Industrys Vocal Opposition to Eminent Domain Plan Intensifies as Key Jurisdictional Meeting Approaches
July 27, 2012
Californias San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors has yet to decide if it wants to go ahead with a controversial proposal to seize performing underwater non-agency mortgages via eminent domain, repackage them and sell them to new investors. But just the fact theyre considering it has compelled some secondary mortgage market representatives to call in the big guns of the federal government to squash the notion. Late last week, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association President and CEO Tim Ryan wrote to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan to raise his memberships concerns about the proposal and called on them to oppose it. We believe that efforts by municipalities to employ the power of eminent domain to seize mortgage loans are...