Congress needs to consider that not everyone WANTS to be kept in their homes:
At a House Financial Services Committee hearing Thursday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told lawmakers they should send troubled homeowners one simple but urgent message: "Call your lender or mortgage counselor today."
He noted that 50 percent of foreclosures occur without borrowers ever talking to their lenders, and said that he has gotten reports that lenders have tried to reach distressed borrowers to work out more affordable loan terms. "Yet those calls rarely get returned," he said.
Many of those who are losing their homes to foreclosure are speculators- they bought the house to make money. A lot of them have now realized that they are NOT going to make money. When rents are so low that you’d need a 50% [or better] reduction of your loan balance to be cash positive on a rental, calling the lender can seem pretty pointless.
