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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gao seng who wrote (143882)	5/9/2001 4:53:21 AM
From: DOUG H	Respond to of 769670

Public sector pigs, feeding rampantly at the public trough. ................................................. Freddie Mac Calif. Teacher Mortgage a Hit May 9 3:48am ET By Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac will announce on Wednesday that a program to help California teachers buy homes has far exceeded expectations. Freddie Mac vice president Dwight Robinson held up the program as an example of how the so-called government-sponsored enterprises, Freddie Mac and its larger sibling Fannie Mae , develop new products to carry out their mandate to make homeownership more broadly available. The model could help other state and municipal employees afford to live in the neighborhoods they serve, Robinson said in a written statement. "What is happening in California could happen anywhere," Robinson said. "There are more than 2200 state and municipal pension funds in this country that control about $2 trillion in assets." This type of new product demonstrates "how quickly and effectively the GSEs can develop and implement sound new programs that address our country's emerging housing needs," he added. Under the arrangement, teachers borrow a 5 percent downpayment on a home purchase from the California state teacher's retirement system (CalSTRS). Freddie Mac anticipated making around $100 million in loans over several years, Robinson said. Instead, the government-chartered, publicly traded mortgage finance institution financed over $140 million in teacher mortgages in 12 months, he said in a written statement. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac face industry and congressional criticism for using the advantage of their implicit government backing to compete against commercial rivals in the mortgage markets. Legislation before the House would make it tougher for the GSEs to offer new products or enter new types of business lines. The Senate is not considering similar legislation. CalSTRS met the requirements to become a Freddie Mac mortgage seller and servicer, the first pension fund to do so, Freddie Mac said in a written statement. A borrower gets a first mortgage for 95 percent of the value of a home and a second mortgage for the remaining 5 percent. The second mortgage, known as a "soft second," bears the same interest rate as the main mortgage. It requires no payments until the sale of the home.