Foreclosure woes aren't going away
Solutions to the mortgage mess still seem elusive, yet the 2012 presidential election has dealt with it only in the broadest terms. Neither candidate is talking much about how to solve the problem.
“It’s still a very, very important issue that needs to be addressed,” Boyle said.
Florida saw a 26 percent increase in foreclosure filings last month compared with August 2011, as banks now past the robosigning crisis have begun to file early stage foreclosure again.
The August results marked the seventh monthly increase this year, data from Realtytrac Inc. show.
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The Republican candidate is seeking to capitalize on the housing issue in Florida, highlighting the state’s battered real estate market in a recent television ad attacking Obama.
Romney has criticized Obama for enacting new bank regulations and his campaign website attacks the president for spending “taxpayer money on big-government programs” to help homeowners.
A new five-point housing policy rolled out by the Romney campaign this month calls for reforms to the government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, “sensible, not overly complex, financial regulation, making “foreclosure alternatives easier” and selling vacant homes owned by the government.
The proposals amount to a much more hands-off housing approach than Obama’s, with Romney’s plan emphasizing that “the best way to help the housing market is to get the economy going again.”
Experts say Romney’s plan is vague and question whether it would result in much improvement in the real estate market.
“There hasn’t been a very clearly defined housing policy from the Romney campaign,” said Jeet Dutta, a senior economist with Moody’s Analytics.
Economists such as Archer and Dutta argue that the problem lies more with the banks, which resisted widespread mortgage modifications.
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