About Curry County, OR

The Sixes River is one of three world-class salmon, cutthroat and steelhead trout fishing rivers in the forests around Port Orford. It rises approximately 30 miles into pristine areas of the Coastal Range of mountains of northern Curry County just south of Sugarloaf Mountain in the Siskiyou National Forest. Generally speaking it flows in a westerly direction through the Grassy Knob Wilderness, by the unincorporated town of Sixes, and drains into the Pacific just north of Cape Blanco.

The upper Middle Fork of the Sixes River and the North Fork of the Elk River are under consideration for wilderness designation as part of the 13,700 acre Copper Salmon Wilderness area to protect one of the nation's largest remaining stands of low-elevation old-growth forest and one of the healthiest salmon, steelhead, and cutthroat trout runs in the continental United States as well as stands of vulnerable Port Orford Cedar and ndangered birds like the marbled murrelet and the northern spotted owl.

Port Orford Cedar

Copper Mountain view from Barklow Mountain.

If you enjoy the roaring surf at the coast, the flowing movements of a river through the canyons, the winds in the trees, or the sounds of silence experienced in the long views over the river valley then you'll enjoy fishing, camping, hiking, and other outdoor activities on the Sixes. Check out our local campgrounds.

Camp Grounds

Sixes BLM Campground 5 miles north of Port Orford, turn east at Sixes River Road, go 13.5 miles to campground. BLM campground:

1. 19 sites,
2. Vault toilets,
3. No drinking water,
4. Camping,
5. Picnicking,
6. Fishing,
7. Recreation mining and panning for gold,
8. Nature watching, and
9. Photography.

Cape Blanco State Park - 10 miles west off U.S. 101 on Cape Blanco Rd just 9 miles north of Port Orford. The park is on the south Oregon coast. Campsites:

1. 58 electric (max. RV length 40'),
2. Hiker/biker, horse camps,
3. Dump station.
4. Showers.
5. Trails.
6. Swimming
7. Accessible campsite (1E), and
8. Restrooms for people with disabilities.

We have experience in solving the foreclosure problems. In 1933 FDR's people redefined the role of the Federal Home Loan Banking Board through the Home Owner's Loan Act and created the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC). The HOLC was granted $200 million in start up funds and the authority to market more than $2 billion in govt. backed tax-exempt bonds to purchase delinquent mortgages before they went into default.

But that is not all the HOLC did. The new agency also offered direct aid to the besieged homeowners who were cut off from credit. The HOLC operated under six guiding principals which defined the program as well as FDR's understanding of the relationship between housing and the economy:

1. The physical home and the families who owned and occupied it were of paramount importance, not the monetary value of the property or the mortgage that secured it. The mortgage and the financial market's speculation on mortgage backed securities were crushing both the homeowners and the home. It was determined that balance had to be restored, and the speculative, inflated values of mortgages written down.

2. Existing mortgages would not be rescued. Instead, HOLC would underwrite and insure new mortgages at 80% loan to value issued at lower interest rates (5% or less) and longer terms (20 and 30 year terms) to take the pressure off the homeowners and the banks; and halt the foreclosures.

3. The housing sector is fueled by credit and the availability of funds. When credit market speculation destroyed the market it was determined that they had to be thrown out of the market and kept out while a govt. regulated and insured system had to be reborn and expanded.

4. Market reform and re-establishment of the home loan credit system had to be accomplished in the context of government directed reform and control of the credit markets and the banking industry. They understood that only the govt. had the power to define, plan, and implement this reorganization.

5. Lenders were needed to provide the credit and the govt. regulators needed to protect residential mortgage lenders from commercial banks and speculators.

6. The waves of foreclosures could be broken provided the residential mortgage lenders were placed under govt. supervision and provided that steps were taken to rewrite mortgages for longer terms, at lower interest rates, and federally insured.

Additionally, the HOLC agents handled every loan situation on an individual basis. They made personal visits and helped clients organize their lives. Their actions were guided by the knowledge that the only real basis for repayment came from the ability of the client and his family to survive and prosper. The agents used their broad discretionary powers to help clients find work, to collect insurance claims and pensions, to attract tenants for rentals, to qualify for public assistance, and even to locate foster children that could be taken in for a fee.

I believe the success of this program was due in large part to the wisdom demonstrated by FDR in placing the needs of people before the needs of financiers.

The risk is manageable and they once again can make money on:

• Residential mortgages
• Commercial mortgages
• Business loans
• Auto loans
• Credit Cards,

The govt. is taking action to stabilize the economy and create a market environment in which the risks can be managed and banks will make loans. In addition to taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and reducing the Federal Reserve Rate to between 0 and 0.25% the govt. has invested more than:

• 256 billion to address insolvency in the financial markets by stabilizing banks that were deemed to big to fail,credit worthy banks, and AIG.
• 500 billion for the Federal Reserve to buy mortgage backed securities to further stabilize the financial markets, and
• 19 billion in the auto industry & GMAC to preserve more than 250,000 jobs.

The Secretary of the Treasury and his successor are making plans and will be taking actions under congressional oversight to invest the remainder of the 450 billion in TARP funds authorized by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act,

The new administration, and the new congress are making plans to:

• Cut taxes,
• Invest in infrastructure
• Fund development of alternative energy sources,
• Create jobs, and
• Regulate the financial markets.

The govt. is working the problem(s) and it plans to do more but in my opinion, lender confidence will not return until we stabilize the housing market which will require revision of the bankruptcy laws and a govt. investment of approximately 300 billion in programs to stimulate the purchasing of existing home inventory.

I just finished a webinar at John Burns Real Estate Consulting that provided some insight and clarification about the reasons home buyers are not buying. Some of this is common knowledge but I like to have good reference data available in any discussion with listing clients. The source of this info is the John Burns Real Estate Consulting Survey of 240 Home Building Executives, December 2008.

The reasons are ranked by the percentage of buyers impacted

• Concerns about economy and jobs........... = 36%
• Cannot sell existing home..................... = 29%
• Worried about further home price declines = 20%
• Credit/Qualification issues...................... = 10%
• Lack of down payment........................... = 5%

The good news is the current actions by the govt. and plans for future actions, assuming they are approved, appear to be focused on the economy and jobs as well as increasing money supply in the market to provide funds for home loans.

My concern is for the govt.'s execution and their ability to establish accurate measures of effectiveness to use for program evaluation and revision of their plans as required to properly address and resolve these issues.

Facts

Historically, our bankruptcy laws have permitted court approved adaptation of every type of debt obligation except for mortgages secured by single-family principal residences.

Mortgages and mortgage terms are not modified by bankruptcy judges. Debtors propose the modifications, if the modifications are acceptable lenders agree, and then the bankruptcy judge approves the modification if it meets the requirements set forth in the Bankruptcy Code.

Mortgage servicers generate revenue on defaulted mortgages for single-family principal residences by assessing fees and penalties.

Old Assumptions

Mortgage lenders claimed that if their losses on principal residences were limited, then they would pass on the savings to home buyers in the form of lower interest rates. Their rational was that this would encourage homeownership.

Allowing the reduction of the principal on the mortgage for a single-family principal residence would make mortgage backed securities less valuable.

New Assumptions

Mortgage lenders often lose 40-50% of the value of their loan through foreclosure.

If Bankruptcy laws were revised to allow debtors on single-family principal residences to re-negotiate the mortgage principal and terms with their lenders then lenders would have one more tool to use in their efforts to manage risks, reduce their losses from foreclosures, and maximize overall return on investments.

Conclusion

There is no empirical evidence to show that:

• Existing practices generate lower interest rates,
• Encourage home ownership, or that
• A reduction of principal would make mortgage backed securities less valuable.

If the new assumptions prove to be valid then:

• Mortgage lenders and investors in mortgage backed securities will see a reduction in their losses and improvements in the value of their assets.
• Mortgages servicers earnings from fees assessed on defaulted mortgages would be diminished by this change in the Bankruptcy Code.

Recommendation

The newly proposed legislation to allow debtors to re-notiate their mortgages on single-family principal residences would provide a much needed alternative that would reduce lenders' losses, allow homeowners to stay in their homes, and help stabilize the housing market. It deserves no less than a fair and impartial review and a straight up vote on its merits.