All Forum Posts by: Pedro Gonzalez

Taz:

You brought up some good points. I agree with you that moving forward we will have to change the way we operate.

Welcome to BP!

What do you do at the Army?

Tiffany:

Welcome to BP!

Tell us a little bit more about the type of properties you have available and how is the real estate market in DC.

Welcome to BP! You will find a lot great information here and meet a lot of intelligent people that will provide guidance and ideas as you go on on your real estate ventures.

Jay:

It would relieve the major banks and investment firms of their large amounts of loans in their books, that otherwise would go bad and people would be put on the streets and continue the lowering of prices of housing.

I dont think it will save every American from losing their houses. There are about 500,000 homeowners right now in foreclosure proceedings. They may not be saved.

As many other members have shared, I am not a big fan of the bailout plan. However, I say it is worth evaluating. Consider the results of doing nothing.

What solutions do you offer?

Jon:

I mean easing the guildelines to an area where it is better than now. As you said at the pace we are going we will see 50% down payments.

I mean the issuance of good paper with prudent lending guidelines (10% to 20% downpayment). The wacky guidelines of 2000 I dont want to see, there were no foundations for them and they got us into this mess.

I like the fact that you mentioned the dotcoms, which was another sector that had no fundamentals and many ealy signs that people ignored. This meltdown in the housing and finance industry was predicted and many ignored the early signs.

The change in status will allow these investment firms to take deposits, which in turn will provide them a steady source of financing, Both institutions had come under pressure ever since the bankruptcy filing last week by investment bank Lehman Brothers and the forced sale of investment bank Merrill Lynch to Bank of America.

We may see more mergers coming in the financial sector, Watch for Wachovia Bank.

Despite the $700 billion rescue of the financial industry, I am afraid it will do little to ease lending standards so more homebuyers can qualify for loans, nor has it had much affect on mortgage interest rates so far.

By purchasing mortgages in massive quantities from banks and other lenders, we should see a stop on foreclosures and help more Americans keep their homes, which will act as a brake on decreasing prices of residential real estate.

The question is, how fast can they act?

The news of the bailout seems geared to restoring the confidence in the U.S. financial markets. Unfortunately, I dont think we will see the positive results in the real estate market and among homebuyers in the near future.

I remain hopeful that we are at the bottom of the recession and the we are in the process of recovery and that this bail program will create stability in the housing market which in turn will create stability in the financial market and the US economy.

It would be total caos. I have read your comments about the past and how in the old years... The problem was not the loans, credit cards, etc it was the decisions made by us on the use of the credit. Banks flirted us with attractive rates, unreasonable mortgage LTV of even 125%, interest only loans, etc and our greed ate us. We should have known that the party was going to end. There was no contingency plan.

We need solutions, we need to learn from our past, we need to get back to basics. Investments must make sense short-term as well as long-term.

Letting our whole economy collapse, I don't think is the solution. The bailout, with all of its flaws that we may want to see on it, is much better than a total depression for this nation.

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