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EconoMeter panelists eye Obama's latest housing program

U-T EconoMeter

Roger Showley, SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

Sunday, October 30, 2011

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Kelly Cunningham, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

Answer: NO

Although the idea has some merit, another program designed to cover over problems and impede necessary adjustments to fix mortgages will be as largely immaterial as previous modification programs. Qualifications are so strict and bureaucratic that many may not qualify. To date, administration's programs reduced the debt of just 0.1 percent of underwater borrowers, with default rates still estimated to be as high as 65 percent. Refinancing makes negative equity more bearable but does not reduce it. Allowing the foreclosure process to proceed as rapidly as possible to get through liquidation, reallocation and recovery, the sooner the housing market will be healthy again.