Forty-five percent (45%) of Americans oppose the federal government subsidizing mortgage payments for financially troubled homeowners, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Thirty-eight percent (38%) think government subsidies are a good idea, and 18% are not sure which course is best to follow.
If you bought your home with a 30-year fixed rate mortgage and haven't used your home's equity as an ATM machine, and now find yourself in trouble because of job losses or other factors beyond your control, I might be able to support the idea of federal assistance. Why favor this group? Because when they bought their house they demonstrated that they could afford the fully amortized payments.
However, if the home was bought with a teaser rate deal, an interest only mortgage, or an adjustable with an artificially low starting rate, I have much less sympathy because many of those people knew they couldn't afford the house if it was fully amortized. They were making bets with money they didn't have. I'm inclined to let the market work those out.
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