Tag archives for Fannie Freddie

Trillion-Dollar Bailout of Fannie and Freddie?

Most of you probably saw this coming, but that does not make it any less unpleasant. Rumors are swirling that on top of the $145 billion the two mortgage giants have already received, the entities will need another roughly $1 trillion to meet the demands of a “reasonable worst-case scenario for the companies” should the market continue to resolve slowly Read full article »

Congressional Budget Office Declares Fannie, Freddie “Government Entities”

Despite the fact that taxpayers have already contributed more than $145 billion to bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner refuses to follow the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) recommendation that these two entities be considered part of the federal government. At this point in time, taxpayers own about 80 percent of the GSEs, and the Read full article »

It’s Official: The U.S. Government Takes Control of Fannie & Freddie

Before noon on Sunday, September 7, 2008, Henry Paulson (Secretary of the United States Treasury) and James Lockhart (head of Federal Housing Finance Agency) announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been taken over by the United States Government and will be placed in a "conservatorship".  Additionally, the U.S. government is authorized to invest up to $100 BILLION in Read full article »

Rumor Mill – Fannie And Freddie To Be Taken Over This Weekend

Persistent and reasonably well substantiated rumors suggest that the Federal Governmnet will fully take control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two "Government-Sponsored Entities" that dominate the U.S. mortgage business. This is a huge and historic development, profoundly negative though it is. The ramifications of such a move are not yet known, though it seems quite likely that foreclosed Fannie/Freddie properties Read full article »

Freddie Mac In Trouble – And How To Read It

This morning, Freddie Mac announced their earnings - or more correctly, their losses - for the second quarter of this year. It was bad - the losses were about triple what market analysts were expecting. What's interesting is the resulting action - or lack thereof - in the stock market. While Freddie Mac's shares have fallen hard again (down Read full article »

The Politics of Real Estate

Few industries are as profoundly impacted by the political machinations in Washington as the real estate industry. Whether it's old legislation like Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act or Barack Obama's massive mortgage bailouts, the U.S. political machine has a huge impact (usually bad) on the business of real estate.

Ideally, we could ignore politics. But here at the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter, we insist on seeing the world with clarity - including the reality of Washington's aggressive involvement in every facet of our business, from mortgage lending to real estate sales license; from loan modification regulations to appraisal requirements... every piece of our business is profoundly impacted by politics. So rather than stick our heads in the sand and ignore reality, readers of the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter choose to be informed and prepared.

About Bryan Ellis

Bryan Ellis is an Atlanta-based real estate analyst and publisher of the widely read newsletter "The Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter". With over 200,000 subscribers - including real estate investors, agents, brokers, appraisers and other real estate professionals - the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter is among America's largest sources of unbiased coverage of politics and public policy for the real estate industry.

Bryan Ellis serves as editor in chief for the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter and is assisted by an extraordinary staff of writers, researchers and editors who are each real estate experts in their own right and who assure that the news we report is well researched, factual, and highly relevant to today's real estate industry.

Bryan is very happily married and has two wonderful daughters. He makes his home in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. You can contact the team at the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter here.