Government mortgage programs don’t just dominate the mortgage origination business, they are also sitting on a huge inventory of real estate owned properties that are clogging the housing market recovery and adding to government budget problems. That spurred the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Treasury last month to look for public input on ways to minimize losses for taxpayers and increase private investment in housing, including property sales and joint ventures. The National Association of Realtors said the best way to deal with the large REO inventory is to...(includes data chart)