In contrast to Barack Obama’s own homeownership plan, John McCain has suggested a plan to involves more direct federal ownership of distressed mortgage assets. McCain’s plan, entitled the McCain American Homeownership Resurgence Plan, seeks to utilize the recently granted Treasury Secretary authority to use federal funds to help adjust mortgage terms for homeowners.

Simply put, the McCain resurgence plan would use funds authorized to the Treasury Secretary to purchase mortgages directly from mortgage providers. The plan would use tax payer money to buy home loans from banks, and would then re-negotiate the terms of those loans and replace them with more manageable, lower interest rate mortgages to ensure families can remain in their homes.

The campaign states that the plan will “eliminate uncertainty over defaults, support the value of mortgage (securities) and (help unfreeze) financial markets.)

Pre-foreclosure fight statement: “Lenders and borrowers alike were caught up in the speculative frenzy that has harmed the housing market. And it is not the responsibility of the American public to spare them from the consequences of their own bad judgment.” — McCain

McCain’s Foreclosure Fight Plan:

• Under the plan, these new home loans would take the form of Federal Housing Administration FHA fixed-rate loans that would be determined in a sliding scale to allow for continued homeownership.
• The McCain campaign estimates the plan would cost roughly $300 billion of the $700 authorized to the Treasury Secretary under the recent economic stabilization bill with the assistance of the Treasury Secretary, the FHA and the government sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac organizations. Read the rest of this entry »

Turn on the TV today, and there’s a pretty good chance you’ll hear the line, “and I approve this message.” 

Yes, we’re in the heat of one of the most competitive Presidential campaigns in modern history, with more advertising spend than any previous election. While it is possible to gleam information from these ads, as well as following cable news, chances are that the candidate’s economic positions are less than clear at this point.

As a result, we wanted to provide you some insight into the candidate’s plans to address the housing market crisis, so you can make more informed political and economic choices going forward. 

Whether you are a homeowner facing foreclosure uncertainty, or you just want to make sure the economy gets turned around as quickly as possible, this is an important election for the future of this country.

As usual, we are advocating for you and are independent on the race itself - we know that our readers make smart, informed choices.

First, we want to take a look at Senator Obama’s economic plan to homeowners. Obama and Biden’s plan aims at both improving the flow of information to potential borrowers, as well as providing tax relief to certain mortgage holders.

Broadly outlined, there are four elements of Obama’s homeowner plan:

I) Give More Options to Homeowners Forced to Declare Bankruptcy

As part of Obama’s plan to assist distressed homowners, the Senator is proposing to allow bankruptcy court judges to adjust mortgage payments for those who are forced to declare personal bankruptcy. This plan aims to allow those who are bankrupt to have some breathing room so that they can work out of their current debt, while maintaining in their home in a modified payment plan. Read the rest of this entry »

The line of eager people was wrapped around the Capitol Hilton in downtown Washington D.C. as my crew and I unloaded our gear out of our taxi. The crowd was thick and deep as a sea of yellow shirts offered smiles and encouragement to the children as they waited patiently with their mothers and fathers. Their curious faces filled with glimmers of hope as they stood in the hot and humid D.C. air.

It was an utterly amazing, but an eerily sad site and I actually have chills as I write this. My words cannot even grasp the true magnitude of what my eyes just have seen and my heart has experienced. All of us were just Read the rest of this entry »

There are a lot of myths surrounding lenders and servicers as to what they will and will not do during the loan modification process. 

The confusion and inaccurate data that is propagating the internet and the news is based on ill-informed bloggers or journalists who really have no idea what is going on in the loss mitigation arena. This to me is akin to someone who studies baseball and claims to be an expert, but has never caught a ball or swung a bat in their lives. How can anyone take them seriously? How can these same people be relied on by the media as “experts” when they have never even played the game? Read the rest of this entry »

Get your gloves on and start training for the fight of your life because foreclosure defense is going to be no easy battle. Make no bones about it, you are definitely fighting against one of the toughest and most powerful opponents in the world.

The banks! Read the rest of this entry »