Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008

I thought it would be a good exercise to look back at the summer, around the time of the $300 billion infusion to help "cure" the ailing market. Let this serve as more of a tool to educate, as we close out 2008 and approach the winter housing market of 2009. An educated consumer is [still the] our best customer - I think I just dated myself?

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Pub.L. 110-289, 122 Stat. 2654, enacted July 30, 2008) designed primarily to address the subprime mortgage crisis, was passed by the United States Congress on July 24, 2008 and signed by President George W. Bush on July 30, 2008. It authorizes the Federal Housing Administration to guarantee up to $300 billion in new 30-year fixed rate mortgages for subprime borrowers if lenders write-down principal loan balances to 90 percent of current appraisal value. It's intended to restore confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by strengthening regulations and injecting capital into the two large U.S. suppliers of mortgage funding. States will be authorized to refinance subprime loans using mortgage revenue bonds. It also establishes the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) out of the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB) and Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO).

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FAQ's from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development can be found here.