GI Bill + TARP=Good Sense

A great proposal that kills two birds with one stone from BlackSwan Real Estate blog.

The highlights:

So here is our win-win: 1) The federal government uses TARP funds to purchase single family homes from banks, behemoths and community alike, and Fannie Mae also, at a strong discounts but definitely above their actual free-market worth. . .
2) These TARP-purchased homes are then sold at significantly greater discounts and with special fixed Fannie Mae financing to returning veterans post 9/11 as defined under the Webb GI Bill . . .
3) Another provision might be to allow homeowners who are in late stages of foreclosure, lis pendens, etc. with no hope of forbearance to transfer the home in question without litigation to an approved military candidate under this GI Homestead Amendment in return for all debt forgiveness, no credit score attacks and possibly, a usable tax loss. . .
4) The neighborhoods also share in this win-win since vacant homes are now inhabited by military personnel who most likely will bring their discipline and pride to home ownership . . .
5) The federal government wins because it will look good finally doing the right thing instead of finger pointing and fomenting a rich vs. poor social divide. . .
Finally, I would not allow Fannie Mae to administer this program; if I have to explain why (see 2004 – 2007) then you are not the intended audience for this concept.

I like it. It finally puts some of the TARP money into people who have actually shown a commitment to this country, rather than just those institutions who have shown a commitment to political contributions. And it has so many immediately tangible ancillary benefits for the neighborhoods where these homes are located.

While I can’t find a total number of vets in Arkansas from the most recent conflicts, I did discover that 5,393 veterans of Iraq/Afghanistan have sought treatment at Arkansas VA hospitals. That alone is a fairly significant number, and is likely a small fraction of the Arkansas veterans from these two conflicts.