Move over Dayton, Ohio, "Fanniemaeville" has got you beat:
NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Fannie Mae said on Monday that the housing finance company has taken over so many homes through foreclosures that if it were a town, it would be bigger than Dayton, Ohio.
It is also on track to pass Richmond, Virginia, this year in terms of the number of houses, and would crack the top 100 municipalities as ranked by DataPlace, a web-based source of housing and demographic data.
As a record number of Americans lose their homes during the worst housing crash since the Great Depression, Fannie Mae now owns 67,519 homes.
The company, which the U.S. government placed in conservatorship in September following record losses, said in its third-quarter earnings that its inventory of foreclosed properties rose by nearly a quarter in three months and more than double from a year ago.
That puts it on par with cities such as Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Providence, Rhode Island, in terms of number of households.
Amazing. "Fanniemaeville" is approaching the size of the nation’s top 100 municipalities, and all it’s homes are vacant. I suppose that makes it the nation’s largest ghost town.
Quite a record for a town that’s not a town- and still growing.
I still have no idea if Prof John Vogel is related to Jim Vogel (who does seem to have a few clues). Anyway, from about a month ago here he is making the modest proposal that the custodians of America’s $5 trillion off-balance-sheet vehicle should be non-profits. Gee, does that make them bankruptcy remote?
John-
Yesterday’s announcement of FNM’s $29B loss reminds me of a sign I saw in a pizza place once:
That said, being a non-profit with CEOs who don’t live like robber barons makes a lot more sense than the current business model.