Roger Knights

The Obama Fiscal Boost: Good First Bid, But Can the Administration Do More?

Here's what I wish the new administration would do. (I posted this as a comment once already elsewhere on SA, but I may keep posting it until the White House comes around.)

Why can't the gov't. take over where Rex & Co. left off, by offering homeowners a premium (say 15% of the house's current valuation) in exchange for a share of future profits (say 50%) on the sale of the house? This would buffer the effects of the current crunch on the homeowner, allowing him to make his mortgage payments, while being a good long-term buy for the gov't.

As long as I'm in a utopian mood, here's another suggestion. Since the gov't. is throwing money at make-work projects and infrastructure improvements, it seems to me that there's a project that could get under way much faster, with less likelihood of fraud or ineffectiveness than the ones I've been reading about. Namely, the gov't should offer to pay for home-improvement projects for home-owners in exchange for a share of future profits on the sale of the house. This would stimulate lots of economic activity, would upgrade the country's housing stock, would make life pleasanter for home-owners and their neighbors (who'd live in an upgraded neighborhood), and would be a good investment for the gov't. in the long run. It would also be politically popular (assuming it would work).

There are certain desirable-but-fairly-r... home improvements that wouldn’t require skilled labor, such as adding fencing, improved home security, improved home insulation, and improved earthquake protection.