Tag archives for Taxpayers

Fannie and Freddie Force $180 Billion Buy-Back for Bad Loans

The four largest banks in the country – Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citibank – may be forced to buy back nearly half of the bad loans that the sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to help relieve stress on the GSEs. It appears that repurchase requests will center around loans that were made without adequate Read full article »

Threatened With The Axe, Fannie And Freddie Survive Again

Note:  A special free training event is being held to reveal a LOOPHOLE in the recent Freddie Mac publication that effectively eliminates the A-B-C short sale flip.  Your invitation to this training is at the end of this article. In a vote split 56 to 43, senators decided to keep Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their current forms on Tuesday Read full article »

Taking “Renters’ Rights” to a New Level

Two house Democrats have introduced a bill that will essentially create a “right to rent” for homeowners facing foreclosure if it is passed. The bill allows families facing foreclosure to petition a judge to stay in their homes as renters under a 5-year lease. An independent appraiser would be appointed to set a fair market rental value for the home, Read full article »

Suspending Foreclosures – A Government Idea To Increase Foreclosures

Congressman Barnie Frank (Democrat from Massachusetts) is urging lenders to suspend foreclosures.  Granted, he's currently focusing this request on lenders who have received federal money from the TARP program, but if that happens, he'll certainly pressure all major lenders to do the same thing.  So the question is:  Is it a wise idea? I'm going to weigh in on this right 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.