Breaking the Bank : Think You Can’t Get a Mortgage?
by James Hartman
Photo by Shamus Pons
The news has been grim for years now. Spurred-on by Congress, lenders made loans to people who really couldn't afford to pay them. Then sub-prime mortgages wrecked the banking industry. Then unqualified lenders led to mass foreclosures. The credit market got so tight you could bounce a quarter off of it – if you had a quarter left, or could find a place to borrow one. And all of it led to problems for homebuilders, both large and small, who couldn't make the payments on spec houses and had to shut their doors.
It was a very sad time.
It was also a lot of hooey.
Sub-prime mortgages accounted for only about three percent of all mortgages. Foreclosures spiked, but didn't really "soar." Lenders tightened credit requirements in response to federal regulators who, in the opinions of many, overreacted. The rest...well, the rest pretty much happened as presented. So while the trickle-down problems were real, the impetus wasn’t as cut-and-dried as some would have you think.
So here we are, three (or four, or five) market fluctuations later, with a new President, a new Congress, and a lending industry that either has its hands tied or has put on mittens, depending who you ask.
"There is increased government regulation that is making it more and more difficult for borrowers and buyers," said Matt Faust, president of First Community Bank, headquartered in Hammond. "It's getting more regulated every day. Despite the administration’s efforts to get banks to lend, we are actually being hampered by their own regulations."
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Northshore Elections: Contentious Races, Recount and No Challenge!
by Denis Bechac
Photo by Shamus Pons
In Slidell, we observed a very contentious election between the two top vote getters for Chief of Police and in Mandeville; the mayoral race has come down to a photo finish and a recount of the votes. It brought back memories and similarities of the 2000 presidential election with "swift-boating" and "hanging chads".
Slidell Chief of Police
Candidates for Slidell Chief of Police has now pitted political newcomer Randy Smith, who garnered 48% of the vote in the general election while former Slidell Police Chief and current Mayor Ben Morris pulled in 41% of the vote. The two candidates are now pitted once again for the May 1st run-off election. J.J. Jennings and Jason Zar garnered 10% and 1% of the vote respectively.
The City of Slidell is the only municipality on the northshore that elects a chief of police. With exactly 48.7% of the vote on election night, Randy Smith said, "The strategy we have at this point is to get the voters back to the polls. That’s the key and we can’t say we have this in the bag."
Although his opponent has a plethora of experience as former police chief and the current mayor, Smith said, "I believe Ben has a lot of name recognition here in town with over 20 years of public service in the area, for me to do as well as I have in the general election, it shows that the citizens of Slidell have spoken and they want new leadership in Slidell. I am very excited about my candidacy and campaign at this time."
Former Slidell Chief of Police and current Mayor Ben Morris, who captured 41% of the vote to earn a spot in the run-off election, said, "I have been running the past six weeks while my opponent has been running for that past two and a half years, I am not disappointed at all. I am in the race for the long run and will wait to see what happens."
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