Generation Homeless

Roughly one-third of our population, 70 million people, are directly effected by the ongoing housing crisis, whether they are current on their note, or not. Why? Because their mortgages were funneled into a system, created by the banks, called Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc (MERS). In fact, of the 70 million people, 80% are not in default, yet, due to MERS, if they were to investigate their chain of title, the "owners" would more than likely find their title, clouded. In other words, uncertain of who really owns the debt.

What is this elaborate shell game that is MERS? Well, it was set up in the early 1990s to circumvent the land records in order to securitize mortgage loans on Wall Street; therefore, speeding up the process, without paying the recording fee. You see, MERS splits the deed from the note, takes the note to Wall Street, pledging it multiple times over numerous and various trusts without notifying the homeowner. However, due to sloppy procedure, most of the notes never even made the trust pool, leaving homeowners, and everyone else involved uncertain of who owns the note.

Moreover, as home values continue to decline, more home-owners are steadily pushed underwater. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 11% of houses are now empty, that’s 18.4 million! And projections show millions more in the foreclosure pipeline. This avalanche of  defaulted properties will take decades to unload, driving down the value of all homes.  Not to mention, it keeps home-builders from starting new projects, and encourages qualified buyers to wait until values hit bottom. 

Meanwhile, outstanding education debt surpassed credit-card debt last year for the first time, according to Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, and Bloomberg reports that student loan debt is near $1 trillion.  This - the exponential student debt curve –that began with Ronald Reagan is now heading vertically - combined with much tighter credit standards is sure to keep potential young home-buyers out of the housing market, perhaps, forever.

Despite home prices  in free fall while, rents are skyrocketing; monthly rents surpassed a monthly mortgage payment a few years back.

“Potential first-time homebuyers have been disproportionately affected by the very tight conditions in mortgage markets. First-time homebuyers are typically an important source of incremental housing demand, so their smaller presence in the market affects house prices and construction quite broadly.” -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said at a homebuilders conference last week.

Has a college education become a curse?  A method to enslave?  Because the government banking student loan cartel has ensured - especially with no jobs available - that this generation of college graduates will never "own" a home. 

“Despotic government supports itself by abject civilization, in which debasement of the human mind, and wretchedness in the mass of the people, are the chief criterions. Such governments consider man merely as an animal; that the exercise of intellectual faculty is not his privilege; that he has nothing to do with the laws but to obey them; and they politically depend more upon breaking the spirit of the people by poverty, than they fear enraging it by desperation.” Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice

Related Links:

Marine makes last stand in foreclosed home

Stop Foreclosure Fraud