Student Debt and the Purchase of a Home

Student Loans Near $1 Trillion Hurt Young U.S. Buyers: Mortgages  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-16/student-loans-approaching-1-trillion-hurting-first-time-buyers-mortgages.html

An idea I had when running for NJ State Assembly was to help  graduates carrying college debt and help them purchase a foreclosed home. It would help or eliminate the student loan, generate tax revenue, reduce the glut of foreclosures, and help stabilize the prices of existing homes.

As an example, if a foreclosed home that was worth $450000 is now valued at $200,000 and a college grad has a debt of $100,000, perhaps combining the two into a $300,000 mortgage. Most banks would look at the student debt as an obligation against qualifying for a mortgage loan. But the student could only qualify for a foreclosed home, not a new home or typical mortgage. This would possibly help eliminate empty homes in foreclosure, help stabilize home prices and give a graduate the opportunity to own a home. By this method they would be able to pay down both loans at the same time.

By the time many students pay off their loan and qualify for a home, their kids would be going to college.

If the student defaults on the mortgage it does not eliminate their student debt. Perhaps it could be set up where a percentage of the mortgage goes toward the principle of the student’s debt. Another  possible option would be able to pay off the $100,000 student loan and carry a $300,000 mortgage.

If the college graduate can show some kind of collateral or promise or a job in a certain field...like a doctor, a lawyer, engineer, etc. .....a certain income level, it would be much better to have a family in the house than for it to stay empty in the foreclosure process.

They would not be entitled to any discounts or incentives, and still have to meet the same requirements any other homebuyer would qualify under. There would be no student loan debt forgiveness.

I have heard that some banks are thinking of selling their foreclosures to investors who would rent them out. That would hurt neighborhoods substantially, as the investors really don’t care about the neighborhoods and are only looking to receive a monthly income. Perhaps an idea like this would help prevent that from happening.

Countless foreclosed homes are being stripped of their copper pipes etc. while they sit empty, or taken over by those that don’t belong there. Numerous homes are bought by investors who live out of the state and rented out, and as long as the rent is paid they investors don’t really care who lives in them. Perhaps this could be a win-win for everyone. Many banks do not want to keep the growing list of foreclosures and are thinking of selling them off to investors who have no interest in the neighborhood other than monetary gain.

This may not be a perfect plan, but I haven’t seen any other solutions or ideas. This could be a starting point to help resolve the foreclosure and student debt issue.

"My administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government." ~ Barack Hussein Obama

• After promising transparency during his campaign, the current administration is the most secretive and corrupt, non- transparent and unconstitutional administration as there ever has been. This administration has stalled over records about its own efforts to be more transparent claiming exemptions 70,779 times just during the nine months Obama was President in the 2009 year alone.

• A U.S. District Court Judge ruled that the secret service visitor logs should be readily available upon a request under the freedom of information act. The Department of (IN) Justice, led by Mr. Holder, filed a formal notice of appeal, saying that these records belong to the White House and are not public record. In a 2009 speech Obama stated that all records would be available. The “event” description in the logs is blank for more than 205,000 visits, including many that involved small meetings with the president and his key aides. Less than 1 percent of the estimated 500,000 visits to the White House in Obama’s first eight months (a time when the new administration was bustling with activity) have been disclosed. Logs include the names of people who never showed up, more than 200,000 visits with no time of arrival, an indication that the person didn’t enter the White House, as far as the records how anyway. How’s that for accuracy?

• An administration that tried to hide information about the gun used to kill Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was one of the several thousand that this Government had intentionally sold, illegally and unconstitutionally, to the Mexican Drug Cartels on operation fast and furious. Congressional investigators demanded answers, answers are not coming easily from this Administration or the Federal Agencies involved.

• This administration refused to release e-mails from Barrack Hussein Obama’s Blackberry, or any other White House internal messages, communications and papers etc relating to the Solyndra Loan. Information requested from the Congressional Investigation into the corrupt and illegal loan of $535 million of tax payers’ money to a so called ‘Green Energy Company’ that the previous administration had warned against. Investigators know that this entire deal was pushed through by the White House, despite warnings from several knowledgeable sources in the budget office and other financial institutions. The same transparency the progressives wanted from the Bush Administration does not pertain to them.

• 100 special force soldiers sent to North Africa to take part in a targeted killing, in an area and in a matter that has no bearing or threat on American Security. The “boots on the ground” soldiers, fully battle ready had already been in position over a day before this President decided to notify Congress.

I seem to remember hearing the uttering of words "We will continue to work toward an unmatched level of transparency, participation and accountability across the entire administration." We can all see how that is working out.


So much for accountability through transparency.

College says 'You're Fired!' Illegals Lose Campus jobs

California’s minimum wage went up in January, boosting the salaries of many.

As I have said and written in the past, is that when salaries increase the jobs for the uneducated become less. That’s what appears to be happening here. You have those who came here illegally working at minimum wage at jobs that paid low wages, but those jobs that no one would work, now pay substantially better.

After giving many illegal’s the opportunity to come to the US on a work or guest visa, millions decided to stay beyond the expiration date (millions more just plain ignored the legal process altogether) because the minimum was much better here than wages back home. After working for a few years they realized how much better it was here and now started complaining they weren’t making enough money to live, how they couldn’t survive on minimum wage.

It was never meant for survival but only as a means for a little extra pocket change for the extras. There are those who shout there should be a livable wage. But at $17 an hour those jobs seem more lucrative to those who didn’t want them before, and with thousands on unemployment that job is now very appealing. I’m sure at this campus alone there are thousands of students who would like to earn some money towards paying their expenses.

How many illegal’s breach existing laws, work in service industries serving and preparing food, and by bypassing the system, are hired never having had a medical exam?

For the last two years, many of the dining hall workers had been organizing to form a union, Unions like to use the term “buy American.” Then why solicit membership from non-citizens?

The article states one worker paid for her education over the years. I would think that as an employee of the campus she was getting a free education, not because she could afford to go on the $8 an hour she was getting, but in all that time she never considered getting her citizenship? How many legal citizens are not accepted because they have to compete against the fulfillment of those courses by illegals?

Government never had the manpower to follow up on immigration policies even when they were first enacted. The Federal Government ignored existing immigration laws for years, allowing this to spread beyond the scope of enforcement. Now, due to the ineptness of our government our congressional officials like to say the system is broken. The only thing broken was letting this happen on their watch and to cover up they try and push the ‘Dream Act’ on the American public in the form of Amnesty. The problem is ‘amnesty“ still does not solve the problem of the illegal crossing our borders.

Immigrant Worker Firings Unsettle a College Campus

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/after-workers-are-fired-an-immigration-debate-roils-california-campus.html?_r=1&hpw