Home Mortgage Crisis: Who Should Be Able to Hold Onto Their Home Until the Crisis Subsides?
The fall out from home prices and foreclosures has had a ripple effect that has hit almost every industry. Home owners are losing their equity at a rate of almost ten percent per year over the past two years. Some large companies that do not directly offer mortgage loans such as AIG, AMBAC and Lehman Brothers are good examples of companies struggling to return to profitability. Many investors are left to wonder how companies that were not lending money directly to consumers could be impacted to such a large degree from the fall out in the housing and credit markets.
The insurance industry has also been under pressure from the declining real estate market. AIG, which is one of the worlds largest insurance companies. They also have one of the largest pools of capital to invest in the market. Their business model is one that they have billions of dollars in insurance premiums every year that they manage and invest prior to paying out on potential claims. The companies profitability has been tied into investing this money within the market and have a higher margin than their required pay outs. In short, one of the largest areas that they have invested money into is mortgage backed securities. They essentially become the last line in the financing of mortgages. Consumers typically obtain financing from a lender, who then sells the mortgage bond (security) as a pool to large investors such as AIG and retain the servicing rights (collecting the payment).
Lehman brothers is in the same situation as AIG, they have purchased billions of dollars of mortgage backed securities that have performed much worse than anticipated. In the past six months the company has lost over six billion dollars and has been forced to raise new operating capital to the tune of twelve billion dollars. As one of the largest investment banks in the world, they are struggling to return to a course of profitability and will continue to struggle until the mortgage industry can turn the corner.
Let’s take a look at something simple.. do you own a flat head screw driver? If not, you shouldn’t even be considering taking on a project by yourself. If you do, then you can actually assemble your own kitchen or bathroom cabinets. New cabinets can be very expensive, but there has been an insurgence of RTA cabinets on the market that allow homeowners and builders to save a significant amount of money on new cabinets by assembling them themselves. I have been using them for years, and they really do just require a screwdriver. When it comes to installation, it really isn’t as hard as you may think. By following a few easy steps, you can have new kitchen cabinets installed in no time.
When it comes to countertops, that is something that should be left to professionals, unless installing a tiile countertop or something similar. Flooring is another easy project that you can tackle with the new types of laminate flooring that is on the market these days. So when it comes to protecting the single largest investment for your family, it is important to add as much equity to your home without pricing it out of the market. By updating some key features of your home, you can ensure that you are getting the most value out of your property and avoid home mortgage crisis.
Learn more about Obama Mortgage Relief Plan Qualifications.
November 7, 2011 | Posted by John Roney
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