Rep. Barney Frank asks Fanny/Freddy to ease lending standards AGAIN!

[Soul Crusher]

Fannie, Freddie asked to relax condo loan rules: report
Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:48am EDT  Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page[-] Text

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(Reuters) - Two U.S. Democratic lawmakers want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relax recently tightened standards for mortgages on new condominiums, saying they could threaten the viability of some developments and slow the housing-market recovery, the Wall Street Journal said.

In March, Fannie Mae (FNM.N)(FNM.P) said it would no longer guarantee mortgages on condos in buildings where fewer than 70 percent of the units have been sold, up from 51 percent, the paper said. Freddie Mac (FRE.P)(FRE.N) is due to implement similar policies next month, the paper said.

In a letter to the CEO's of both companies, Representatives Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Anthony Weiner warned that a 70 percent sales threshold "may be too onerous" and could lead condo buyers to shun new developments, according to the paper.

The legislators asked the companies to "make appropriate adjustments" to their underwriting standards for condos, the paper added.

In an interview with the paper, Weiner said the rules have "had a real chill on the ability to get these condos sold," at a time when prices of condos have fallen enough to attract potential buyers.

In addition to the 70 percent sales threshold, Fannie Mae will also not purchase mortgages in buildings where 15 percent of owners are delinquent on condo association dues or where one owner has more than 10 percent of units, as the firm sees these as signals that a building could run into financial trouble, the paper added.

Both Fannie and Freddie are preparing a response to the lawmakers, according to the paper.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.

(Reporting by Chakradhar Adusumilli in Bangalore; editing by Simon Jessop)

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Can't this idiot retire already?????

[tonymctones]

supposed to be on oreilly tonight if im not mistaken should be pretty good.

[BM OUT]

Fannie, Freddie asked to relax condo loan rules: report
Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:48am EDT  Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page[-] Text

[/b]

(Reuters) - Two U.S. Democratic lawmakers want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relax recently tightened standards for mortgages on new condominiums, saying they could threaten the viability of some developments and slow the housing-market recovery, the Wall Street Journal said.

In March, Fannie Mae (FNM.N)(FNM.P) said it would no longer guarantee mortgages on condos in buildings where fewer than 70 percent of the units have been sold, up from 51 percent, the paper said. Freddie Mac (FRE.P)(FRE.N) is due to implement similar policies next month, the paper said.

In a letter to the CEO's of both companies, Representatives Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Anthony Weiner warned that a 70 percent sales threshold "may be too onerous" and could lead condo buyers to shun new developments, according to the paper.

The legislators asked the companies to "make appropriate adjustments" to their underwriting standards for condos, the paper added.

In an interview with the paper, Weiner said the rules have "had a real chill on the ability to get these condos sold," at a time when prices of condos have fallen enough to attract potential buyers.

In addition to the 70 percent sales threshold, Fannie Mae will also not purchase mortgages in buildings where 15 percent of owners are delinquent on condo association dues or where one owner has more than 10 percent of units, as the firm sees these as signals that a building could run into financial trouble, the paper added.

Both Fannie and Freddie are preparing a response to the lawmakers, according to the paper.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.

(Reporting by Chakradhar Adusumilli in Bangalore; editing by Simon Jessop)

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Can't this idiot retire already?????

Id rather see him die of AIDS.

[GigantorX]

There is no plan for a sustainable future.

Drop interest rates to zero. Re inflate whatever dying bubble there is and hopefully create another few. Ignore all lessons of history even if its only the last few years. Kick the can down the road a little more until your term is up. Pray it works and you get re-elected. If you don't, blame it on the other party.

[Bindare_Dundat]

There is no plan for a sustainable future.

Drop interest rates to zero. Re inflate whatever dying bubble there is and hopefully create another few. Ignore all lessons of history even if its only the last few years. Kick the can down the road a little more until your term is up. Pray it works and you get re-elected. If you don't, blame it on the other party.

That's pretty much nailing it. It's frustrating being an obeserver to the sham while the general attitude of the average person is apathy.

[MCWAY]

supposed to be on oreilly tonight if im not mistaken should be pretty good.

I was just going to mention that!!!

O'Reilly and Frank, toe-to-toe!!!

PUT THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN TO BED!! This is going to get NASTY!!!

 

[GigantorX]

That's pretty much nailing it. It's frustrating being an obeserver to the sham while the general attitude of the average person is apathy.

They want to get the housing market restarted by voodoo/witchcraft. The "housing boom" was created by doing a lot of shady and uncontrollable things...lowering standards for loans was def. a part of it. The housing sector needs to correct and become sustainable again. Lower standards to prop things up will do nothing to correct the structural issues...that is none of those houses were worth anything near what the last idiot paid for them.

So what have we learned? Nothing it seems.

Our Govt. now wants to lower standards for housing loands.
Our Govt. now wants to get the credit markets "moving" again so we can continue to bury ourselves in debt and mask the fact that wages haven't moved for a long, long time now. And that manufacturing continues to pour out of the U.S. No realistic energy policy and a fiscal situation so bad other countries are looking to the future when they can finally ditch the dollar. What does our Admin do? Same old shit, more debt, more spending more unsustainable policies. The world sees the end of our road, but our blinders are still on.

In my opinion, too much cheap and easy credit, debt and over leveraging in all sectors (public,corporate,private,govt.) is a big part of why we are at this point. It seems our Govt. can't wait to "fix" everything by pushing cheap/easy credit to all, making getting home loans easier by lowering standards and leveraging our nation to hilt. This admin. and many other Admins have simply tried to re inflate the bubble thats deflation leads to a recession, it's the same every time...Structural issues aren't addressed and the problems are propped up by cheap money and govt spending or tax cuts.

We will either re-inflate this bubble and/or start a few others...no structural issues will be addressed or even spoken about. More funny money, more debt more decline. But there will come a time when the road ends and you can't kick the can anymore. What will happen then? I have a good story to tell about a conversation I had with a friend that works in finance and has some dealings with the IMF, that will be for later.

It seems no-one on "The Hill" has learned anything.