Frankly, I hadn’t heard of it until you mentioned it – but I read through the material here: http://www.calhfa.ca.gov/index.html. I am going to call them tomorrow to learn more and I’ll report back.

One of the roadblocks that we have run in to with government-sponsored financing (FHA in our case) is that no one on the inside of these mortgage lenders wants to do the loans. No one on the account side, the ops side or the management side have a real good understanding of the government programs and try to push you to the “easy” conventional and subprime products even if a government loan (FHA) would be more beneficial to the borrower. I am constantly battling with account representatives and account managers who keep pushing us away from using government financing. It’s extremely frustrating.

What I want to know is why didn’t they, or couldn’t they, refinance? I am going to ask Dr. HB about that.

Morgan

I suspect we will see a lot more of this to come. I know many a Realtor and Loan Officer who are hurting now and they didn’t do the things necessary to insulate themselves – saving hard cash. When I got into the biz, several guys were pulling $500k-$1 mill in my office. The smart ones paid off everything – cars, houses, credit cards. Now they are just chilling and could give a rats azz about a downturn. They kept saying, this won’t last… save up so when it gets slow; you won’t have to worry.

What really irks me is that this wasn’t really the fault of the loan product, the rate adjusting, or even the evil mortgage brokers. I wonder what percentage of foreclosure are just like this example? Yet, the media and consumer groups keep running around blaming everyone but the borrowers.

Kind of off-topic, but what do you think of CalFHA loans? Gabe del Rio of the Housing Opportunities Collaborative said every first time buyer earning under $86K is eligible, and they get at least one point below the regular prime rate. It seems like a no brainer. But maybe some brokers don’t sell this, because the commissions are lower? Or is there an upper limit to the mortgage? I’m really curious what you think about this, and if there are any caveats to this porgram.

Francis had a home in the Dominican Republic, friends said, and he owned three in eastern Hillsborough County, where he had lived since 1999.

He purchased a 2,700-square-foot home in Valrico for $208,300 in 2000. Amid the booming real estate market of 2005, he bought two more parcels in a gated, 32-home Brandon subdivision called the Vineyard and paid more than $1-million to build two houses on Vintage Way.

Then the market slowed.

“I knew he was having some financial difficulties,” said Steve Bristol, a real estate agent who sold Francis and his wife the Valrico home where they lived for seven years.

[...]

The 51-year-old anesthesiologist was found dead Friday after an apparent suicide, although the Sheriff’s Office has not yet completed its investigation and released few details. Deputies discovered the body in a Brandon investment home Francis owned.

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