January 26, 2008

NAR gets its way as Fannie changes mission from helping poor and middle class buy homes to helping mortgage bankers and lenders make money


This is shameful, this is sick, this is corrupt and this has to be stopped. Allowing the out-of-control and soon-to-fail Fannie and Freddie (via the American taxpayer who will end up bailing them out) to fund mortgages for rich people and California housing gamblers is sick, sick, sick.

But the NAR's and NAHB's army is well financed, our Congresspeople are prostitutes, and HousingPANIC and the bubble blogs are no match against this level of money and corruption. And for now, the MSM refuses to do their job (except for Diana Olick at CNBC).

HousingDoom noticed that Fannie has now changed their website's About Us page to reflect their new focus, and Diana reported the change on her blog. So here it is, in all its corrupt glory:

In 2005: “Our public mission, and our defining goal, is to help more families achieve the American Dream of homeownership. We do that by providing financial products and services that make it possible for low-, moderate-, and middle-income families to buy homes of their own.”

In 2008: “We exist to expand affordable housing and bring global capital to local communities in order to serve the U.S. housing market. Fannie Mae has a federal charter and operates in America’s secondary mortgage market to ensure that mortgage bankers and other lenders have enough funds to lend to home buyers at low rates. Our job is to help those who house America.”

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

What did you expect to occur in George Bushs' corrupt America?

A Federally Chartered institution actually existing to help people?

What are you smoking?

America is filthy, corrupt and dangerous. Nothing good or remotely honorable happens in America.

America is Dead. You are viewing the corpse (Bush-Cheney) rot.

Enjoy.

Russ DoGG said...

Damn, you should be the reporter.

this is much better reporting than I ever see on ABC. Someone needs to but this information into perspective, to connect the dots. Our mainstream media fails miserably.

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Keep renting morons.

Anonymous said...

I was able to see right through the $600 "Rebate" scam and pointed it out to several co-workers that they were stealing in broad daylight. The reaction was like most Americans...Give me my $600 and they can steal as much as they want. Keith....you cannot convince them (Public)that they will give that $600 back over and over paying for a bail-out...even their kids will pay. Lemmings & Sheeple are what we are comprised of...Corruption RULES!

Anonymous said...

Holy. Cow.

I thought we had chance to fight this, but I know now it's futile. We're going to lose.

To my two kids: I'm sorry, I tried.

Anonymous said...

This is the American Empire, we are not a democracy and our elites hold the public and its finances in contempt. Unfortunatley nothing can be done but sit back and watch our freedoms be sucked away.

Anonymous said...

Wiki states:

"Fannie Mae receives no direct government funding or backing. Fannie Mae securities carry no government guarantee of being repaid. This is explicitly stated in the law that authorizes GSEs, on the securities themselves, and in many public communications issued by Fannie Mae. Despite this, there is a wide perception that these notes carry an implied government guarantee, and the vast majority of investors believe that the government would prevent them from defaulting on their debt. Whether the federal government would bail out Fannie Mae in the event of insolvency is a hypothesis that has never been tested.

Neither the certificates nor payments of principal and interest on the certificates are guaranteed by the United States government. The certificates do not constitute a debt or obligation of the United States or any of its agencies or instrumentalities other than Fannie Mae.
...
The Congressional Budget Office writes, "there have been no federal appropriations for cash payments or guarantee subsidies. But in the place of federal funds the government provides considerable unpriced benefits to the enterprises... Government-sponsored enterprises are costly to the government and taxpayers... the benefit is currently worth $6.5 billion annually." [3]. Fannie Mae has looser restrictions placed on its activities than normal financial institutions: e.g., it is allowed to sell mortgage-backed securities with half as much capital backing them up as would be required of other financial institutions."

* * *

If this is the case, can we minimize damage by avoiding investing in their garbage? It's like it's a risky monster, made even riskier by the government interfering with free markets, but there is no guarantee that they will get any bailout money if they collapse.

Anonymous said...

Man.. there is no end to the corruption, I have three kids and I am just so sad they live in this country. We hate American and we are Americans, no wonder others hate us. We make third world corruption look honorable. So sad... let's hope that comet TU24 hits us next week, so we can start over.

Anonymous said...

Why so angry about this? You know it's going to crash and burn and make things worse like everything else the government tries. Just sit back and enjoy the show.

Lionel said...

"Keep renting morons."

I don't rent morons. I buy morons.

Anonymous said...

And a great beast arose from the sea in the shape of a giant fannie...may gawd speed your way!

Wei Chi = Danger & Opportunity.

Ying/Yang.

Bang!

Anonymous said...

Keith - this is the most serious topic of your blog, to date. Nothing good can come of this....nothing. Where are the Senators and Reps from the states where $417k will buy a county? Spineless...the whole lot.

Anonymous said...

NAR gets its way as Fannie changes mission from helping poor and middle class buy homes to helping mortgage bankers and lenders make money
------------------------------------
Since the Rich folks own the government here in the USA, this has probably been their mission for a long time now. Wall street has a cleaver way of making their bail outs sound noble----like the Bush Rebate( let's give everyone $600 so they can pay their visa bill). It all goes to Wall & Broad.

Tyrone said...

Truly sickening.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous eric in vegas said...

Why so angry about this? You know it's going to crash and burn and make things worse like everything else the government tries. Just sit back and enjoy the show.

January 26, 2008 4:00 PM<<<

so you live in vegas huh? could you tell me how to get to the chicken ranch?

Anonymous said...

what I read was that the government was going to "buy the mortgages from the banks," for a given "loan originator fee," and then the loan would be off the books of the bank and then the government would charge 1% or 2% interest.

Anonymous said...

What affect is this going to really have? Are banks really going to now open the spigots for people to buy homes that they have no way of affording? The days of "liar loans" and giving subprime loans are over. Are the raised Fannie and Freddie loan limits going to start that charade all over again? Please enlighten me.

Anonymous said...

Damn, until I went and saw it for myself at the Fannie Mae website, I thought it was some cynical joke. I am so happy to be emigrating at the end of March :)

Anonymous said...

"Our job is to help those who house America.”
--------------------------------

How about; "Our job is to help those who hose America.”

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable! How do they get away with this?

Of course, the housing bubble is going to look like a small annoyance when the 50 trillion something for the baby boomers comes due, so maybe its better we crash our economy now so they figure out its all a shell game.

Anonymous said...

What affect is this going to really have? Are banks really going to now open the spigots for people to buy homes that they have no way of affording? The days of "liar loans" and giving subprime loans are over. Are the raised Fannie and Freddie loan limits going to start that charade all over again? Please enlighten me.
---------------------

Its not going to have much of any effect at all. Here's why:

By raising the cap loan size from $417,000 dollars to $625,000 to WHATEVER, it doesnt matter. Its not the size of the loan that gets insured that matters, but its the conditions that buyer must meet in order to get the loan that DO matter.

To get a loan backed by Fannie, the conforming loan must meet certain criteria. That criteria is exactly the opposite of what got us into this mess to begin with. So that means because most people cannot qualify for loans from 417,000 to 625,000 without overstating their income, or using option-ARM low payments, then they cant get the loans they need to pay the inflated prices.

The real tragedy would be if Fannie all of sudden did increase the limits, BUT then also let them do stated income, interest-only loans. We would be back to playing the same funny money game!

Anonymous said...

The aircraft carier that is home prices is in reverse and will rip right through this underwater shark net. Gravity will prevail, don't worry keep saving.
coconutz!

Anonymous said...

The one worlders have won, its over.I will find a place outside the US to have and raise my family. I won't have my children sold into slavery like the rest of these dumb cattle. It kills me the one worlders used people as stupid as Bush, McCain, the Clintons. Reed, Pelosi et all to enslave your children. They filled your dish with riches, no one had to work for it. Then they took them away, now they tell you, if you want your bowl refilled you will be a dog vote as we say, do as we say. PS Those of you who feel this way are excluded from this rant. Have a nice life. Beat the lines, go down and have your children fitted with shock collers today.

Anonymous said...

At first, I thought what you quoted was a joke; It was too outrageous to be true.
Then I went to the Fannie Mae website, and you have it verbatim.

Stunning..........

And to "gse confusion":

You think after all you've seen lately, that the Govt. would stand idly by while Fannie and Freddie imploded? They would just say, "We are going to "loan" $50Billion to Fannie...." or otherwise provide massive tax incentives (now WHO pays that bill?) to other banks to bail them out.

Sorry to all the children out there. I mean sorry to all the ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT children who will be footing the bill.
Me and mine will expat our money, thank you very much....

But they ain't gonna be able to pay and more likely, we'll see US financial and infrastructure collapse and South American-style political corruption being the order of the day.

F*ck it, I'm gonna buy a $500,000 house, refi for $800,000 and take the money out of country and abandon the house.

So long USA!

Anonymous said...

Bernanke, Paulson and Congress are going to send America back to the Stone age in their desperation to prevent a crash in home prices and a recession which is as natural as summer turning into winter. Are these guys so dumb that they cannot see that they are banging their collective heads against a brick wall? My goodness, they are tearing the stars and stripes to shreds!

Anonymous said...

It will be interesting to see if this gives our market a bounce here in the SF bay area. There are a lot of people sitting on the sidelines right now. Most homes here require jumbos and they've been hard to get on reasonable terms, killing a lot of demand last year. Now the lenders can relax a bit and the situation will get unstuck. Add to that the short shelf life of the higher cap and temporarily low interest rates, and it could spur some action. I'm hoping for a reasonable rebound in the market, but I doubt we'll see the bidding wars driven by unqualified buyers backed by hot money. Lending standards should remain high, banks learned that lesson the hard way, the ninja and speculator loans, 100% LTV etc. are gone for good.

For existing owners there is a double dose of good news. Those who are sweating out ARM resets will benefit from the low short-term rates and can send their thank-you notes to BB. Those of us with large amounts of equity are re-fi'ing into fixed-rate loans even lower than our old ones, thanks to paniced speculators rushing into treasuries driving long rates absurdly low.

I'm tempted to throw in a crack about renting mom's basement and keeping your money in CDs earning less than the inflation rate, but I'll leave that for DOPES.

Anonymous said...

Let the sheeple be slaves of Zionist and Arab bankers. I'm putting all my money overseas, including real estate. They won't see one dime from me, especially after I change my citizenship way before retirement.

Anonymous said...

Wow, just wow.

Anonymous said...

Even if you make $150,000 per year, which is less than 5% of population, you can't afford a $600,000 home. There's no way, the numbers don't lie and sure don't add.

Let the idiots overextend themselves to live as slaves of bankers for 30 years, praying for nothing catastrophic to happen in their hamster lives (i.e., illness, accident, unemployment, natural disaster, divorce, etc). Good luck future homedebtors!

Anonymous said...

The thing I don't get is, if all this jumbo paper is as good as they say, then why the fu*k doesn't the private sector buy it up?

Anonymous said...

Anon in SF:

Don't worry, SF is toast.

Anonymous said...

Waaah! People are trying to fix the system, and it may screw up my short positions in financials. Waaah! I travel Europe via freight trains and my only bill is a wireless access card. I am holding out until a 3000 sq ft. McMansion in Phoenix goes for $85,000. Waaah! I ran for president and nobody noticed. Waaah.

Keep renting, morons.

Anonymous said...

Challenge this legislation. Ultimately its coming out of your pocket!!

www.financialpetition.com

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know if that was the complete statement from the 2005 website? I've look for a cached version to see what else might have been on that page but can't find one.

Just curious. Thanks

Anonymous said...

Nice banana republic you've got there folks. I love your new constitution:

We the Chimps of the United States, in Order to form a more self-serving Union, establish consumerism, insure domestic apathy, defy common sense, promote welfare of generals,and secure the Blessings of Wall Street to ourselves and our Cronies, do ordain and establish this Reconstitution of the United States of America.

Anonymous said...

Hang 'em ALL !!!!!!

Revolution, anyone?

Anonymous said...

Waaah! People are trying to fix the system, and it may screw up my short positions in financials. Waaah! I travel Europe via freight trains and my only bill is a wireless access card. I am holding out until a 3000 sq ft. McMansion in Phoenix goes for $85,000. Waaah! I ran for president and nobody noticed. Waaah.

Keep renting, morons.


Thanks for the advice Mike Norman. I guess it's going to take another 10% drop in housing values to change your tune. Or maybe you're dumb enough to ride this roller coaster all the way to the bottom.

Chump.