20% down makes savers of spenders (National Post, 17 Jul 2008, Page P7)

I will be blogging on the issues raised in this article in the next day or so, but thought it was worthwhile noting this article. Some frightening stats and quotes.

---

20% down makes savers of spenders
BY BOB IVRY Bloomberg News
National Post
17 Jul 2008

NEW YORK • The U.S. housing crisis may accomplish what years of parental hectoring couldn’t: Turn Americans from spenders into savers. Spending will fall because homeowners can no longer use rising real estate values to borrow cash — US$837.5-billion...read more...

Tech Tags: National Post newspaper Financial Post

U.S. mortgage brokers fight back against proposals (National Post, 10 Apr 2008, Page P14)

I saw this article in today's National Post (it's probably in other papers as well, but that's the paper I have electronic access to). While I agree that there were cases of people getting the wrong mortgages, there is no indication in the article that there is a reason for the increased "yield-spread premiums."

People with 'bruised' credit are harder to place, and the lenders offer a higher finder's fee to the broker for placing these clients. An unintended consequence of such a change, I would think, is that it would be harder to get credit for these people. Shouldn't we be encouraging people to build home equity and re-establish their credit. (In Canada, anyway, people in this predicament would be required to put some of their own money down.)

---

U.S. mortgage brokers fight back against proposals
BY RUTH MANTELL Dow Jones
National Post
10 Apr 2008

NEW YORK • Plenty of parties share blame for the housing crisis, but one of the most maligned groups has been mortgage brokers, who critics claim pushed thousands of homeowners into expensive mortgages they should have never been given. New rules from...read more...

Related:
Washington shares blame for Bear Stearns collapse
Washington shares blame for Bear Stearns collapse
U.S. OVERHAUL COULD TAKE YEARS Overhaul would give U.S. Fed more power

Tech Tags: National Post newspaper Fp Property

All in the family

While I am collecting some information for a new posting on the variable mortgage outlook here in the GTA, I came across a posting on Slate that called out to be linked to. If you've wondered how companies were trying to dig themselves out from under in the U.S. mortgage crisis, take a look at http://www.slate.com/id/2188248/

It's a wonder they aren't the real estate agent as well.