Experts Taking Closer Look At Obama's Foreclosure Plan
MIAMI (CBS4)- Fixing the housing market and helping families from losing their homes was a key focus for President Barack Obama during the State of the Union address Tuesday. But Americans are waiting to hear more on the plan.
Obama detailed his latest plan to help families stay in their homes until the job market improves.
The topic turned into a major campaign debate, and like so many other issues, both sides remain deeply divided.
While rebuilding the U.S. economy was a key focus of the president's address, most home owners may have been more interested in his latest plans to make it easier to find cheap mortgages and prevent foreclosures.
"That's why I'm sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low rates," Obama said.
But it turns out the president's plan sounds like the same one he proposed last fall that still hasn't been approved by congress, according to Weston foreclosure expert Roy Oppenheim.
"It was nothing new," he said. "It was kind of just a rehash of old programs."
At Monday's republican debate, Mitt Romney said the government needs to stay on the sidelines and reverse the latest banking reforms.
"You have to get the government out of the mess, governments created the mess," Romney said.
But earlier this Fall, Romney was more blunt.
"Don't try and stop the foreclosure process," he said. "Let it run its course and hit the bottom… allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up and let it turn around and come back up."
Oppenheim said not much is being done.
"Their platform is to embrace Ron Paul's policy and that is to do nothing," Oppenheim said. "They have absolutely no plans, in fact, we've gone to their Web site, we've called the campaigns, we've asked for their formal white papers and none of them have anything subsequently to say about the foreclosure crisis anywhere in the United States."
Fixing the foreclosure problem is expected to remain a hot campaign issue long after the president's State of the Union address is forgotten, CBS4's Al Sunshine reported.
But there is still no sign of any bi-partisan agreement on how to better keep families from losing their homes.
