Congress has been trying for months now to come up with a "fix" for the housing market mess. Unfortunately, government efforts from those in suggested by the White House to those proposed in Congress fall woefully short of the realities. Blown Mortgage reports on the reality behind the housing market mess:

The tough reality is that with so much money at stake, so much declining equity, so much debt, so little additional borrowing capacity there is very little room to actually do something that works.

My cousin is finding this out first hand. Her condo in Phoenix isn’t worth near what she owes on it, and this upside down position means that no one wants to refinance her. And, as the banks look at her situation, they aren’t sure that she can even afford the terms under a loan modification. It’s the scourge of the interest only loan.

The housing relief bill in Congress has very few solutions that will help large amounts of people; the reality is that there is no immediate solution, and many people just won’t be helped. But what we can do is move forward from this housing market mess and learn from it.

One of the things that I do like is a provision that requires mortgage lenders to disclose how much mortgage payments will be after a loan resets.

Do you think that the housing market can be fixed by legislation and government programs?