I have written about the new proposed legislature designed to give a boost to the slump in real estate. A $7500 tax credit for new home buyers, an increase in FHA loan limits and more money to assist homeowners in refinancing their inflated mortgage loans after adjustable rates have increased.

There are three camps when it comes to real estate and government intervention. Take a peek inside these tents and hear from campers from all three tents of opinion.

Camp Help Yourself

Not all folks are convinced government intervention is the way to go, as evidenced by this comment to the post First-time home buyers, there’s a $7500 tax credit in town:

Teed Off Homeowner says:

I’m getting progressively more ticked off at the actions of those in charge vis a vis the housing market. I’m current on my mortgage, and at least at the moment, I’m solvent. I’m not behind on my taxes.

Where’s my bailout? Where’s my principal reduction and below-market interest rate? Do I at least get fractional ownership in the houses of those getting bailouts? No, I just get soaked for higher taxes to fund the bailouts, and banks that ought to fail under the weight of their bad lending decisions get to keep my money and stay solvent at my expense.

Camp Ambivalent

There are other homeowners who question the long-term effects of helping with downpayment assistance. Here’s a peek into that thought pattern in the form of a comment left to a post I wrote, Downpayment assistance goes down the drain October 1st:

Christine says:

I’m a little torn on this subject. I am for down payment assistance, because I myself had the seller credit my closing cost, and had to put very little money down when buying my house last November.

On the same token, I think we (America) need to get back to old time practices of saving money and not spending money you don’t have. I don’t think that people really have any business buying a house, if they can’t come up with 3 or 5% to put down on it. What if the home needs repairs or if they lose their job?

They should have some sort of savings to use for these things. If they don’t even have money for a down payment, how will they afford to take care of the house. I am most guilty of this. I probably should not have bought a house. Sure I am making my payments, but if some major repair came along, I would be in trouble.

If I lost my job, I would lose my house. It’s risky, and letting people get homes with nothing down is a big reason why we are in the financial mess we are in. Putting people in homes who couldn’t afford them.

So I can see why they are putting an end to down payment assistance, but I think they should also focus on educating people on what it takes to own a home and how to manage money better. They should also make it affordable to more middle and lower class people to own a home. Homes are way over priced!

Camp Lend a Hand

How about the pro-assistance opinion? There are many folks who feel the government may be one of the only sources that can help real estate right now. Here’s a comment in response to my blog post, First time home-buyers: there’s a $7500 tax credit in town:

Jane says:

Count your blessing day by day that you are not in that position. Also it is not free as you read. It is just a little extra cash to get started.

Which camp are you in? I’d love to hear your tent preference. Take a break from your sleeping bag and comment below. 

Posted by Rebecca D. Levinson

Tags: $7500 tax credit, fha loan limits, financial assistance for first time home buyers, real estate, refinancing

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 8:33 am and is filed under Current Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.