Obama Outlines New Housing Refinance Plan
EmailPresident Obama today announced his latest plan to revive the housing market, outlining a proposal intended to help homeowners take advantage of historically low mortgage interest rates, even if they owe more than their homes are worth.
“This housing crisis struck right at the heart of what it means to be middle-class in America: our home,” the president said in a speech at a community center in Falls Church, Va. “It’s personal. It affects so much of how people feel about their lives, about their communities, about the country, about the economy. We need to do everything in our power to repair the damage and make responsible families whole again.”
Following up on a proposal outlined in his State of the Union address, the president has asked Congress for a tax on large banks to help “responsible homeowners” who are current on their payments refinance at today’s low rates.
“No more red tape. No more runaround from the banks. And a small fee on the largest financial institutions will make sure that it doesn’t add to our deficit,” the president said, predicting that his plan would save the average borrower roughly $3,000 a year.
While the proposal faces an uphill battle in Congress, Obama said he is not waiting to take action. Announcing a new homeowners’ Bill of Rights and streamlined mortgage form, the president explained that he understands what it’s like to be stumped by all the paperwork.
“I remember when Michelle and I bought our first condo, and we were both lawyers. And we’re looking through the forms, and we’re kind of holding it out reading it again: What does this phrase mean? And that’s, you know, for two trained lawyers,” he said.
“The forms, the confusion, the potential for abuse is too great, just because the forms were too complicated. So this is what a mortgage form should look like,” he said brandishing the new one.
Calling the housing challenge “massive in size and in scope,” the president admitted his previous efforts to boost the housing market have not lived up to his expectations. “I’ll be honest. The programs that we put forward haven’t worked at the scale we hoped,” he said.
The president’s latest proposal comes as the Republican presidential candidates head to Nevada, the state with the highest foreclosure rate in the country. “After promising to help millions, we continue to see the same proposals from President Obama and getting the same results, a deepening housing crisis,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said in response to the president’s speech. “Americans are tired of talking in circles on housing, tired of the rhetoric, they want results and in November they’re going to elect someone who can deliver.”
Best Commencement Speeches of 2012 
Joe Biden Recalls Death of Wife, Daughter
Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat…
Posted by: foggy | February 1, 2012, 1:11 pm 1:11 pm
Hello America, February 01 2012
I know listening to them, makes me want to start singing.
“Down the lane, I walk with my sweet Mary, hair of gold and lips like cherries,
its good to touch the green, green grass of home.
Then I stop and look around me at the four walls that surround me.
and I realize, that I was only dreamin.
There’s the Guard and there’s Barrack Obama,
the suckwad stole Social Security from my mama.
its good to touch the green, green grass of home.”
I think I forgot some of the verses.
:)
sincerely Fezzy Bear
Posted by: Fezzy Bear | February 1, 2012, 1:20 pm 1:20 pm
Here we go again. The last proposal of obam’s sent housing into record foreclosures.Last yr. we had more homes foreclosed than in the history of this country. Keep your plan to yourself obam, let the pros figure this out,not a community organizer. Thanks but no thanks.
Posted by: specialty57 | February 1, 2012, 1:22 pm 1:22 pm
Last time when Obam thought he was punishing banks with regulations they did not bat a eye. They just passed the cost on to the consumer just like the credit card companies did. Highest credit card rates in history now. Tax them all you want along with big business, they don’t care, just pass it right on down the line.
Posted by: specialty57 | February 1, 2012, 1:32 pm 1:32 pm
Really Specialty? Greed in a free market country led to record foreclosures. And greed will continue to rule the free markets. The private sector doesn’t want to give back to the community, but then they complain when any government agency tries to supply social services, i.e. tax the public for providing what the private sector doesn’t. I’m a devout Libertarian, but I’m a realist.
Posted by: Gdad | February 1, 2012, 1:35 pm 1:35 pm
Success of American is not the result of smarter people or better education it is from people willing to take risks. Those people who have their “skin in the game” will do their best to succeed while those who expect “big government” to do all of the thinking do only the minimum necessary. President Obama is doing his best to vilify those who innovate and are successful! He has no clue why his “big government” approach promotes mediocrity!
Posted by: Common _ Sense | February 1, 2012, 1:38 pm 1:38 pm
Success of American is not the result of smarter people or better education it is from people willing to take risks.
Posted by: Common _ Sense | February 1, 2012, 1:38 pm 1:38 pm
You mean like how Bush was willing to take the risk of plunging the country into trillions in Chinese debt?
Posted by: Sue | February 1, 2012, 1:47 pm 1:47 pm
Day late and a dollar short…
Posted by: scott | February 1, 2012, 1:59 pm 1:59 pm
“The forms, the confusion, the potential for abuse is too great, just because the forms were too complicated.”
Makes one wonder if he actually read the Obamacare bill.
Posted by: wheresmymoney | February 1, 2012, 2:03 pm 2:03 pm
“It’s personal. It affects so much of how people feel about their lives, about their communities, about the country, about the economy. We need to do everything in our power to repair the damage and make responsible families whole again.” (So we can continue to game the system, and arrange for continued wealth transfer to the politicians, bankers, and foreign Masters, well into the future?)
Posted by: k | February 1, 2012, 2:04 pm 2:04 pm
He just has to show that he is making “an effort.” It will be defeated, and people will continue to suffer, and nothing will change in the future-kleptocrats rule.
Posted by: k | February 1, 2012, 2:08 pm 2:08 pm
What exactly arethe Republican policies regarding housing?
Oh yea, lower taxes on the rich and deregulate industries – just like Bush did. That turned out well didn’t it.
Posted by: sylvie | February 1, 2012, 2:14 pm 2:14 pm
The President is trying to give people some avenue to keep their homes.
Romney’s plan is to let the homes be foreclosed, do nothing to intervene until the housing markets hit bottom. Then speculators could buy up the foreclosed homes and rent them out. This would force people who were thrown out of their homes buy new ones again.
Posted by: tmferretti | February 1, 2012, 2:40 pm 2:40 pm
Nothing more than a thinly veiled campaign for votes.
Posted by: Robert Jordan | February 1, 2012, 2:44 pm 2:44 pm
That sounds good
Posted by: Robert Wiley | February 1, 2012, 2:57 pm 2:57 pm
Nothing more than a thinly veiled campaign for votes.
Posted by: Robert Jordan | February 1, 2012, 2:44 pm 2:44 pm
And the Republican approach to housing is?
Posted by: Ben | February 1, 2012, 2:57 pm 2:57 pm
is the president aware and willing to admit that many of the homeowners that were crushed in the latest economic downturn were not “middle class”? that in fact many of them were specifically given loans because they fit into certain “low income” loan groups? didn’t anyone at the time question the reasonableness of extending homeownership to those who were essentially among the working poor? the concept that everyone who has a job should own a home is ridiculous and it’s one of the factors that led to the collapse…people getting loans who never should have gotten them. home ownership is the american dream, it’s not a right.
Posted by: grumpopolis | February 1, 2012, 3:06 pm 3:06 pm
Get rid of mortgage insurance and you get rid of half the problems. People who can qualify for the lower rate, still have to pay several hundred $$$ a month for mortgage insurance, because they owe more than the house is appraised at. After you tap on the mortgage insurance, it’s hardly worth the re-fi. Again…the big banks that were bailed out by the government, continue to screw the one ones that actually paid their bills on time. What’s wrong with this picture?
Posted by: Lorri | February 1, 2012, 3:10 pm 3:10 pm
“…and the Republican’s approach to housing is…?”…….Well, for a good START, our plan is to get rid of obama, reid, and pelosi. That is the basics. Real leaders take over and the blame game stops. Pretty simple, actually. Then some of the GOP sponsored bills from the House will see the light of day in the Senate (the bills that are being hidden and quashed by reid to protect the Dems). A balanced budget will be mandated, deficit spending will be stopped, tax loopholes will be closed, and our economy will recover. Simple and no pandering to special interests.
Posted by: ncpilot15 | February 1, 2012, 3:12 pm 3:12 pm
“I’ll be honest. The programs that we put forward haven’t worked at the scale we hoped,”
Thanks to the greed of the CEO’s whose bonuses depend on the plans failing.
Posted by: Pat | February 1, 2012, 3:13 pm 3:13 pm
The reason those people who shouldn’t have qualified for a home loan got them was that the Bush administration de-regulated Fannie May, Freddie Mac and the banks. Before those regulations were lifted a certain income was required or collateral up to 80% of the value of the home.
The same with Wall Street, regulations kept financial institution from dealing in derivatives and other risky investments until they were lifted at the insistence of the republicans. This is not new; the republicans did the same thing in the Hoover administration that led to “Black Monday” when people were jumping out of windows.
Now the republicans want to de-regulate again so we can do it all over.
Posted by: tmferretti | February 1, 2012, 3:19 pm 3:19 pm
Posted by: ncpilot15 | February 1, 2012, 3:12 pm 3:12 pm
So you’re saying the Republicans offer no housing approach whatsoever. That’s not getting my vote.
Posted by: Ben | February 1, 2012, 3:28 pm 3:28 pm
TMFERRETTI, I think if you look you will find Bill “slick” Willy’s name on deregulation. Matter of fact he said it was his biggest mistake he ever made(besides his wife). Now apologize to Bush. He has been blamed enough by Obam to last forever. Blamed for things Pelosi, Reid, Hillary, Barney,Dodd,and even Obam himself had a hand in.
Posted by: specialty57 | February 1, 2012, 3:34 pm 3:34 pm
Obama’s plan is to ‘Rob From The Rich And Give To The Dead Beats’, the GOP would have just put them back to work so they could pay their bills, but Obama’s zero jobs policy makes that impossible!
Thanks to Democrats like Barny Frank, so many people got loans they could never pay back!
Posted by: BIG JIMMY | February 1, 2012, 3:36 pm 3:36 pm
Thanks to Democrats like Barny Frank, so many people got loans they could never pay back!
Posted by: BIG JIMMY | February 1, 2012, 3:36 pm 3:36 pm
Bush’s actions speak for themselves . . .
1) Bush homeownership plan aims at $5.5 million lift for minorities (2003)
President Bush announced an Administration effort to increase home ownership rates among African Americans and Hispanics by 5.5 million by 2010.
The plan would provide down payment assistance to 40,000 minority homebuyers each year . . .
Bush’s plan would be closely tied to some $440 million in minority loan programs offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. President Bush commended Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s efforts,
2) 2004: Under President Bush, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announces that it will require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, also known as the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) “to increase their purchase of mortgages for low- and moderate-income families and underserved communities.” In order to meet these new requirements, the GSEs begin purchasing mortgage-backed securities made up of subprime loans.
All the Democrats fault apparently – majority Republican congress and Republican presidency.
Posted by: Jimbo | February 1, 2012, 3:42 pm 3:42 pm
Wasn’t the problem giving loans to unqualified people without enough “red tape”? . What does the President consider “a small fee on the largest financial institutions”? This is not a “small” problem with a “small” solution! If it were a small problem the previous bank bailout would have worked! Based on the stock market reception of this proposal it will put the banks with their employees out of business! President Obama is telling fairy tales again!
Posted by: Common _ Sense | February 1, 2012, 3:48 pm 3:48 pm
Wasn’t the problem giving loans to unqualified people without enough “red tape”? .
Posted by: Common _ Sense | February 1, 2012, 3:48 pm 3:48 pm
If you read the article above, you will see the intent of the President’s proposal . .
“the president has asked Congress for a tax on large banks to help “responsible homeowners” who are current on their payments refinance at today’s low rates.”
It has nothing to do with ‘giving loans to unqualified people”.
Posted by: Jan | February 1, 2012, 3:55 pm 3:55 pm
The housing market is going down regardless of any government program, all the government program will do is extend the time it takes to collapse, thus making things painful longer. If the government wanted to do something, the would buy and demolish as many foreclosed and empty homes as they could get their hands on.
Posted by: snewsom2997 | February 1, 2012, 3:59 pm 3:59 pm
The housing market is going down regardless of any government program, all the government program will do is extend the time it takes to collapse, thus making things painful longer.
Posted by: snewsom2997 | February 1, 2012, 3:59 pm 3:59 pm
The housing market will eventually come back up again. The purpose of a government assistance program would be to keep families in their homes long enough to weather the economic hardships until the market comes back up again.
Posted by: Link Wray | February 1, 2012, 4:09 pm 4:09 pm
Posted by: Link Wray—The problem is the government doesn’t have a crystal ball. Just like the stimulus was a gamble, to see if the money would last longer than the down turn, so to will any government housing assistance. When the stimulus was spent those people who benefited lost their breathing room, and their State Jobs, just like this year the government assistance is over now people will go back to losing their homes they could not afford.. The government cannot say in 1 year 2 years 10 years the economy will get better. The government job is not to invest, it is not to gamble on the economy, it i to guarantee our constitutional rights, everything else is left to the states. Lesson to all if you don’t think you will have 15-30 years of stable income and employment, don’t buy a house you may or may not be able to sell for more than you paid for it. A Mortgage is a trap, today, not any help, in order to be competitive you have to be mobile, a house you cannot sell does not make you mobile, and you cannot expect to work at the employer much less the same city for the time it takes to pay off a note. My generation will be less inclined to buy a house with credit, because we have seen that it is not an investment, buying with credit to make money good, buy with credit to buy stuff bad, houses cars, included.
Posted by: snewsom2997 | February 1, 2012, 4:17 pm 4:17 pm
Typical Progressive Move ——- 1) Tried this twice before and it failed… but for political points, try it again… 2) Act like your helping “the people”… 3) charge fees to the banks… 4) BLAME banks when they must raise fees… 4) tout your “activity” to help “the people” even when this one fails, too… 5) never mention other failures with this same idea… and the media will never call you out anyway!! — Like I said… typical!!
Posted by: TheLoyalOpposition | February 1, 2012, 4:30 pm 4:30 pm
SPECIALTY57: yes, he’s trying to revive our home values, not like Bush who created our economic crisis by over spending our tax payer money by went to war in Iraq which had a bogus massive weapon destruction report. if you get the fact straight, we would have been in the worst situation if he didn’t execute the bail out.
Posted by: maxpain | February 1, 2012, 4:35 pm 4:35 pm
Just like the stimulus was a gamble, to see if the money would last longer than the down turn, so to will any government housing assistance.
Posted by: snewsom2997 | February 1, 2012, 4:17 pm 4:17 pm
I’m not sure you have the purpose of the stimulus right, but I agree with most of what you said about staying mobile. Harder with children, but I agree.
As far as keeping people in homes they couldn’t afford in the first place, there are various causes, not the least of which is . ..
1) Bush homeownership plan aims at $5.5 million lift for minorities (2003)
President Bush announced an Administration effort to increase home ownership rates among African Americans and Hispanics by 5.5 million by 2010.
The plan would provide down payment assistance to 40,000 minority homebuyers each year . . .
Bush’s plan would be closely tied to some $440 million in minority loan programs offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. President Bush commended Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s efforts.
___________________________________
That’s right, the majority Republican Congress and the Republican president putting in place a program to use taxpayers’ money to pay down payments for people who didn’t earn enough money to afford a down payment.
Posted by: Link Wray | February 1, 2012, 4:35 pm 4:35 pm
What’s not clear is who is going to get screwed. You KNOW someone will get screwed.
Posted by: newcountryman | February 1, 2012, 4:46 pm 4:46 pm
yes MrCountryman someone will get screwed. I think it should be the banks that got the bailout that should refinance the loans. BUT THEY DON’t , they just give themselves big bonus’ like it was 1999. Typical elite , usually GOP but not always. GOP is so for corporate welfare that it is killing our country. We the people need to stand up for our rights, & Obama is the man that will help. You say NO? I say no to you.
Posted by: MrE_mann | February 1, 2012, 4:55 pm 4:55 pm
Posted by: Link Wray—They didn’t get my vote then they won’t get it now, neither will the Democrats. I am not a Republican I am a Libertarian, about the only way I would vote republican is if Ron Paul wins and he won’t, because he is not a republican he is a libertarian.
Posted by: snewsom2997 | February 1, 2012, 4:55 pm 4:55 pm
Liberals need to WISE up. If you think republicans don’t care about the people, well if the Democrats had taken all that bailout money(especially all those bankrupt energy companies that we paid for) and given it to the little people who own homes, then the problem of our economy would already have been solved. Washington is a hopeless mess because neither party cares about us the litttle people.
Posted by: rockychance | February 1, 2012, 5:00 pm 5:00 pm
So you’re saying the Republicans offer no housing approach whatsoever. That’s not getting my vote.
POSTED BY: BEN | FEBRUARY 1, 2012, 3:28 PM—-Really??? Big surprise there!!!! LOL!!! Is your last name Dover?
Posted by: edward | February 1, 2012, 5:54 pm 5:54 pm
“If you think republicans don’t care about the people…”
If??
Now that’s funny.
They don’t care about people unless by people you mean corporations.
Posted by: Jen | February 1, 2012, 5:58 pm 5:58 pm
So how many of you lefties work for corporations or do you sit at home all day whining about things you don’t have?
Posted by: cluelesslib | February 1, 2012, 6:07 pm 6:07 pm
What is the Republican plan regarding the housing crisis? Seems a simple enough question and there are a lot of Republican supporters come to this blog. What is the Republican party’s policy on the housing crisis?
Posted by: Jim | February 1, 2012, 6:53 pm 6:53 pm
Who do you think the banks are going to pass this fee onto…..?????
Posted by: reality | February 1, 2012, 7:06 pm 7:06 pm
Jim said What is the Republican plan regarding the housing crisis?=====At this point they will watch this idea of charging the banks a fee implode on Obama since even a fair number of democrats in Congress don’t support it.
Posted by: zebra | February 1, 2012, 7:11 pm 7:11 pm
Jim (6:53 PM); One alternative is to offer banks a “tax credit” as an incentive to refinance qualified mortages instead of a “bank tax”. It’s the difference between a political philosophy using the carrot vs. the whip. Honey vs. vinegar. Get it? Maybe not.
Posted by: newcountryman | February 1, 2012, 7:25 pm 7:25 pm
The Republican (and Romney) plan is to sit and wait till the market hits bottom. Also, they believe Washington should serve rather than regulate banks. And they’re not concerned about the poor.
On another note but related to posts here, every wave of conservative ascendency in this country has begun with bold rhetoric about cutting government, rolling back regulations, and shrinking the welfare state. Each ended with the government having grown considerably larger.Those are the facts. Two examples are the Reagan era and the dismal 00′s when George W. Bush was in the WH and the GOP held leadership of Congress.
Posted by: J-bone | February 2, 2012, 9:44 am 9:44 am
Posted by: J-bone | February 2, 2012, 9:44 am 9:44 am
But you like big government, so why are you complaining?
Posted by: Ed | February 2, 2012, 10:45 am 10:45 am