Dozens of mortgage bailout polls have been conducted since the beginning of this year. For the most part, Americans seem split on whether or not the…
Dozens of mortgage bailout polls have been conducted since the beginning of this year. For the most part, Americans seem split on whether or not the…
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View Housing Market Watch RSS feedSome politicians are in favor of providing assistance to the millions of homeowners who are facing default as a result of poor decision-making and falling home prices. Others are dead set against it. Let's see where the American people stand.
BY PAT SUMMERS
Dozens of mortgage bailout polls have been conducted since the beginning of this year. For the most part, Americans seem split on whether or not the government should intervene to ease the foreclosure crisis.
In a nationwide telephone poll of 2,208 adults conducted May 1-8, the LA Times and Bloomberg found that 60 percent of people support 'the federal government providing assistance to individual homeowners who have been caught between rising mortgage payments and falling home values.'
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Source: LA Times
Only 25 percent of people opposed government assistance and 15 percent said they weren't sure. Low income respondents seemed to be the most sympathetic in this poll. Sixty-eight percent of people earning less than $40,000 per year were in favor of government assistance. In contrast, only 40 percent of people who earned $101,000 or more supported the idea of government help.
A CNN/Opinion Research Poll conducted between April 28 and April 30 found that 49 percent of the 1,008 adults surveyed thought that homeowners facing default should receive special treatment. Forty-eight percent were against assistance for homeowners, and the remaining three percent were undecided.
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Source: CNN
A similar poll conducted by CNN in December of 2007 had similar results: 51 percent believed special treatment was in order, while 46 percent were against a bailout.
A Gallup Poll conducted March 24 through March 27 asked 1,005 adults if the federal government should take steps to help prevent people from losing their homes because they can't pay their mortgages. Fifty-six percent of people said yes, while 42 percent said no.
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Source: Gallup
Democrats favored federal intervention by a 61 percent to 27 percent margin. Fifty percent of Independents and 40 percent of Republicans supported help from the federal government.
Between March 19 and March 20, Rasmussen Reports surveyed 1,000 adults about mortgage bailouts. One of the questions they asked during the telephone survey was: should homeowners who borrowed more than they could afford be helped out by the federal government?
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Source: Rasmussen Reports
Fifty-three percent of those who responded said no. Twenty-nine said yes and 17 percent were undecided. The same people were also asked whether or not the government should help banks who made bad loans. Sixty one percent said no and 15 percent said yes.
An open letter to all of the lawmakers and taxpayers who think a mortgage bailout is what we need to solve the housing crisis.
To get borrowers to leave a house--and leave it in good condition--mortgage lenders around the nation have begun offering cash for keys. Some lenders are paying out upwards of $3,000.
Democrats unveiled a new plan last week that will allow the FHA to buy $300 billion in delinquent, underwater mortgages. The initial cost to taxpayers is estimated to be $20 billion.
The worst housing slump since the Great Depression is prompting all manner of new bailout plans. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke encourages banks to forgive portions of mortgage debt, the Democrats propose using billions in federal dollars on buying up bad loans, and the Bush Administration is prepared to dump bank losses on the taxpayers' shoulders.
Should mortgage borrowers at risk of losing their home be given a bailout? What about lenders who face lost profits? Four recent polls ask Americans where they stand on these issues.
Many people may be losing their homes to foreclosure because of legitimate financial crises, but there are even more people losing their homes because of lender follies as well as their own greed and stupidity. Here are five stories in particular that will be sure to induce fits of eye-rolling.
If you have followed the news at all over the last few months, then you know that the public has been spoon fed a spate of tearjerker news stories that are meant to paint struggling mortgage borrowers as victims. These stories talk about the importance of staving off foreclosures and helping people who need it, but they very rarely touch on the truth of the matter: most mortgage borrowers were reckless and do not deserved to be rescued.
Are you familiar with home loan terminology like adjustable rate, credit score and interest-only? Knowing this home loan jargon can help you become a savvy home buyer and allow you to better understand a realtor or lender. Read this article for explanations of these home loan terms.
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