Real solutions for underwater homeowners
ARE THEY REALLY THIS STUPID?
A proposal from the Obama administration to prevent children from doing farm chores has drawn plenty of criticism from rural-district members of Congress. But now it’s attracting barbs from farm kids themselves.
The Department of Labor is poised to put the finishing touches on a rule that would apply child-labor laws to children working on family farms, prohibiting them from performing a list of jobs on their own families’ land.
Many young people are choosing to live at home for a longer period of time instead of buying. Moreover, would-be homebuyers are settling into modern apartments and condominiums, further hindering a housing rally. Shiller says the shift toward renting and city living could mean “that we will never in our lifetime see a rebound in these prices in the suburbs.”A perpetually sluggish housing market, which Shiller believes has become “more and more political,” might push the country in a “Japan-like slump that will go on for years and years.”
Shiller: Real Chance of Japan-like Housing Slump, posted with vodpod
We have been talking about the expiration of the Mortgage Debt Relief Act for sometime now. As you may know, this act was initiated in the Bush administration and extended in the Obama administration. The debt provides tax relief for owner occupied homeowners who do a short sale, deed in lieu of foreclosure or have an actual foreclosure.
In a recent post, Lose money on your house in a foreclosure or short sale and you could get a tax bill from the IRS, we talked about the fact that even if follow the banks advice for getting rid of your underwater house, you could still be on the hook for a steep tax bill. Imagine you end the battle with one giant, (your bank) and you breathe a sigh of relief only to get a 1099 in the mail the following January that requires you to pay taxes on all of the money the bank lost on the deal.
MORTGAGE DEBT FORGIVENESS RELIEF ACT
Think about how this could affect your family and your budget. Add $100,000 to your income this year and look up how much more money you would owe the IRS. Now the IRS is not known for being one of the kinder and gentler creditors. They have ultimate power over collecting the money and access to everything you do. They are just doing what they have been instructed to do, collect everything they are owed and use every resource at their disposal to do it.
The Mortgage Debt Relief Act says that under certain circumstances, you don't have to pay it. After you have suffered through what you have with you underwater house, most of us agree that this is the way it should be.
The problem is that the bill expires at the end of this calendar year. Our elected officials in Washington DC don't seem to take on anything before the last minute and this is an election year. Will they address this issue at all? That is the question.
We have been concerned about this for our members. We have to coach them based on the law as it is today and that means that it is going away at the end of the year. However, we are starting to see some political heavyweights get on board with the idea that this act must be extended. In a recent interview about the implementation of the AG's settlement with the banks, US Treasury’s Policy director Laurie Anne Maggiano said this,
"…The success of settlement efforts to assist more borrowers may also depend on whether the Mortgage Debt Relief Act is renewed. And since Treasury does not have the authority to extend the Mortgage Debt Relief Act set to expire at the end of this year, or the right to lobby for specific legislation, its director of policy called on servicers and other mortgage industry professionals to do just that."
We are pleased that it looks like we are going to get some help here to do the right thing for today's underwater homeowners and those that will be joining the family soon. We have an online petition that could help to get the word out and let our elected officials that this is at least one piece of business that must be addressed right away.
To sign the online petition, CLICK HERE.
Whether you are upside down or not, whether you are going to keep paying or not, don't destroy more families by forcing them to pay money they don't have in taxes.
Here is a video that explains why our elected officials cannot balance the federal budget. It will require wholesale changes that will affect all of us.
We obviously don't have the adults in the room that can see past getting re-elected or they would have dealt with the issue already. Any official who seriously takes on this issue gets creamed by the other side.
Watch this short video and you will see why we are headed off of a cliff financially. The truth is that "WE ARE GREECE" and Spain and Portugal and Ireland. Our financial fate will lie in the hands of other coutries. What are we going to do when China wants the money we borrowed. Give them San Francisco or Dallas or Atlanta or Detroit. Sorry, they wouldn't take Detroit.
This is a video done by Frank and Brian of the TBWS Daily. These two market to the Real Estate and Mortgage business. They sell products and services to help people in the industry to be more successful. Frank and Brian have been making these daily videos for years and I follow them because they have their fingers on the pulse of the real estate market.
Their overall belief is that we need to get through the housing collapse and the foreclosures that come with it so their clients (Real Estate Agents and Mortgage people) can get back to making money. They often talk about the good news that will keep the industry going. For them to publicly state that we have a long way to go in the number of home foreclosures is unusual. That is why we wanted to post it.
At the Financial Revival Group, we don't beleive we are close to the halfway point in the total number of foreclosures we will exprience in our country. However, it is important that we all have a clear picture of what is ahead for all of us so we can make our own decisions about what to do with our underwater properties. That picture has been clouded by the banks, the media and the government. We still have a long way to go and you should know that, as you evaluate what you are going to do for your own survival.
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