On Friday Warren Buffett released his annual letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire Hathaway owns Clayton Homes, a major manufactured home manufacturer. In the letter, Mr. Buffett laments that “very few factory-built homes qualify for agency-insured mortgages” Mr. Buffett compares the market rates of 9% on manufactured housing loans to the current rate of [...]
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Tag Archives: Fannie Mae
The big lie about the role of affordable lending goals in the collapse of Fannie Mae
October 6, 2008
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The Big Lie: Fannie Mae collapsed because of Congressional affordable housing goals and this, in turn, was the cause of the Wall Street collapse that resulted in the $700 billion federal bailout. The Big Lie has been spreading very rapidly through several sources: an oversimplification of the story by the mainstream media (see, for example, [...]
Read moreBill O’Reilly vs Barney Frank shoutdown over Fannie Mae
October 3, 2008
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This video perfectly illustrates the deterioration in the quality of the policy discussion in the country today. Issues surrounding the government’s role in housing finance are serious and hugely important in people’s lives. The name calling and shouting illustrated in this video drowns out the attempt to have the necessary thoughtful discussion. Come on people! [...]
Read moreAffordable lending is not to blame for the demise of Fannie and Freddie
September 8, 2008
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Floyd Norris, writing in Sunday’s New York Times, lays the blame for the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to their attempt to serve two masters, “…the investors who put up capital and a government that wanted to help the housing industry and extend home ownership.” Norris specifically blames the affordable housing goals [...]
Read moreCould a federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac prove disasterous for low income rental housing?
September 7, 2008
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Who would have thought we would be looking at a federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Because it was never anticipated that this would happen there are a number of potential consequences of the takeover that have not been thought out. Failure to do so may have disastrous consequences for low income rental [...]
Read moreWhen housing advocates sell out bad things happen
July 14, 2008
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I’ve been complaining about it for years, Now that the New York Times has said it maybe folks will take stock. The housing advocacy community sold out to Fannie Mae. They stopped doing their jobs to hold this crucial housing institution accountable for meeting its obligations to provide for the housing needs of low and [...]
Read moreThe effect of the Fannie/Freddie meltdown on affordable housing
July 12, 2008
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shares are falling like a rock. The Bush Administration is said to be working on a plan to place the two “quasi-governmental government sponsored enterprises” (GSEs) into a public conservatorship. What does this mean for affordable housing? If the government explicitly guarantees the obligations of the GSEs it will add [...]
Read moreUnderstanding the role of GSEs, HUD and affordable housing in the subprime crisis
June 12, 2008
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A page 1 story in the Washingtom Post Tuesday laid a major part of the blame for the subprime lending meltdown at the feet of HUD for failing to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from buying large numbers of subpime mortgage backed securities comprised of loans made in minority and low income neighborhoods. [...]
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