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Henry Paulson's mortgate rescue plan - your thoughts?
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:12 am
by sequoia
Was curious what everyone's thoughts are on the Hope Now plan Henry Paulson is talking about, to help homeowners with ARMs resetting.
At a personal level, being a conservative investor, I did not want to take an ARM (and hence did not buy a home) and hence am a little peeved. I am sure people who have resetting ARMs but can afford the higher payments would be peeved more than me (the plan being talked about freezes the rate only if the rate change would cause you to default/foreclose).
I am not really an expert at finance matters, but was interested in the gurus' thoughts regarding this, especially from a technical point of view.
Henry Paulson's mortgate rescue plan - your thoughts?
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:24 am
by gurusw
I am not a guru, but I am wondering what did I gain by procrastinating house buying :) I wish I knew someone would help my ARM.
Henry Paulson's mortgate rescue plan - your thoughts?
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:20 am
by Bobus
Moral: If you are going in for an imprudent decision, it helps (if you wanna avoid trouble later, but does not guarantee avoidance of trouble, so there is still some risk) if you are herding with millions of others in taking that imprudent decision. It is the political strength of the millions, and the magnitude of the effect on the economy, that may persuade Govt to bail you and others out. If you take an imprudent decision and are in a minority, the risk is much higher.
In Tamil, there is a saying "GumbalOda gOvinda" that may reflect the wisdom in some ways, where Govinda does not need introduction, and Gumbaloda means "with the crowd".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras_Bashai (search on gumbal)
http://mano.wiki.zoho.com/Take-the-TOTFL.html (see question 8 and answer; padam meets movie and "matter" means porn)
Henry Paulson's mortgate rescue plan - your thoughts?
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:44 am
by Desi
sequoia;62298Was curious what everyone's thoughts are on the Hope Now plan Henry Paulson is talking about, to help homeowners with ARMs resetting.
At a personal level, being a conservative investor, I did not want to take an ARM (and hence did not buy a home) and hence am a little peeved. I am sure people who have resetting ARMs but can afford the higher payments would be peeved more than me (the plan being talked about freezes the rate only if the rate change would cause you to default/foreclose).
I am not really an expert at finance matters, but was interested in the gurus' thoughts regarding this, especially from a technical point of view.[/quote]
I have not read the plan, but I doubt it would mean anything for ALL those whose ARMs are resetting next year. This has to do with SUBPRIME and Subprime mortgages were given out at rates from 7% to 9% and with reset would go higher.
This is about Subprime ARMs and not all ARMs, I think.
[quote]
I did not want to take an ARM (and hence did not buy a home) and hence am a little peeved
[/quote]
Unless, your credit was really bad, you would not have been a candidate for subprime. Being a conservative investor, you would not have gone for 7% plus interest rates.
People who have been hurt in this are those with High Yield Bonds as they purchased the Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (CMOs). Since they generate more loans by selling these internationally, there can be international fall out. The peak of defaults will be next year.
Henry Paulson's mortgate rescue plan - your thoughts?
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:50 am
by rahulk
Henry Paulson's mortgate rescue plan - your thoughts?
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 8:06 am
by layman
I hate this plan. It is a slap on face for conservative folks like me. Today, they showed a fat lady in CNBC as an example for the ones benefitted by the plan. This fat lady owns 3 houses in San Jose and this is what she said, "I bought the house at 5.8% teaser rate thinking it will appreciate by the time the interest rate kicks up higher. Since it has not appreciated as much as I expected I may lose the house. The Government plan would help me to keep the house by paying mortgage at 5.8% teaser rate." If these are the people Government want to save, it is not a good precedence.
I was thinking that people like the fat lady were creating a bubble in the housing market and did not buy a house 2 yrs back, even though my affordability was higher than hers. The fat lady bought multiple houses at a lower price and gets to keep the 5.8% rate. I have to pay a higher price for the house and a much higher mortgage rate if I want to buy a house now. The article mentions lenders who lent money at low interest thinking that they will get a higher interest when the ARM resets and the pension plans that depend on such bonds. Overall, the plan is not only lousy, it is plain unfair!!
Henry Paulson's mortgate rescue plan - your thoughts?
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:06 am
by greatguy
the plan is nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig. Just to show that the government has done something about it.
I think, the subprime issue has unduly hogged the headlines (and benefited with the rescue package); the real mortgage mess will be when the mainstream consumer, the prime sector, starts missing payments - that is heavily dependent on the job market.
Henry Paulson's mortgate rescue plan - your thoughts?
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:38 am
by indian
It is the election time next year, which does not seem that far. Republicans - Bush- wants to give a straw to it's candidate to hang on to it in upcoming elections to be able to answer voters question about the subprime mess. So Bush is bending backwards to do this bailout plan. It not much different from what our fond politicians do back in India.
Henry Paulson's mortgate rescue plan - your thoughts?
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:52 am
by sftrade
Its all over when the fat lady sings. I think she is getting to that point pretty soon
Henry Paulson's mortgate rescue plan - your thoughts?
Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:01 pm
by Ace Novice
I would have loved for the whiz kids at IMF + IBRD to dispense advice to the US govt on the benefits of having a free market. They have been pretty liberal prescribing harsh medications for developing nations but it looks like it doesn't apply to the domestic economy.
This is yet another step in trying to revive an economy that seems ill but I wouldn't be surprised if the giant keels over into recession notwithstanding the financial and policy manipulations seriously underway. I wonder if this sets a precedence for future asset bubbles: the next one could be worse if people figured a government safety net is not unlikely.