$15,000 Rebate Checks For All Home Buyers???
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/15575616/detail.html
Sorry if this is posted somewhere else but I didn't see it so I was wondering what everyone thought. I actually think it's a good idea as it may slow down price declines which helps current owners and sellers and it give prospective buyers incentive to enter the market. I am looking in the 250k area in Thurston county and this would be a significant insurance policy for me, giving me some wiggle room for price depreciation.
I see a couple of negatives in that it wouldn't help with affordability by propping up prices and an estimated cost of 15 billion over 2years will cost everyone in general with taxes going to pay for it. It seems cheaper than if we have to bailout more banks because we let the home market totally die though. I liked that it's not just a bank and big business handout but helps buyers and sellers. Combined with stricter lending requirements, this may motivate qualified buyers to jump in. I know the rebate wouldn't be too much of an insurance policy with Seattle's median being so high but in the lower end areas it might work. Thought and comments? What am I missing other than the affordability and the tax payer contribution. Or is this some bogus article since I haven't heard about it at all until I noticed it today on another site.
Sorry if this is posted somewhere else but I didn't see it so I was wondering what everyone thought. I actually think it's a good idea as it may slow down price declines which helps current owners and sellers and it give prospective buyers incentive to enter the market. I am looking in the 250k area in Thurston county and this would be a significant insurance policy for me, giving me some wiggle room for price depreciation.
I see a couple of negatives in that it wouldn't help with affordability by propping up prices and an estimated cost of 15 billion over 2years will cost everyone in general with taxes going to pay for it. It seems cheaper than if we have to bailout more banks because we let the home market totally die though. I liked that it's not just a bank and big business handout but helps buyers and sellers. Combined with stricter lending requirements, this may motivate qualified buyers to jump in. I know the rebate wouldn't be too much of an insurance policy with Seattle's median being so high but in the lower end areas it might work. Thought and comments? What am I missing other than the affordability and the tax payer contribution. Or is this some bogus article since I haven't heard about it at all until I noticed it today on another site.
Comments
A) Many parts of the country saw no/little bubble. These are the cheaper parts, and this plan would immediately inflate prices in those areas by 10%-15%. This just spreads the bubble more.
C) It creates moral dilemma. Do this and how do you not retroactively bailing out previous buyers?
D) The poor still can't buy. You are stealing from them to give to the upper middle class.
Out with it Markor. Which district are you running for as a Democrat? Both parties are eager to put their stamp on every bailout that comes along. Take the tax payout that sailed through a Democrat controlled congress and was signed immediately by a Republican president. That is also paid for on borrowed funds.
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So basically any topic that even remotely is related to politics we get the same tirade. But it's okay because the topic is related to politics. And since the whole housing bubble is political we're going to see it on every single housing bubble related post too.
Maybe you can add this to your sig: "I hate all republicans past and present and blame them for all of the world's current and future problems." That would save you a lot of time and allow threads to stay somewhat on-topic.
I admit I'm pissed that I have to make major changes in my life, to try to make lemonade out of lemons, just because the people around me vote ignorantly. I think it's silly to discuss a housing bubble without considering its root causes and what's significantly exacerbating it, esp. when that's something people can vote on. (Sure there's an Everything Else section here; that's like a forum on airplanes having an Everything Else section for discussing aerodynamics.) It's silly to pretend that a proposal to give $15,000 rebate checks for all home buyers has nothing to do with, or is only coincidentally connected to, a political party that consistently makes such decisions that just so happen to enrich their wealthiest supporters at the expense of everyone else. That's a major problem in our country: taboo to discuss politics, even though politics makes or breaks our lives, esp. financially. The taboo is by design, BTW, just like it's taboo to discuss biblical contradictions in church. It's all about making the dumb dumber, to gain money & power. And boy is it ever working!
As perfectfire points out, you have a tendency to turn every thread into a political thread - even when there is no one there to disagree with you.
toning it down would be great.
I still am not convinced that there isn't some merit in this idea. Sure it doesn't help affordability but it won't directly inflate prices 10-15%. I'm still going to be able to afford a maximum payment and if this is indeed a rebate I won't see that money until after the transaction. Now I'm sure some creative lender could do wonders trying to leverage that 15k but hopefully they squash any attempts at fraud using the 15k rebate as part of your original home purchase. Yes, it would help me currently, Perfectire, but there are lots of ideas out there. Most of the ideas hurt me and make it harder for me to get a home and this one would at least even the playing field a little bit as it would be an incentive that benefits buyers also. I also pointed out that at least the homebuyer can share in part of the "bailout" instead of it going only to banks and irresponsible borrowers. I would rather the market correct but as the evidence is starting to show, the government is going to only let things get so bad before they do something drastic. I would prefer that I can get some of the benefits at least instead of just being the taxpayer that helps people keep their houses. 15k in hand is more insurance adainst home prices dropping than I have now and better than the assistance prospective homebuyers were getting in any previous bailout plan. The way I see it there are going to be 2 choices down the road. Participate in the plans offered and hope you benefit or complain about how there should be no bailout while everyone else who can takes advantage of it
. Both parties are talking about bailouts for homeowner so it seems inevitable that something will happen. I don't really see a scenario where something drastic isn't done. These guys are all clamoring for votes. I hope econimic sense prevails and the housing crisis is left to work itself out but I seriously doubt it. Logically, when presented with limited choices I would rather get some benefit out of this than to just be the contributor to the bailout funds.
I don't anybody really disagrees. The problem lies where someone comes into a thread thinking there will be discussion about $15,000 rebates for home buyers only to discover it has already become a discussion about how much Bush sucks. And this is the 10th time this has happened to them. And the "discussion" about Bush's suckage isn't really a discussion, rather a series of proclamations and insults.
This isn't RCG. You can start your own threads. If you want to talk about a certain aspect of politics go ahead and start a thread about it. For instance, grugrind wanted to talk about the merits of $15,000 rebate checks for home buyers so he started a thread about it.
Though I rallied against the concept earlier in this thread, I agree whole-heartedly. If politicians insist on making a mistake, the least they can do is make sure it benefits me.
Doubtless a for-profit vendor would be given a no-bid contract to distribute the checks, and we would find out months after the checks start printing that their administrative costs are something like $3K per check, and the CEO of the company is a major campaign contributor oops has just ordered the latest Gulfstream to go with his yacht.
Sure as individuals, that $15K is something. Collectively, it's still delaying the inevitable. So, those who have will continue to have, and those who don't can't take advantage of it. Throwing money at a problem with no real practical goal in mind never solved anything of magnitude.
It may well prop up prices and/or allow someone to make 3-6 months of mortgage payments. Then what? Give another borrowed rebate? More of the same will not get us anywhere we need to go, IMO.
It would immediately add $15k to the asking price, and the day after the tax was paid out, that $15k would fall off. No thanks.
My guess is that it's just a popularity contest kind of move. One of the congress members whose seat is actually going to be contested needs to show they are 'looking out for the folks back home'. It's not uncommon for items to be brought up which have no chance of passing, but are intended to force members of congress to take a side.
Which is all fine and dandy until you get a majority scratching their heads and thinking they can't possibly vote against this... and it passes, and the US government is trying to borrow a few hundred billion more.
If you want more people to buy homes just lend them the money with no money down. If payments are hard to make, think of creative financing options....maybe interest only payments or low interest for a set time frame. I'm sure everyone will be making more money in 5 years so at that time a higher payment will be fiiiiiiiiine.
If you REALLY want to increase home sales allow lenders to turn a blind eye to poor credit ratings and prior foreclosures, etc.
Didn't we just do this?
PS: Then of course......Ban Blogs.