I'm working to protect MIneighbors, from Detroit to the Upper Peninsula, and everywhere in between. The crisis in the housing market is not over and positive gains in home values are not expected for years.
Home foreclosures… vanished equity… underwater mortgages… strategic defaults… bank bailouts… wall street greed…
Leaves neighborhoods destabilized and families struggling!
- Almost 500,000 homeowners in Michigan are underwater on their mortgages… that's roughly 35.6% of all that exist!
- On average, their homes are worth 36% less than what they owe.
- Another 100,000 homeowners are nearly-negative, with less than 5% equity.
- This equals about $20 billion in negative equity in Michigan, which has proven to be a drag on our economy and is hampering job creation and economic growth.
The solution
This is why I've introduced Senate Bill 860, a simple, but bold plan to hit the reset button on Michigan's housing market by allowing homeowners to have the principal on their mortgages written-down by a judge to their current fair market value.
The results
The average homeowners would keep an extra $344 per month in their pocketbooks. This would create a real economic boost at a time when we need it. Unlike many other plans, mine does not require the government to use one dime of taxpayer money: this is not a tax giveaway nor is it a spending program.
A tough pill to swallow for irresponsible Wall Street banks? Maybe! But after hawking bad loans, deceiving borrowers, betting against the toxic loans sold to their own clients, receiving billions of OUR dollars, and now refusing to lend us our own money – this plan is necessary.
