I was watching a (local) news story this evening about each state getting 16M$ of bailout money to buy and rehab foreclosed homes. The story was presented as an attempt to stabilize housing values (HA!). According to the reporter these, state owned, rehabbed houses are to be sold to low and middle income families only.
Now Im going to go out on a limb here, which is why I put this thread in Conspiracy Theories. I theorize that the states are going to buy these foreclosed houses for pennies on the dollar, spend a few dollars to have contractors doll them up, and then sell them at a fraction of the cost of what good, honest, decent, bill paying people paid for the houses in the same neighborhoods, to people who could otherwise not afford to buy them. That sounds like the HUD program, (only in better neighborhoods), to me.
If this happens, I feel that Ive been disenfranchised once again. Not only can I NOT participate in the acquisition of these homes but, the 110th Congress decreed that I, as a tax payer, cough up the money to pay for this program.
This kind of thing is going to raise all kinds of social issues like: How is selling those units below (or even at) current fair value going to help to stabilize the housing market overall? Whos going to determine fair market value of these units? Whos going to hold the paper on these units? What roll is (state) government going to play in ensuring that these quasi HUD homeowners will maintain their newly acquired homes at or above a standard acceptable by their neighbors who paid market value for their homes? What happens if these new quasi HUD homeowners run into hard times in the future and cant pay their mortgage? Who will pick up the tab for that?
Yeah buddy, welcome to the USSA, the good ole United Socialist States of America.
Now Im going to go out on a limb here, which is why I put this thread in Conspiracy Theories. I theorize that the states are going to buy these foreclosed houses for pennies on the dollar, spend a few dollars to have contractors doll them up, and then sell them at a fraction of the cost of what good, honest, decent, bill paying people paid for the houses in the same neighborhoods, to people who could otherwise not afford to buy them. That sounds like the HUD program, (only in better neighborhoods), to me.
If this happens, I feel that Ive been disenfranchised once again. Not only can I NOT participate in the acquisition of these homes but, the 110th Congress decreed that I, as a tax payer, cough up the money to pay for this program.
This kind of thing is going to raise all kinds of social issues like: How is selling those units below (or even at) current fair value going to help to stabilize the housing market overall? Whos going to determine fair market value of these units? Whos going to hold the paper on these units? What roll is (state) government going to play in ensuring that these quasi HUD homeowners will maintain their newly acquired homes at or above a standard acceptable by their neighbors who paid market value for their homes? What happens if these new quasi HUD homeowners run into hard times in the future and cant pay their mortgage? Who will pick up the tab for that?
Yeah buddy, welcome to the USSA, the good ole United Socialist States of America.