double POSITIVE Marketing Group, Inc.

What do you think, any reason why the Senate shouldn’t pass H.R. 1852 (listed below)?

How does this fall in with Bush’s feelings:

“I plan to help homeowners, the government’s got a role to play,” Bush said. “But it’s not the government’s job to bail out speculators or those who made the decision to buy a home they couldn’t afford.”

Sounds like a “bail out” to me, wouldn’t you agree?

I think the plan seems to be a win win for the people facing foreclosure, for the mortgage industry and for the economy as a whole. Getting the mortgage and housing industries back on track can only bolster the economy. Or is that true? I thought the rate cuts were a positive move fort he economy, but at least one source disagrees.

“Despite Fed cuts, mortgage rates rise. The Federal Reserve’s recent bid to boost the economy by cutting interest rates has apparently backfired when it comes to mortgages.” (Check out the entire article)

Is the fate of the industry truly in the hands of the government, and are they up for the task?

———————————————————————–

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSES H.R. 1852 MAKING IT EASIER TO OBTAIN FHA LOANS IF THE SENATE FOLLOWS SUIT

FACTS

The new law will enable FHA to serve more subprime borrowers at affordable rates and terms, recapture borrowers that have turned to predatory loans in recent years, and offer refinancing loan opportunities to borrowers struggling to meet their mortgage payments in the midst of the current turbulent mortgage markets. The bill contains the following important points for you the mortgage broker:

â?¢ Lower down payments. Authorizes zero and lower down payment loans for borrowers that can afford mortgage payments, but lack the cash for a required down payment.

â?¢ Housing counseling. Authorizes more than double the current funding level for housing counseling, to help subprime homebuyers and borrowers late on mortgage loan payments.

â?¢ Subprime borrowers. Directs FHA to provide mortgage loans to higher risk (but qualified) borrowers, without authorizing unnecessary fee hikes on such borrowers.

â?¢ Reverse mortgages. Helps seniors pay for health and other expenses, by removing the loan cap to avoid program shutdowns, raising loan limits, and by reducing the maximum fee lenders can charge for these loans.

â?¢ Multifamily loans. Raises FHA multifamily loan limits, so these loans can fully fund construction costs in high cost areas, and enhances sale of foreclosed FHA rental housing loans to localities, so that affordable housing can be maintained in local communities.

â?¢ Affordable housing fund. Authorizes up to $300 million a year from the bill’s excess profits for affordable housing, instead of returning such funds to the General Treasury.

â?¢ Higher loan limits. Adopts the Frank/Miller/Cardoza amendment that would raise FHA single family loan limits, which now bar loans above 95% of the median home price in each local area and shut FHA out of higher cost home markets. The amendment raises the FHA loan limit in each area to the lower of (a) 125% of the local area median home price or (b) 175% of the national GSE conforming loan limit. The amendment also retains the bill’s provision for a nationwide FHA loan floor of 65% of the GSE conforming loan limit, and gives HUD authority to raise these loan limit amounts by up to $100,000 “if market conditions warrant.’

â?¢ Directs FHA to make available refinancing loans to existing qualified homeowners who are in default or at risk of default due to rate resets or mortgage market conditions, and to authorize lower down payments for such purpose. The amendment also includes provisions to address problems arising from inflated appraisals.

Last week, Geosemble, a geospatial data integration company launched a new lead generation service that uses a satellite program (similar to Google Earth) to generate highly targeted sales leads. Here’s how it works: the satellite takes its images and identifies houses with swimming pools, driveways and roofs in need of repair, empty backyards, etc.  The data is cross-referenced with city parcel data to find name, address, and phone number information that corresponds with the property, and that information is then sold to manufacturers and service providers for those items: swimming pool maintenance,  lawn furniture manufacturers, home improvement contractors; anyone that would be interested enough in that information to pay for it. The development of the technology was funded in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation– part of the U.S. Federal Government….

So now this gets me thinking…although the concept is arguably genius, is it ethical to sell information gathered from pictures the customer doesn’t even know are being taken? To me, it evokes an image of a private investigator, taking unauthorized photos from behind a bush and reporting back to his client with juicy details of the subject’s life.

When it comes to satellite-generated sales leads, is it an invasion of privacy or just public information?