The Subprime Mortgage Crisis In The U.S

APerdomo
ENG112-1101B-59 Phase 3 Individual Project
Colorado Technical University Online
Professor Bruce Nuffer
3/13/2011

The subprime mortgage crisis in the U.S
The argument over who should be at fault for the subprime mortgage crisis and housing market collapse in the United States has been a heated debate. Even though home foreclosure keeps rising, there should be some accountabilityfor the economic meltdown resulting from the subprime mortgage situation. Should we blame banking institutions, mortgage lenders, brokers, and investors for this crisis? Should minorities be blamed for recklessly accepting loans and defaulting on them after realizing they could not meet their obligation? Should we blame the government for their inactions of not protecting victims of predatorylending?
Some will suggest that borrowers, banking institutions, mortgage lenders, brokers and investors, government, and politicians all should share the blame. The bottom line is that no one is taking the blame for this crisis. The fact of the matter is someone has to take the blame for the subprime mortgage situation; moreover, immediate action must be taken to rectify the problem. Thiseconomic crisis is a collective effort for each lender, broker, borrower, investor and the U.S government that were influenced by greed. Therefore, how could they rectify this problem? A simple solution to stop the foreclosure crisis is to offer the rights to rent to people that have fallen victims of this crisis.
Congress should temporarily modify the rules on foreclosure to give families facingforeclosure, the right to rent their homes at the market rate for a substantial period of time. This change in foreclosure rules will give banks a real incentive to re-negotiate the conditions under which homeowners can continue to stay in their homes as owners. It will be in the banks best interest, since they don’t want to become landlords. The bank will own the house after a foreclosure, but ahouse with a renter is worth much less to them than a house over which it has complete control. (Baker, 2008)
But government should force banks to work extremely hard with borrowers who are diligently trying to save their home. The time for action is now as any inaction will only lengthen the crisis. The subprime mortgage crisis is an on-going financial problem and a housing market nightmare forthe United States economy. Some believe that a dramatic increase in mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures will caused a significant adverse effect on banking institutions and financial markets. Thus far, the housing market has crumbled due to this mortgage crisis, resulting in elevated record number of foreclosures. For many, the dream of home ownership has evaporated. How can this dream bere-established? Kevin Alexander Gray states “We‘ve got to do more to stem the tide of foreclosures and stabilize communities throughout the country,” (Gray, 2009). What actions should be taken? Mr. Gray points out, that the goal is to take corrective action to prevent a continuous meltdown.
But on the other hand, we need to ask the question, how did the subprime mortgage happen? It is important tounderstand how the economy has been impacted by this foreclosure crisis. Also, it will be dispensable to look at what has really prompted the housing collapse. The immediate cause or trigger of the crisis was the bursting of the United States housing bubble that peaked between 2005 and 2006, (Almendarez, 2009) This can be attributed to a number of factors equivalent in both housing and creditmarkets, factors which emerged over a number of years. Joseph E. Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University points out that the causes proposed include the inability of homeowners to make their mortgage payments, due primarily to adjustable-rate mortgages resetting, borrowers overextending, predatory lending, speculation and overbuilding during the boom period, risky mortgage products, high...