借国家征用权，保护自己的家

In a Shift, Eminent Domain Saves Homes
By SHAILA DEWAN July 31, 2013
美国楼市
借国家征用权，保护自己的家
SHAILA DEWAN 2013年07月31日
The power of eminent domain has traditionally worked against homeowners, who can be forced to sell their property to make way for a new highway or shopping mall. But now the working-class city of Richmond, Calif. hopes to use the same legal tool to help people stay right where they are.
一直以来，国家征用权(power of eminent domain)都不利于房屋拥有者，因为他们可能被迫使出售房产，为新高速公路或商场腾出土地。但是，加利福尼亚州的工薪阶级城市里士满，现在却希望利用同样的法律工具帮助人们，让他们不需要搬迁。
Scarcely touched by the nation’s housing recovery and tired of waiting for federal help, Richmond is about to become the first city in the nation to try eminent domain as a way to stop foreclosures.
美国房地产市场复苏几乎没有惠及里士满，等待联邦救助也已经等得不耐烦，因此该市即将成为美国首个试图通过使用国家征用权来阻碍银行收回按揭违约房产的城市。
The results will be closely watched by both Wall Street banks, which have vigorously opposed the use of eminent domain to buy mortgages and reduce homeowner debt, and a host of cities across the country that are considering emulating Richmond.
华尔街各银行及美国许多城市密切关注其结果。前者一直强烈反对使用国家征用权购买房贷并减少房屋拥有者的债务，后者则正在考虑效仿里士满的做法。
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Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
2005年，罗伯特·卡斯蒂略和帕特里夏·卡斯蒂略出资42万美元，在加州里士满购得一个三室一卫的房屋。现在这座房子价值12.5万美元。
The banks have warned that such a move will bring down a hail of lawsuits and all but halt mortgage lending in any city with the temerity to try it.
银行警告称，这种做法会招致一系列法律诉讼，而且胆敢这样做的城市，将来可能就很难再贷到房贷了。
But local officials, frustrated at the lack of large-scale relief from the Obama administration, relatively free of the influence that Wall Street wields in Washington, and faced with fraying neighborhoods and a depleted middle class, are beginning to shrug off those threats.
但是，当地官员开始对这些威胁置之不理，原因是他们对得不到奥巴马政府大规模救援感到失望，相比之下不像华盛顿那样要看华尔街眼色行事，而且当地社区也正在日益衰落，中产阶级囊中羞涩。
“We’re not willing to back down on this,” said Gayle McLaughlin, the former schoolteacher who is serving her second term as Richmond’s mayor. “They can put forward as much pressure as they would like but I’m very committed to this program and I’m very committed to the well-being of our neighborhoods.”
盖尔·麦克劳克林(Gayle McLaughlin)曾作过教师，现在担任里士满市长已经到了第二个任期。她说，“我们不愿意在这件事上退让。他们想施加多少压力就施加多少压力，但是我推动这个计划的决心十分坚定，我也决心要为我们的社区谋福祉。”
Despite rising home prices in many parts of the country, including California, roughly half of all homeowners with mortgages in Richmond are underwater, meaning they owe more — in some cases three or four times as much more — than their home is currently worth. On Monday, the city sent a round of letters to the owners and servicers of the loans, offering to buy 626 underwater loans. In some cases, the homeowner is already behind on the payments. Others are considered to be at high risk of default, mainly because home values have fallen so much that the homeowner has little incentive to keep paying.
尽管包括加州在内的许多美国地区房价都在上涨，但是，里士满约有一半背负房贷的房屋拥有者处于负资产状态，意味着他们欠的债比房屋现在的价值要高，在有些情况下高达三、四倍。周一，里士满市向房屋拥有者和贷款服务机构发出了许多信件，要购买626宗负资产贷款。有的房屋拥有者已经断供房贷。还有一些人也被认为有很高的违约风险，主要是由于房产价值跌得很厉害，房屋拥有者缺乏继续还贷的动力。
Many cities, particularly those where minority residents were steered into predatory loans, face a situation similar to that in Richmond, which is largely black and Hispanic. About two dozen other local and state governments, including Newark, Seattle and a handful of cities in California, are looking at the eminent domain strategy, according to a count by Robert Hockett, a Cornell University law professor and one of the plan’s chief proponents.
许多城市，尤其是那些少数族裔居民背负着掠夺性贷款(predatory loan)的地区，也面对同里士满市相似的情况，里士满市大部分是黑人和西语裔人口。该计划的主要支持者、康奈尔大学(Cornell University)法学教授罗伯特·霍凯特(Robert Hockett)称，包括纽瓦克、西雅图及加州许多城市在内的二十几个其他城市和州政府，也在关注这种征用策略。
But the cities face an uphill battle. Some have already backed off, and those who proceed will be challenged in court. After [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/us/a-county-considers-rescue-of-underwater-homes.html?n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes topics%2fsubjects%2ff%2ffinances&_r=0]San Bernardino County[/url] [要查看本链接请先注册并登录]earlier this year, a network of housing groups and unions began working to win community support and develop nonprofit alternatives to [要查看本链接请先注册并登录], the firm that is managing the Richmond program.
但是，这些城市面对的阻力很大。一些已经让步了，而那些继续推动这种做法的城市将会在法庭遭遇挑战。今年年初，圣贝纳迪诺县放弃这一想法之后，众多房地产组织和协会开始努力寻求当地社区的支持，并且建立非营利性机构，发挥和里士满项目的管理方——抵押贷款解决合伙机构（Mortgage Resolution Partners，简称MRP）——相同的作用。
Richmond is offering to buy both current and delinquent loans. To defend against the charge that irresponsible homeowners who used their homes as A.T.M.’s are being helped at the expense of investors, the first pool of 626 loans does not include any homes with large second mortgages, said Steven M. Gluckstern, the chairman of Mortgage Resolution Partners.
里士满提出要购买现有贷款和欠缴贷款。MRP董事长史蒂文·M·格鲁克斯滕(Steven M. Gluckstern)说，有种说法是，不负责任的房屋拥有者把自己的房子当做自动提款机，援助他们，是在让投资者蒙受损失；为了避免这样的指责，第一批626笔贷款不包括任何存在高额二次抵押的房屋。
The city is offering to buy the loans at what it considers the fair market value. In a hypothetical example, a home mortgaged for $400,000 is now worth $200,000. The city plans to buy the loan for $160,000, or about 80 percent of the value of the home, a discount that factors in the risk of default.
市政府提出以其认为的公平市场价格购买这些贷款。假设一栋房屋的按揭贷款总额为40万美元，现在的价值为20万美元。该市计划以16万美元的价格收购贷款，即房屋现在价值的80%，折价考虑了房屋拥有者违约的风险。
Then, the city would write down the debt to $190,000 and allow the homeowner to refinance at the new amount, probably through a government program. The $30,000 difference goes to the city, the investors who put up the money to buy the loan, closing costs and M.R.P. The homeowner would go from owing twice what the home is worth to having $10,000 in equity.
之后，市政府将把债务减记为19万美元，并允许房屋拥有者按照新的债务金额重新融资，也许可以通过政府的一项计划。其中3万美元的差额将归市政府、出资购买贷款的投资者和MRP，并用于支付过户费用。房屋拥有者的处境将从按揭负债比房屋价值高一倍，变为拥有1万美元的权益。
All of the loans in question are tied up in what are called private label securities, meaning they were bundled and sold to private investors. Such loans are generally the most unfavorable to borrowers and the most likely to default, Mr. Gluckstern said. But they are also the most difficult to modify because they are controlled by loan servicers and trustees for the investors, not the investors themselves. If Richmond’s purchase offer is declined, the city intends to use eminent domain to condemn and buy the loans.
所有涉及的贷款，都将打包成所谓的“私营部门债券”(private label securities)，指这些债券都将打包出售给私人投资者。格鲁克斯滕说，这种贷款通常是借款人最不喜欢的，也通常是最容易违约的。但这种贷款的条款也最难调整，因为它是由贷款收账方和代表投资者的受托人控制的。如果里士满购买贷款的提议遭到拒绝，市政府打算行使国家征用权购买贷款，将债权转移到政府名下。
The banks and the real estate industry have argued that such a move would be unprecedented and unconstitutional. But Mr. Hockett says that [要查看本链接请先注册并登录], not just land and buildings, are subject to eminent domain if the government can show it is needed to promote the public good, in this case fighting blight and keeping communities intact. Railroad stocks, private bus companies, sports teams and even some mortgages have been subject to eminent domain.
银行和房地产业认为，这种做法并无先例，而且不符合宪法。但霍凯特表示，只要政府能证明为了促进公众福祉有必要行使国家征用权，那么所有类型的财产，不仅限于土地或建筑，都可以被征收——具体到里士满，政府的理由就是避免城市破败，保护社区不受损害。铁路股票、私有巴士公司、体育运动队，甚至某些按揭贷款都曾成为政府征收对象。
[要查看本链接请先注册并登录] the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the American Bankers Association, the National Association of Realtors and some big investors have mounted a concerted opposition campaign on multiple levels, including flying lobbyists to California city halls and pressuring Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration to use their control of the mortgage industry to effectively ban the practice.
包括证券产业和金融市场协会（Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association，简称Sifma）、美国银行家协会(American Bankers Association)、全国房地产经纪人协会(National Association of Realtors)，以及一些大型投资者在内的反对者，已经在多个层面上发起了统一的反对行动，包括派遣游说人士前往加州各地的市政府游说，同时向房利美(Fannie Mae)、房地美(Freddie Mac)，以及联邦住宅管理局(Federal Housing Administration)施加它们对房贷产业的影响，以求切实地禁止这种做法。
Tim Cameron, the head of Sifma’s Asset Management Group, said any city using eminent domain would make borrowing more expensive for everyone in the community and divert profits from the investors who now own the loan to M.R.P. and the investors financing the new program. “Eminent domain is used for roads and schools and bridges that benefit an entire community, not something that cherry-picks who the winners are and who the losers are,” he said.
Sifma下属的资产管理集团(Asset Management Group)负责人蒂姆·卡梅伦(Tim Cameron)说，任何城市如果动用国家征用权，都会导致社区中所有人的借贷成本提高，而且会将利润从当前持有贷款债权的投资者手中，转移到MRP和出资支持新计划的投资者手中。他说，“国家征用权的用途是修建能让整个社会受益的道路、学校、桥梁，而不是挑拣出让谁受益、让谁受损。”
Not all mortgage investors oppose the plan. Some have long argued that writing down homeowner debt makes sense in many cases. “This is not the first choice, but it’s rapidly becoming the only choice on how to fix this mess,” said William Frey, an investor advocate.
并不是所有的房贷投资者都反对这项方案。一些人长期以来都在主张，在很多情况下，减记房屋拥有者的负债都是合理的。投资者权益倡导者威廉·弗雷(William Frey)表示，“这不是最好的选择，但它正在很快成为解决这团麻烦的唯一选择。”
Mr. Frey said that the big banks were terrified that if eminent domain strategies became widespread, they would engulf not only primary mortgages but some $450 billion in second liens and home equity loans that are on the banks’ balance sheets. “It has nothing to do with morality or anything like that, it has to do with second liens.”
弗雷表示，大型银行所恐惧的是，如果国家征用策略广泛使用，其影响范围就不只包括初级抵押贷款，还会涉及列在银行资产负债表上的总价值4500亿美元的第二留置权贷款(second lien)和住宅权益贷款(home equity loan)。“这跟道德或者其他类似的东西无关，只跟第二留置权有关。”