Millions of home loans have fallen into “distressed status” over the past 5 years, as the economy began shriveling up and American families began losing income and falling behind on their mortgage payments.

At a certain point in time lenders (banks, government agencies / loan insurers) file  foreclosure notices on these distressed properties.  A significant number of days may then pass before the process moves on to the next step. The delinquent homeowner may request a short-sale – which the lender may or may not allow.  Or the lender may proceed on to a foreclosure auction.

The “foreclosing beneficiary” (the ‘lender) will set the opening bid for the amount owed on the loan (or the ‘outstanding loan amount’).  And if there are no interested parties willing to bid at that ‘set’ price, then the foreclosing beneficiary comes to legally repossess the property.

These lender-owned properties are known as Real Estate Owned (REO) properties, and are listed on their books as non-performing assets.

RealtyTrac forecasts 500,000 REOs for 2013.  That’s an average of over 1360 “lender repossessions” per day, for each and every day of the year.  That’s over 1360 families daily – losing their homes to banks and government agencies.

And now some big firms like the hedgefund, Blackstone, have been stepping in to buy up these ‘lender-owned’ properties, in mass, in certain markets like Phoenix and Tampa, with support from an “ongoing government-subsidized, GSE/FHFA endorsed REO-to-Rent initiative.”  (ZeroHedge 3-14-13)

Blackstone’s plan is to get the properties fixed up and rented out — with rent-paying tenants in place.

And then they plan to securitize these tranches – similar to the good old mortgage securitizations (MBSs) that were so popular during the housing bubble (the one that ‘popped’ in the Fall of 2008 and pushed the banks underwater and sent the U.S. economy into a tailspin).

So… here is a quick summary.  Homeowners in America (500,000 this year alone) will ‘exit’ their homes as those homes are legally repossessed by lenders (the ‘foreclosing beneficiary’) – banks and government agencies.  The U.S. government then enters the scene to subsidize (yes, SUBSIDIZE) the sale of these homes from the repossessing lender to a hedgefund to turn into rentals for eventual securitization and sale as an  income-producing investment vehicle.

This scheme is a “government-subsidized, GSE/FHFA endorsed REO-to-Rent initiative, through which large asset managers have been encouraged to take advantage of government funded, risk-free financing and purchase foreclosed properties in bulk, with the intention of converting them into rental properties. The REO-To-Rent has traditionally been open to the biggest of financial companies, or at least those who don’t have the stigma of legacy mortgage origination resulting in billions in litigation reserves, which means mostly hedge funds and PE firms.” (ZeroHedge 3-14-13)

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The Leviticus 25 Plan offers a preferred alternative.

Instead of the U.S. government again bailing out the banks by subsidizing the sale of these non-performing assets to investment companies, The Leviticus 25 Plan keeps American families in their homes, so the problem doesn’t develop in the first place.

It is unconscionable that the U.S. government offers no mechanism to provide liquidity to financially distressed American families, but it will provide liquidity to distressed banks to move distressed properties off their books – and into the hands of hedgefunds for ‘grooming’ as securitized investments.

There is only one plan in America that will re-ignite real economic growth, pay for itself over a 10-15 year period, and deliver substantial ‘ground-level’ benefits to Americans.

The Leviticus 25 Plan.