Housing Remains the Weakest Part of the American Economy

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EDITOR’S NOTE: While the politicians argue campaign strategies over the debt ceiling, the main index for the economy continues to fall into previously unfathomable depths. It’s obvious that they will talk about anything BUT the housing crisis and the tens of millions of fraudulent “mortgage” transactions in which no mortgage was actually created, but it was filed and recorded anyway, corrupting the title system that has served all 50 states for hundreds of years. 5 million foreclosures have been “closed out” based upon fraud, forgery and fabrication. 

It’s obvious that the government is not going to initiate anything to stop this cataclysm. Borrowers have been in a defensive stance for five years, despite what is now obvious fraud, forgery and fabrication by pretender lenders.  Loans were securitized, they said. But then they were not securitized because the transfers were never made, leaving the so-called “loan originator” that never loaned a dime as the “lender of record” without a penny owed to the “lender of record.”

A mortgage that secures a non-existent obligation is no mortgage at all and should be removed from the public records. In virtually every case the “loan originator” — whether a bank or not — was acting as an unregistered mortgage broker without disclosure of its role to the borrower contrary to the requirements of federal and state law. The note and mortgage did NOT describe the actual transaction because they did not identify the investor/lender as the real lender and because they did not disclose all the fees that were earned up the false securitization chain. The fees earned were obscene because nobody  had any risk. Now it’s time to test that assumption.  

These “loans” were procured by outright lying, deception and a fraudulent scheme that swindled investors out of their money and homeowners out of their home equity. Although the number is dwindling, most courts are still allowing it under the assumption that if there was ever an obligation arising out of funding of a loan, then the borrower should be held accountable — even if it means holding the borrower accountable to someone who didn’t loan the money. The biggest fraud of all was the wide-scale cornering of the appraisal market where prices over entire regions were falsely inflated in order to make up for the lack of borrowers who could sign and thus “complete” the securitization scheme thus justifying the money taken from investors by investment bankers.

The value of the homes was in most cases vastly inflated, such that even with a 20% down payment the borrower was unknowingly stepping into a snake pit where the loss on the transaction was like the loss on a new car driven off the lot. Until now, in any situation where there was fraud — wide-scale or not — the victims were given restitution. In this case, it’s simple — eliminate the fake mortgage and use something like the Resolution Trust Authority to reconstitute the mortgages, get community bankers involved, and provide hope and equity to the homeowners who were affected. There is no difference between opposing relief for borrowers and opposing relief for a mugging victim or a victim of domestic violence. That is not our country.

This is a call to borrowers to go to mortgage 2.0. It’s time to go from defense to offense and score some points, win some damages, and stop these foreclosures. If you don’t do it nobody else will. We already know that the documents were forged by people signing documents indiscriminately while sitting around a table and not knowing the meaning of what they were doing. But they DID know they were signing someone else’s name. Linda Green didn’t sign those documents. Dozens of other people signed her name, forging it, and getting it witnessed and notarized by signatures that were also forged or procured illegally. The facts are there for causes of action ranging the gamut of money damages and injunctive and declaratory relief.

Just know that there is a difference between filing a lawsuit and getting the pleading right, with all the elements of a cause of action so that it will survive motion to dismiss. And there is a difference between information and evidence. Information is what leads you to sue. Evidence is what proves your claim.

U.S. Housing Sales and Prices Remain Weak

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Fewer Americans bought new homes in June, evidence that the housing market remains weak, a Commerce Department report showed Tuesday.

A separate report on Tuesday showed home prices in major American cities rose for the second straight month in May. But after adjusting for seasonal buyers, prices actually fell in a majority of markets.

The Commerce Department said sales of new homes fell 1 percent in June to an annual rate of 312,000. That’s less than half the 700,000 new-home sales that economists say is typical in healthy markets.

Sales fell to record lows in the Northeast and West. The median price of a new home rose to $235,200 in June, up 5.8 percent from May, according to the Commerce Department report.

Last year was the worst for new-home sales on records dating back a half century, but through the first six months of this year, sales are lagging behind last year’s totals.

In June, new-home sales fell to record lows in the Northeast and West. The median price of a new home rose to $235,200 in June because of the influx of spring buyers. The median price is not adjusted for seasonal factors.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home-price index said May prices increased in 16 of the 20 cities tracked for an average of 1 percent. Over the past 12 months, prices have fallen in 19 of the 20 cities tracked.

Housing remains the weakest part of the American economy. High unemployment, larger down payment requirements and tougher lending standards are preventing many people from buying homes. And some potential buyers who can clear those hurdles are holding off, worried that home prices have yet to bottom out.

Last year was the fifth straight year that new-home sales fell. That followed five straight years of record-high sales, when the housing market was booming.

Still, all home sales are weak. Sales of previously occupied homes fell for a third straight month in June and are lagging last year’s sales of 4.91 million homes sold last year, the fewest since 1997. In a healthy economy, people buy roughly 6 million existing homes annually.

While new homes represent less than one-fifth of the total housing market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each new home creates an average of three jobs and $90,000 in taxes, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

Tags: bankruptcy, borrower, countrywide, disclosure, foreclosure, foreclosure defense, foreclosure offense, foreclosures, fraud, housing prices, LOAN MODIFICATION, modification, quiet title, rescission, RESPA, securitization, TILA audit, trustee
Posted in bubble, Corruption, Eviction, securities fraud |