Foreclosure task force

Gov. Charlie Crist appointed a foreclosure task force to called the Home Ownership Promotes the Economy to address the rising rate of foreclosures statewide.

CFO Alex Sink will be on the committee, as well as Sen. Bill Posey, Rep. Franklin Sands, as well as several others yet to be appointed. The goal is to present recommendations that the Legislature might consider this session to help those who are losing their homes in the housing crisis.

Comments

Typical “finger in the air/what do the polls say” reaction from Chuck.

“Let’s pretend we just heard about this, create a task force filled with cronies, and promise to do something about it next session.”

… but what about those people losing their home today?

“Screw ‘em, I’ve got to be on the bus for Johnny in an hour, I can’t do everything”

… but you haven’t done anything.

“Why do you thing Johnny and I get along so well.”

Recommendation #1

Tell "The People" not to sign for mortgages they cannot afford.

Recommendation #2

Tell "The People" to drop the pen "like a rock"... just like I did with insurance rates... oopps, never mind.

2:36: Problem solved

This is a real issue which the Governor has appropriately decided to address. The Task Force includes:
Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp (Chairman)
CFO Alex Sink
Senator Bill Posey
Senator Tony Hill
Rep. Garrett Richter
Rep. Franklin Sands
Alex Sanchez (Florida Bankers Assoc)
D. Ritch Workman(Assoc of Mtg Brokers)
Mike Fields (Bank of America)
Thomas Kuntz (Suntrust)
Nancy Riley (Fla. Realtors Assoc)
Bill Newton(Fla Consumer Action Ntwk)
Steve Auger (Fla Housing Finance)

[Nick]

Good idea, but it's a little bit after the fact. Recommendations that take a few months to come up with, then a few months to be passed as legislation, then a few more months to come into effect? This sort of proves the case that government moves much to slowly to be efficient at solving immediate crises.

How could we possibly have any money left for helping prople with all the tax cutting going on? He's dreaming!

Good to see the realtors are involved. Maybe they'll waive their extravagant fees to help the market recover - NOT!!!

Amen 2:36 - Just because XYZ mortgage company says you can get a loan for $300k doesnt mean that you can afford it on $35k a year.

It’s interesting how there isn’t anyone representing the Insurance industry… which happens to be one of the main causes of foreclosures. Blame it all on the buyer and the banks if you wish. But proper research will show the majority of the folks gave up due to out of control insurance premiums and a lying bunch of puppet Legislators who promised to address the issue… but did (and continue to do) nothing.

Just another diversion tactic orchestrated by Chuck and the boys and gals in Tallytown to keep your malleable minds busy through campaign season.

[Omega83]

more government, more taxpayer cost.

call it a task force, but it aint free to run. and for what? to address a situation inherently tied to personal responsibility.

Crist is acting like the Democrats in Congress. Convene a hearing, prop up some smoke and mirrors, call the press, then don't really accomplish anything.

One thing that no one ever mentions is that for every foreclosure, there is a possibility to actually make housing affordable for someone who couldn't afford it before. Why does the government always have to get involved?

Plutocrats bail out their plutocrats with tax dollars, and none of their buddies go to jail for falsifying the original contracts to get the loans accepted.

How quickly we forget the last "emergency" where Bush brother Neil did no jail time for outrageously lousy "loans" to his bubbas, destroyed Silverado Savings and Loan, and our federal taxes did "bailout."

Regulate the crooked conspirators in this web of deceit.

Meanwhile, our taxes went way up due to the overpriced sales "fixed" by crooks to push thru loans not worth the collateral. Check those loans for padded fees to pliable folks who faked the values for sub-primes.

And tighten your belts for the Iraq war stagflation, trickle down, recession brought to you to prove that baby Bush is just as good at wrecking the economy as Reagan/Bush.

3:14 You're right about that. When are they going to quit posturing and impeach that wonderful president of yours?

[Omega83]

3:55

posturing and smoke and mirrors. my point exactly.

If you're gonna use my tax dollars to bail out greedy people who wanted to live abover their means, then I want a rebate for signing a responsible mortgage on a house I could afford.

There needs to be a cap on the value of the property...like, let's say $150,000. A house any more expensive and we're not "helping the needy" anymore. I'm paying for someone to live in a nicer house than my own.

No thanks. How about I just buy their home at a short sale since I can better afford the payments.

Five groups benefited from the massive housing bubble in Florida:

Realtors (higher fixed % commissions)
Bankers (origination fees and higher interest revenue on loan amounts)
Developers (higher selling prices)
Insurance Agents (higher fixed % commissions on premiums)
Insurance Companies (higher premiums per unit of insured value)

One of those groups offset their benefits with $39 Billion in payouts for the storms of 2004-05.

Why is that group the villain?

Hint: look at the occupations of our legislators. Most belong to one of the other four groups.

4:19...Please consider this real world scenario. Small businesses and small landlords are getting nailed by the tax and insurance costs. I own multiple rental properties and I pay almost as much on a monthly basis for taxes and insurance as I do for mortgage costs. Let's not dumb down this problem for the sake of convenience. The rate of taxation is far outstripping my ability to raise rents and the ability of my tenants to pay those rents. It is not fair to them or to me. Everybody should be entitled to decent affordable housing either to buy or rent. Both are legitimate. This tax system is making both increasingly difficult. The few landlords that I know are trying to get out of the business. Anyone who thinks that is OK, really does not understand the gravity of the situation.

4:49

did you vote for or against Amendment 1?

if you voted for it, you are a complete idiot and I have 0 sympathy. I hope you were a no vote.

No sympathy expected. Just stating facts as they pertain to a handfull of decent citizens. Whether it is meaningful to you is a matter of perspective and ability to extrapolate the facts into a larger picture. Voted no on 1. Read the other related articles on The Buzz and (Un)Realestate...clearly everyone should have voted no.

Recommendation #3:

Tell the lenders to stop loaning too much money. They pressure the appraiser to over-appraise the house, then offer the buyer more $$ than they need. Same goes for re-fi and HELOC loans. Its the banks who are crying, but their tears are crocodilian.

If you voted no you deserve what you get. At least you can plan on no more that 10% increase but right now, not to worry. Your taxes are going down if you do not have SOH

5:29

my commercial taxes have never gone up by 10%, but what prevents the state from allowing that, as they do with SOH and 3%?

5:33, you are nuts! My commercial taxes tripled in 3 years!!!

The insurance industry will be well represented by Bill Posey.

The report and proposed legislation is due April 18. Gee, bill drafting deadline has passed and bill filing deadline is March 4th. April 18 is the end of week 7 of session, there are no more committee weeks after that day and no time for any draft legislation to be heard. You would think that a former Senator would . . . never mind.

7:55 ever heard of a committee bill???

The subprime instrument was introduced so that the lenders could exploit the people who had less than prime credit with higher interest rates. A person who had already allowed their credit to diminish was most likely not too credit savvy. These people were ripe for the picking. These people were easily convinced that they could in fact afford a house, and so unscrupulous lenders were released upon them, door to door, in email, snailmail, and phone calls all telling them that the system had changed which allowed them to own a house.

They all should have known better but they were not the typical house buyer or the typical load taker, they were in fact, for the most part, people who were exploitable.

There are plenty of houses left empty by investors' player musical chairs, and some that took second mortgages to buy new SUV's or take a vacation to Vegas but that's not the majority. The responsibility needs to be shared

[Dee]

So the greedy people with poor credit and personal financial habits met the greedy people with lots of money to lend. Why should my tax dollars have anything to do with helping either one? Enough of the nanny state crap, that is part of the reason so many people get into these situations as it is. The sooner some personal responsiblity gets injected into the situation the better for all involved.

These greedy people played a huge role in making housing unaffordable for decent, responsible people. Hopefully those who acted sensibly and did not buy over their heads will now be able to get the home of their dreams.

The silver lining is there will not be so much whining about affordable housing now. Hopefully the focus will shift to better paying jobs which of course makes housing more affordable the old fashion way, enabling one to actually pay for it!

7:55, you must be a newbie. The numbers of bills desired by leadership that came in after the official "deadline" and passed, are too numerous to list here.

What I'd like to know is how they are going to differentiate (in a way that holds up in court) between those who are losing their homes, and the speculators who loaded up on 3-4 houses and condos, and hit the market at a bad time?
That's almost half those affected, if not more, and if I thought they were getting any consideration at all, I'd scream bloody murder.
Since when is our Republican-led government supposed to protect such people from their own greed?

12:00, if there was oversight none of this would have happened. The failure was in government who happened to be supporting a "Go Shopping" policy that facilitated the false numbers in growth to justify a tax policy, war expenditures and trade imbalances that was and is unsustainable. Blaming the victims, (some) in this climate is disingenuous at best.

The available new "risky loans" pushed up demand which pushed up prices. There was so much available cash to be invested because of a soft Stock Market, the investors flowed like water to the housing boom. Here on the Beach some property increased 700% in value. Sure some property was undervalued, but in no way did the real value ever reach such lows.

This was a deliberate manufactured false housing economy that was sustained for the benefit of the players. The unqualified recipients of these loans were unknowing victims. The lenders lowered the bar and the government turned their heads.

"exploit the people who had less than prime credit with higher interest rates. A person who had already allowed their credit to diminish was most likely not too credit savvy."

THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT MY PROBLEM. I EARN MY MONEY, I PAY MY BILLS ON TIME...IF THEY COULDN'T AFFORD THE MORTGAGE, THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SO STUPID AS TO SIGN. LOOKS LIKE THEY WERE ALREADY ADEPT AT MAKING DUMB FINANCIAL DECISIONS, BUT AGAIN, NOT MY PROBLEM!!!!!

[Jason Straight]

Listen the subprime process was the result of GOP deregulation coupled with exploding taxes and insurance.The SEC and FDIC OTS looked the other was when its members were holding CDO participations ..It fanned the flames of the RE speculation..Coupled with insurance Co Greed after a series of hurricanes and Jebs failure to regulate or provide meaningful tax reform cities and couties profited from the speculation .We are paying the price because the Govt at all levels was negligent.Now the GOP legislature who failed to address the crisis in taXES AND INSURANCE TOGETHER WITH OUT OF CONTROL COUNTIES AND CITIES WILL SPIN FLORIDA TO NEAR DEPRESSION.Nice job guys!Crist and the legislATURE ARE THE nEROS FIDDLING OUR MODERN AGE INTO THE TOILET.Way to go!Thanks god for the recession maybe the Dems will wake up and finally vote these bums out .THe independant will also wake up and end the chain of fiscal insanity..

Jason, correct me if I'm worng but did you or did you not just blame "all levels of government"

and then you blast the GOP

Now, go back and find out for me the major counties and cities in Florida, and the partisan breakdown of their Mayors and Councils

turd