H.U.D. to Blow More Air Into the Real Estate Bubble

[Phaedrus]

HUD Program to Help with Down Payment

(Associated Press)

WASHINGTON -— Families that can afford a monthly mortgage payment but do not have enough money for a down payment on a home can apply for assistance through a government program that got under way Wednesday.

The Housing and Urban Development Department will distribute over $161 million to state and local agencies as part of the program. It is intended to help first-time home buyers defray the costs of the down payment and closing costs.

Grants will be worth up to $10,000 or 6 percent of the purchase price of the home, whichever is greater. The money can also be used to rehabilitate the property.

"These dollars will help first-time home buyers with the single-greatest obstacle tohomeownership," HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said at news conference with several congressional Republicans.

Jackson said the program may especially help more minorities become homeowners. Almost 69 percent of U.S. residents own their homes.

For the first time, the homeownership rate for all minorities is just over 50 percent, Jackson noted. Specifically, just under 50 percent of blacks and Hispanics own their homes. The rate for whites is over 75 percent.

Supporters say the program could help up to 40,000 low-income families.

 

[Oceans11]

So is it really a bubble?

Are you in that bubble?
I am.(UK bubble)

When does the bubble burst?

Whe 50 to 75 year mortgages appear according to Japan.
A better investment than a pension, stick your cash into something tactile and finite, like property.

Alternatively, you can take the 401k(is that right?) and Unit Trust route (UK).
I worked in that industry for years.
At the last crisis, already vastly reduced funds had their exit fees increased to 15%, 20% and 25% of your fund value.

The Argentinan Government 'swapped' $$ accounts to Pesos overnight when things got tough there.
Now $$'s are no longer put into bank accounts.
http://forum.therx.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=100090022&f=9103084407&m=960107741

Think about it.
Do you want 'them' in charge of the results of 'your' graft.

[This message was edited by eek on June 05, 2004 at 12:47 AM.]

 

[WildBill]

I personally don't get why the government thinks it is their business to make everyone a homeowner. In this day and age of mobility and people moving away from their hometowns more than ever, the whole idea of encouraging buying a home seems counter-intuitive. Not to mention the whole thing has gotten so speculative and the truth so covered up that basic economics dictates that home prices come down. Any economist will tell you when the rents are far lower than what the home payments are, then that is a bubble that has to be corrected. Even more ridiculous is when I tell someone their house costs them what they pay for it in a mortgage less their tax benefit, they call me an idiot and say "no I don't pay anything because I am making a lot of equity in this". Yeah whatever, just like Amazon was going to be bigger than Walmart by 2005 right?