The federal government should act more directly to keep people in their houses.
Basically, the bubble burst and there was a lot of fallout of people losing their homes—some people even walked away. For the most part, I think people want to keep their homes, and will do anything not to quit.
The government should be doing more to help people keep their homes. If we had a rate adjustment across the board that was government backed so that people could qualify for a 3% loan, then owners could afford to keep their houses, instead of going through the expensive foreclosure process. The costs are too great—costs to the community, costs to the family—and hit both emotionally and financially.
I’ve been selling real estate for 22 years and this is the third big decline I’ve seen. It’s affected many more people than the other two, and shaken the foundation of home ownership. The government has the wrong idea for fixing the home mortgage business: it’s not by supporting the banks, it’s by supporting the people.