationary. Inflation is bad for bonds.) Yet long-term interest rates surged from 6.45 percent when Clinton signed his tax-hike bill on Aug. 10, 1993, to 8.16 percent on Nov. 7, 1994, the day before the midterm congressional election where Republicans won back the House and Senate.</p>

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- As the carnage widens from the subprime mortgage meltdown, Democratic presidential candidates are putting more emphasis on the plight of homeowners and calls for more regulation rather than on investors and falling financial markets.

CLAREMONT - There will not be a sequel to the mini-scandal known in some circles as "Flag-gate." Claraboya residents, many of whom were engaged in a fierce neighborhood dispute over tiny American flags during last year's Fourth of July season, have pledged to behave themselves this year. Tom and Nancy Telford, the two neighborhood real estate agents who planted flags last year in their neighbors' front yards with Nancy Telford's business card attached, left off the business cards this year, and mailed out a postcard to their neighbors giving them an advance opportunity to decline a flag. Last year, after...

Florida Senate Democrats have crafted a tax reform plan that would boost taxes for homesteaders, while cutting taxes for commercial property and second-home owners.

A 50-year-old principal was found naked in his school office while watching gay pornography on Tuesday, according to sources. Sex toys were found nearby, the sources added. Police said John Acerra was a longtime teacher and principal in the Bethlehem Area School District, but was also allegedly selling crystal meth out of his school office. Acerra, of Allentown, was the principal of Nitschmann Middle School in Bethlehem, and was arrested minutes after he arranged to sell the notoriously addictive drug to a police informant, according to investigators. Police arrived and found meth and drug paraphernalia on his desk, according to...

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A Louisiana federal judge has ruled many New Orleans homeowners whose houses sustained water damage after Hurricane Katrina are not excluded from coverage under their insurance policies, a judgment that represents a loss for the insurance industry. In an 85-page judgment, U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood Duval denied motions by some insurers seeking to stop policyholders from receiving claims they said were prevented by exclusion language spelled out in the policies. The insurance companies argued the industry standard wording for what constitutes a flood covers any inundation of dry land by water. But in his decision,...

We have complained repeatedly about the media's use of the term "secret prisons." The phrase was used by Dana Priest in a Pulitzer Prize-winning story to refer to places where suspected terrorist were briefly held. She compared them to the Soviet gulags. But President Bush has never confirmed their existence, and spokesman Tony Snow has made a point of saying that administration officials don't use that term when talking about the one-time secret CIA program of interrogating al-Qaeda terrorists. I think it's important to report what people actually say, and what has been confirmed, rather than what the media want...

Work with lender as soon as possible to avoid owing more than your house is worth. Sunday, November 12, 2006 In the next couple of years, a combination of rising mortgage interest rates and falling or slow-growing home value could plunge thousands of homeowners underwater. Being underwater means owing more than the house is worth. It's an especially risky situation for people with interest-only mortgages and pay-option adjustable-rate mortgages because they don't build equity unless they choose to. Some might be able to refinance or get through hard times by living frugally. Others will have to sell their houses. Still...

POMPANO BEACH, Fla., May 4, 2006 – Nearly 60 sailors worked to help take future homeowners' dreams one step closer to reality here yesterday. Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class John Mcinnis, a damage controlman aboard the USCG Cutter Elm, works with servicemembers from his ship and others to roof a house for Habitat for Humanity of Broward County, Fla. Servicemembers began working with Habitat May 1, and were to complete their participation May 4. Photo by Samantha L. Quigley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The sailors are assigned to various U.S. and Canadian military ships temporarily ported...

BURBANK – Chris James needed help moving a piano and three dozen boxes of records from his music studio, but instead of corralling some buddies he rented a truck and hired day laborers outside the local Home Depot. The two Guatemalan men finished the job in an hour and a half, hauling a piano and wedging a sofa into his condo, then stacking the boxes in a back room, for less than $40. It was first time James hired day laborers but it won't be his last. “Absolutely satisfied,” said James, 31. The No. 1 employers of day laborers, many...

"Where Judgeds Go When They Need A Real Advantage........Upon attending hearing of August 11, with Judge George Kreeger on an Emergency Ordor of a Motion to declare Judge Fudger's Order Void, due to his obvious lack of jurisdiction, we learned a new chapter........Violence begets violence. When the former Head of the Ga Republican Party's Law Firm targets a small family, .......... District Attorney Patrick Head, refused to meet with citizens when summoned twice. Could it be, DA head having met with Clerk....lack of Jurisdiction?

TAMPA - Before David Kelley went to Iraq, he bought his wife a "Support Our Troops" sign to display outside the couple's home in the Westchase subdivision. When Kelley, an Army private, went overseas in November, Stacey Kelley posted the sign outside their home. For her, the sign is a daily reminder of the sacrifice her husband and fellow soldiers are making. But officials of Westchase, in northwest Hillsborough County, view the sign differently. They say the 2-foot-high sign violates community rules. Stacey Kelley, 24, received a letter from the homeowners association last month stating she could be fined $100...

A Missouri couple say they were denied an occupancy permit for their new home because they're not married. Olivia Shelltrack and Fondray Loving have been together for 13 years and have three children, ages 8, 10 and 15, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The couple are appealing the occupancy permit denial from the Black Jack, Mo., board of adjustment, which requires people living together to have blood, marriage or adoption ties. Loving is not the father of Shelltrack's oldest child. I was basically told, you can have one child living in your house if you're not married, but more than...

CLEARWATER - Policyholders covered by Citizens Property Insurance Corp. pleaded with state regulators Thursday night to reject the company's proposed rate increase, saying it will force them to sell their homes. "I'm sick to my stomach," Pasco County resident Meghan Hulbert told officials of the state Office of Insurance Regulation at a public hearing on the rate increase. "I'm a single mom, and I may have to give up my home." Officials of Citizens, the state's insurer of last resort, said they are concerned about the rising rates. But they said it was a reality that Florida residents may have...

Unruly home owners face eviction Launching a barrage of measures to combat yobbish behaviour, he said the Government was consulting on a new "house closure order" to bring relief to those suffering from the "misery" of nuisance neighbours. This included "noise, constant visitors at all hours, rubbish and vandalism". It would empower the authorities in England and Wales to seal a property for up to three months, and evicted families would be rehoused in special residential units. Hazel Blears, the Home Office minister, confirmed the measures would apply to people with mortgages or who owned their homes outright, and would...

Congress, States Slow to Confront Kelo December 9, 2005 | | On June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court sent shock waves through the ranks of the nation’s homeowners and small businesses when it ruled 5 to 4 that government could seize property and transfer it to another private owner if the change in ownership might enhance the community through “economic development.” The case pitted the City of New London, Conn., against Susette Kelo, who fought the city for seven years to keep her home from being seized to make room for a major commercial development. Because the decision alerted families...

The Bravos were legal homeowners before they were legal residents. After nearly a decade living in a "dangerous" part of Richmond, the couple from Mexico City -- Guadalupe, 50, and Javier, 52 -- closed on a nearly $400,000 Pinole home in 2003. They had saved up money from years of cleaning homes and doing maintenance work, employed their daughter as an interpreter for their dealings with a real estate agent and found a mortgage lender that required only the tax identification number available to anyone who works in the United States. A growing number of banks are providing such loans,...

Despite fears in the marketplace about a U.S. housing bubble, about 60 percent of homeowners expect the value of their homes to increase by at least 5 percent annually during the next several years, according to an online survey of 1,001 American consumers. According to the survey findings, released by RBC Capital Markets, the corporate and investment banking arm of RBC Financial Group, 24 percent of respondents said they expect annualized gains of 10 percent or more over the next few years. About 3 percent of respondents said they expect their home values to decline over the next few years....

Association threatens $50 fine if pets urinate on grass Ruthie Dahlstrom has put her University City condominium up for sale. She decided to go because her dogs can't. The Legacy at Davis Lake homeowners association has threatened to fine Dahlstrom $50 every time her two Shih Tzus urinate on any common area, which includes all grass. Even the patch in front of her home. "It's ridiculous," said Dahlstrom. "Dogs have to do what dogs do. If someone reports me every time my dogs urinate, it will cost me $18,000 a month." The association's board approved the rule in July to...

The debate over the government's right to take private property prompted by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling hovers at the very doorstep of Jody Carey and Dennis Wood, who live in a 1,000-square-foot house at the edge of a canyon in City Heights. No sooner did they buy the property for $260,000 last year and spend $200,000 rebuilding it – complete with a built-in beer keg tap in the kitchen, two limestone-trimmed spa bathtubs and maple floors throughout – than they received a notice from a little-known agency that their home and 187 others nearby might be demolished. "It...

Homeowners and home buyers scored a rare... victory... when a three-person arbitration panel ruled unanimously that U.S. tariffs against imported Canadian softwood lumber violate the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).... [R]escinding the tariffs will reduce the average construction cost of a new home by about $1,000 and make about 300,000 more moderate-income Americans eligible for mortgages. Instead of hailing the move as a welcome step toward more affordable housing, the Bush administration insists that it won't lift the tariffs, which can reach as high as 27%. It further plans to engage in more stalling tactics by appealing the decision...

SACRAMENTO – A group of California lawmakers is trying to block the impact of last month's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that expanded the government's power to seize private property, a decision that was swiftly criticized by groups across the political spectrum. In the 5-4 decision, the nation's highest court ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses without their consent for private development. State Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Northridge, said the court ruling in Kelo v. New London allows governments to "take the house of a person that it doesn't like, and give it to a person that it...

Gov. Bill Owens signed a measure Monday that clamps down on homeowner associations after lawmakers heard horror stories about high dues and autocratic leaders who tried to oust dissidents by foreclosing on their homes. The measure (Senate Bill 100) requires associations to open their books and post notices of meetings and limits their ability to seize property. Owens said he signed the measure because lawmakers agreed to water it down. Owens said many people belong to the associations because they want their neighborhoods regulated. "It ended up doing some things good homeowners' associations already do," Owens told callers on KOA-AM...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryMay 14, 2005 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I'm pleased to report that we see new signs that the pro-growth policies we have pursued during the past four years are having a positive effect on our economy. We added 274,000 new jobs in April -- and we have added nearly 3.5 million jobs over the past two years. Unemployment is down to 5.2 percent, below the average rate of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. We have seen steady job gains during each of the past 23 months, and today more...

Deer play on fenced land near Spring above a huge underground reservoir holding the natural gas supply keeping Houstonians warm this winter. The large herd also allows Houston Pipe Line Co. to receive a special agricultural valuation on its property, saving the company $400,000 in taxes it otherwise would owe Spring Independent School District. In suburban Austin, a 1,757-acre ranch owned by Michael Dell has what Travis County appraisers call a "well-managed deer herd" that reduces the ranch's market value of $74.8 million to an agriculture value of $290,000. Dell, founder of the computer company that made him the second-richest...

A new report released by the National Academy of Science claims that while mold can be linked to upper respiratory tract symptoms in some individuals, there is little scientific evidence linking mold in buildings to serious health problems. The analysis, conducted by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in Washington, D.C., says available evidence does not support an association between interior dampness or mold and the wide range of other health complaints submitted to the institute. Yet, the report does go on to say that the possibility of a link cannot be ruled out. The institute's study reveals...

Dear dumber than rocks Citizens, Yesterday the Registrar of Contractors and I announced a new program that will pull the wool over the eyes of taxpayers and hide potential fraud in the Governors Office. The Neighborhood Ambassador Program is designed to stop taxpayers from knowing about fraudulent contracts and shoddy work by the Governors Office and about the pitfalls of Arizona voting in this fraudulent Governor. Many taxpayers are not aware that, in Arizona, Governors are required to protect the state. As a result, unscrupulous leaders such as Nappylotaxo, prey on unsuspecting citizens, particularly for giving away free services to...

Andy Sanders would like to build a new home on his 2.6-acre lot in Orangeburg, S.C. But he's afraid he couldn't afford the taxes. The property taxes on his small house have nearly tripled to $800 a year since he bought the home in 1997. The tax on a new house could exceed $3,000, and he fears it could rise to $4,000 or $5,000. "I can afford the house payment, but I'm afraid of the taxes," says Sanders, 29, who works at his father's tire dealership. For now, his family will stay in its old home, appraised at less than...

<p>Maricopa County supervisors on Monday agreed to spend up to $3.5 million on a consulting team that will oversee the transition of the county's health system into a new special health-care district.</p> <p>County officials did not seek the input of hospital administrators on the decision, a move some critics call unusual and say could signal significant changes.</p>

November 29, 2003 Apartment Glut Forces Owners to Cut Rents in Much of U.S.By DAVID LEONHARDT EMPHIS, Nov. 25 — Renting an apartment in much of the country these days can feel a little like waking up on your birthday. Waiting for the tenants in some building lobbies around Memphis every morning are free cups of Starbucks coffee. In the Atlanta suburbs, people who move into one garden-style apartment building receive $500 gift certificates to Best Buy, the electronics chain. In Cleveland, Denver and many other cities, landlords have been giving new tenants gifts worth $1,000 or more: one,...

Perry: A look beyond the headlines reveals Texas' bright future In Case You Missed It: November 11, 2003 Austin American Statesman November 11, 2003 In recent months, the Texas media have focused on political struggles, run-away legislators and budgetary challenges. I don't disagree that political disputes and disagreements are often news, but sometimes the coverage of negative news obscures the whole picture. So to borrow a line from Paul Harvey, it's time for Texans to hear the "rest of the story." Texas is creating jobs. Since September 2002, more than 44,000 net jobs have been created in Texas despite the...

State Farm, Farmers lose appealsTwo of state's largest insurers must begin mandated rate cuts08:36 PM CDT on Friday, September 12, 2003By TERRENCE STUTZ / The Dallas Morning News AUSTIN – Two of the state's largest insurance companies on Friday lost their appeals of state orders to significantly cut their homeowners rates in Texas, moving their customers a step closer to lower insurance bills. State Insurance Commissioner Jose Montemayor rejected appeals from State Farm Insurance and Farmers Insurance Group, the only two insurers that have not reached agreement with the state on a plan to reduce premiums. State Farm was...

(A gentle warning, this is a humble attempt at satire.) My uninformed guess is that supporters of "smart growth" and other environmentalists wouldn't be so enthusiastic if the end result of their activism was that their neighborhoods would not be kept free of lower-income residents. I know that I'm tired of seeing the Endangered Species Act abused to limit development of affordable housing for lower-middle class people by rich do-gooders. It always seems that when the neighboring platt is zoned for single family homes some endangered toad or bird becomes Priority Number One. The end result of this is that...

Sixth home shooting bloodies thief N. Memphis woman gives $200, then 2 shots from .32 By Bill Dries dries@gomemphis.com July 19, 2003 A woman gave a home invasion robber $200 before dawn Friday, then pulled a gun from her china cabinet and shot at him twice when the robber demanded even more money. Police found a trail of blood inside and outside the house at 906 Meagher in North Memphis and were looking for a suspect at local hospitals Friday. The shooting is at least the sixth incident since June in which a Memphis homeowner or resident has shot or...

Hard insurance market sparks lawmaker review By Jessica Lowell Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CASPER – State Rep. Del McOmie, R-Lander, got a curious letter not too long ago. In his mailbox came word from a national insurance company that it would not write him a homeowner’s insurance policy. He found that odd because he hadn’t asked the company to do that. And what’s more, his homeowner’s policy still has some months to go. McOmie, who had filed a hail damage claim on his home, contacted his insurance agent at the Burns Company. “He told me he knew there was...

<p>NEW YORK — Matt Dery of New London, Conn., has been fighting for almost six years to hold on to his property.</p> <p>Four homes sit on the land that has been in Dery's family since they moved from Italy in the 1890s, surviving even through the struggles of the Great Depression. Dery lives in one of the four homes with his wife, son and niece. His father and mother live next door. His mother, Wilhelmina, 85, has lived in her house for her entire life.</p>

Taxes hurt city, developers hear Building a Better Memphis By Christopher Barton cbarton@gomemphis.com November 8, 2002 Increases in the city and county property tax rates in the past five years have begun to take a heavy toll on economic development efforts in Shelby County, a Memphis Regional Chamber official said Thursday. Marc Jordan, president and chief executive officer, said some national developers have "redlined" Memphis out of consideration because the cost of doing business has become too high when compared with cities such as Indianapolis and Louisville. Jordan was among seven speakers at "Building a Better Memphis: The Role of...

"....."I called my independent agent in town. They said they couldn't find anyone to write it. She (the agent) said I would love to help you, but nobody's going to write you a policy with an open claim." Robin and Jim Lucas of Luling spent $30,000 fixing up the house her grandfather built in 1946. But last year, a leaking pipe caused substantial water and mold damage. The Lucases say their insurance company, State Farm, responded promptly to their claim and has paid them more than $300,000 for damage to the house, contents and additional living expenses. When they totaled...