Government meddling distorts the housing market

Uh-oh, they're from the government and they're here to help the housing market recover. "They" are President Obama and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan. They have a new program called "First Look," which gives state and local governments and nonprofits first dibs on purchasing foreclosed properties for "affordable housing." Obama and Donovan maintain that competing with private investors will "hinder their efforts to stabilize neighborhoods with high foreclosure activity." In reality, it is the Washington politicians and bureaucrats who are doing the hindering. One investor recently bid $300,000 for a bank-foreclosed property in New Hampshire only to see it turned over to First Look participant Fannie Mae, which sold it for $199,000. Another prospective buyer offered the full asking price -- in cash -- for a foreclosed home in an upscale neighborhood, but had to wait nearly two weeks until First Look groups were given the first shot at the property. So, the same meddling politicians bureaucrats who came up with the abject failure known as the Home Affordable Modification Program are now blocking sales of foreclosed homes to ready, willing and able buyers. What are they smoking?

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