Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Covina. Banks Learn a Lesson in Mark to Reality and the $300 Billion FHA Bailout.

We are once again firmly in Wonderland and falling deeper into the rabbit hole as the market is responding to negative news as if it just won a Powerball contest. On Monday, UBS AG announced another $19 billion in writedowns putting it firmly in the lead of all those in the writedown 500. The race of course is dominated by investment banks and each writedown simply is a reflection of poorer performing mortgage assets;, aka Real Homes of Genius with sub-prime loans. Yet this is fantastic news somehow and the amazing plan that will turn the market around? Dilution of shares! You really have to enjoy the headline for this article: And what does this plan further entail? “To rebuild its cushion against further losses, UBS is seeking shareholder approval to raise $15 billion by selling new shares to existing shareholders in a so-called rights issue. “Our firm turned a page today at the end of a bitter chapter,” said Marcel Rohner, chief executive of UBS. “We will return our company to profitability.” The write-downs at UBS and Deutsche Bank put financial firms’ total losses on subprime-mortgage investments well above $150 billion — more than halfway to the eventual total of $285 billion forecast by ratings firm Standard & Poor’s. That is based on a total of $1.4 trillion of subprime securities issued from 2005 through the third quarter of last year.” It seems like a pattern is emerging here. First, if you are a large investment bank facing sub-prime problems you must: A. Oust your leader with of course a nice severance package B. Decide to sell more shares and call it “turning around” or some other cheerleading tagline C. Announce the news in conjunction with horrible news (i.e., $19 billion in writedowns) D. Add a touch of oregano and the market rallies E. Rinse and repeat If all goes bad, you always know that the Federal Reserve will step in and provide a back stop to a total collapse. There isn’t much to lose for those on Wall Street. Yet we now realize fully that the Fed cutting rates is doing nothing except kicking the dollar in the gonads and doing nothing to save the American homeowner. This has been the implication of course, that the rate cuts would somehow inject stability into the market which of course it has not. Now that we realize this hasn’t done much aside from diluting our US Dollar and we are still heading toward a recession, we get the amazing and fantastic $300 billion bailout via the FHA. Let us look at this puppy with closer eyes: “Program would permit FHA to provide [up to $300 billion] in new guarantees that would help to refinance at-risk borrowers into viable mortgages. In exchange for the acceptance of a substantial write-down of principal, the existing lender or mortgage holder would receive a short payment from the proceeds of a new FHA loan if the restructured loan would result in terms that the borrower can reasonably be expected to pay. The existing lender or mortgage holder will have a cash payment and no further credit exposure to the borrower. This could potentially refinance between 1 and 2 million loans (and help these families stay in their homes), protect neighborhoods and help stabilize the housing market.” Language is absolutely critical here. Whether you agree with this plan or not, this is a government sponsored bailout. I realize that this problem does require some solutions but if we are to seriously talk about these issues, let us call them for what they are. Heck, even Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank has this on the proposals: “FRANK ANNOUNCES NEW ECONOMIC, MORTGAGE AND HOUSING RESCUE PROPOSAL” So let us go back to the first paragraph. First, the wording on “viable mortgages” is very ambiguous. Does this mean 30 year fixed mortgages? Does this mean new mortgage products? Also, we read that lenders will need to accept “substantial” write-downs of principal to unload mortgages but what is substantial? Does that mean that the government will use independent appraisers to go to properties to accurately assess a value? If they are planning on allowing current appraisers to do the work this leaves the door wide open for more fraud and gaming of the system. Look what they’ve done with the current housing market! This here is extremely important since homes should be valued for their current market value and discounted at current rates. It is clear even from the first paragraph that this will bailout mortgage holders. What if the property is worthless? There are some areas that simply have no market so how are these going to be valued? There does appear to be some back stops for these contingencies: “Eligibility Requirements for Existing Loans (Requires All of the Following) :

• Owner-occupied principal residences only (no investors, speculators or second homes);
• [Existing senior loan being refinanced must have been originated between January 1, 2005 and July 1, 2007];
• To remove any incentive for borrowers to “purposely default,” the borrower must have had a mortgage debt-to-income ratio of no less that 40 percent as of March 1, 2008, and must certify that he/she has not intentionally defaulted on existing mortgage(s). Regulators can make exceptions for involuntary changes after that date;
• Participating mortgage holders/investors must waive any penalties or fees on the existing mortgage and must accept proceeds of the new loan as payment in full;
• Existing mortgage holders/investors must accept their losses - taking substantial write-down sufficient to establish a 5 percent loan loss reserve for the FHA, bring the loan-to-value ratio on the new FHA-loan down to no greater than 90 percent of property’s current appraised value, result in a meaningful reduction in mortgage debt service by the borrower, and to pay all up-front fees for the new loan. Accordingly, to qualify, mortgage holders would need to accept a substantial write-down, receiving no more than 85 percent of the property’s current appraised value as payment in full for the existing loans.”

I actually tend to agree with most points however, the main concern I hold is that if we are to use the current infrastructure of oversight, there is huge potential for fraud once again. Unless we have new entities coming in and ensuring appraisals are correct and accurate and verifying owner occupancy and also income, we will once again be going into liar loan territory. There is a lot to gain and lose here and the pressure to commit fraud by institutions is high. Those hungry for commissions will do anything they can to squeeze people into homes once again. If this plan does go through as is, it is incredibly important that stiff penalties and oversight are put over the lenders like a hawk. Some of the language here is too flexible. What do they mean by purposely default? Do they mean walking away? They have to be more specific here. Also, I’m certain that many investors will fight to keep the penalty fees in since that is a reason many brokers made out like bandits on these mortgages. The more toxic the higher the yield. Now who will be one of the few responsible for this oversight? “Increased Fraud Prevention/Oversight

• The HUD Secretary shall establish independent quality reviews to determine underwriter compliance, and rates of delinquency, claims and losses;
• Submit semi-annual reports to Congress; and
• HUD Inspector General shall conduct annual audit of the program.”

Bwahaha! You mean Alphonso Jackson who just resigned a few days ago under massive cronyism charges? Interesting how right on the back of this new FHA proposal the HUD Secretary resigns. Oh man we are so screwed. Real Homes of Genius - Today We Salute you Covina Let us not forget that there is a ton of junk floating out there. We are nowhere close to seeing the end of sub-prime resets and we haven’t even taken a look at Alt-A or Pay Option ARMs. These are the next ticking time bomb that should hit in 2009 through 2011. The above home just hit the market a few days ago. It is a 3 bedroom 2 bath home in the city of Covina. The home is currently bank owned so fortunately, this would not qualify for the new FHA plan. But let us take a look at the sales history here: Sale History 01/17/2008: $411,507 * 11/17/2003: $268,000 06/25/2002: $210,000 We can presume that the sale price in January was simply the bank taking the place back. You may be wondering, how can it be that a place that sold for $268,000 in 2003 now has a balance of $411,507 without any sales? Welcome to the next big issue, the home equity line and second mortgage problems. Given that recent data shows that $1.1 trillion in home equity mortgages is out there, and these certainly won’t qualify for the FHA bailout, we have another issue just waiting to fall. This place has a pool listed and one of the pictures shows that it has modern accents to it. Given that the home was built in 1954 I think you can put 2 and 2 together and have an idea where the 2 nd mortgage went. The current price is $370,000 and I’m sure given the 424 other homes for sale in Covina, this place will have stiff competition. There is a great new tool out by the New York Fed that uses data from Loan Performance to show mortgage market data across the U.S. This is a very useful tool and may run a bit slow given that I’m sure many are using it: I went ahead and ran the program on Covina and the results do not look promising: Share in foreclosure: 10.8% Share ARMs resetting in 12 mos: 43.2% Share low or no documentation: 47.5% Share ARMs: 73.8% And how we are close to a bottom with the above statistics is beyond me. Today we salute you Covina with our Real Homes of Genius Award . Did You Enjoy The Post? Subscribe to Dr. Housing Bubble’s Blog to get updated housing commentary, analysis, and information Share This Related Posts: ■ Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Pico Rivera. $300,000 for an 856 Square Foot Home with 5 Bedrooms? ■ Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Buena Park. $511,000 for 864 Square Feet. Even Knott’s Berry Farm is Cheaper! ■ Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Stanton. ■ Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Cerritos. All 88 Los Angeles County Cities Overpriced. ■ Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Pacoima. Zillow says $457,000 but Listed at $225,000?