National News Clear with Oklahoma-Colored Glasses
Medical treatment can be traumatic, and the housing market in this country, as a whole, is sick. Whether the cure will be worse than the disease is a good question.
Meanwhile, don't let the housing news this week out of Washington, D.C., and Pasadena, Calif., worry you too much. In Washington, they're talking about the government taking over or at least shoring up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In Pasadena, mortgage-loaded IndyMac Bank failed - at the epicenter of the housing and credit crash.
It should be clear by now that Oklahoma is going its own way in the housing crisis of 2007-2008-2whenever.
At my request, David Feisal, senior vice president of Tulsa-based SpiritBank and past president of Oklahoma Mortgage Bankers Association, looked at the news through an Oklahoma lens.
* Fannie and Freddie
The government circling is "welcome news," he said. "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are, by far, the largest holders of prime mortgage debt in this country. Homeowners with mortgages that are part of of a Fannie- or Freddie-backed mortgage can be assured their mortgage terms will not be changed at all by any of the proposed actions."
* Got good credit and a down payment? Relax.
"Potential buyers need to know that mortgage loans for borrowers that have sufficient income to qualify for the requested loan amount, have good credit and the ability to make a down payment of as little as 3 to 5 percent of the purchase price will still have financing options," Feisal said.
* What about IndyMac?
News of the bank collapse got me to dust off Phillip L. Zweig's 1986 book, "Belly Up: The Collapse of the Penn Square Bank." Got it for a buck at the library book sale a few years ago.
Early this week, Amazon.com appeared to have plenty in stock. By Friday, just five were left in stock. So, I'm not the only one brushing up on how banks go bust when bubbles burst and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. winds up holding the bank bags.
"The failure of IndyMac is one of 8,494 FDIC depository institutions and represents just two-tenths of 1 percent of all outstanding banking industry assets," Feisal said, adding: "Oklahoma remains as a state that is experiencing better real estate than a number of other states."