Romney gets it right on housing

Opinion Journal:
A friend of ours quipped recently that Mitt Romney could do his Presidential candidacy a lot of good if he took even a single position that is unpopular in the polls. Well, we can report that he has done that on housing policy, that he's being pummeled for it, and that it may be his finest campaign hour. It also contrasts favorably with the latest temporary, ad hoc and futile housing effort from President Obama.
Campaigning last week in Nevada, the epicenter of the housing bust, Mr. Romney was asked by the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial board what he would do about housing and foreclosures. His reply:
"One is, don't try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom. Allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up. Let it turn around and come back up. The Obama Administration has slow-walked the foreclosure processes that have long existed, and as a result we still have a foreclosure overhang."
...
One of the reasons the process has been so prolonged is the Obama administration has tried to mess with the system by propping up borrowers who are underwater on their mortgages and can't afford what they have.  The banks have also been reluctant to foreclose, because of their inventory of real estate owned is being written down by the regulators.  Some have botched the foreclosure process by trying to auto pen the documents.

Fannie and Freddie which are now wards of the government also have a huge inventory of real estate owned through foreclosure.  I have an idea for some of those homes.  Make them available to veterans.  The Veterans would be able to live in them without payment to the government as long as they fixed them up and took care of the property and if they did this for five to 10 years time they would become the owner.  If they walked away before the term was completed it could be given to another veteran.  This would not work for all the foreclosed homes, but it would work for some and would help those who have sacrificed the most for this country.
 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Bin Laden's concern about Zarqawi's remains