Isakson Praises Passage of Legislation to Stimulate Housing Market

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today praised the Senate’s passage of legislation to stimulate the nation’s declining housing market. The legislation passed by a vote of 72 to 13.
“One thing we must do is improve the plight of the American people economically, and there are two things overwhelming average Americans today. One is the price of gas at the pump. The second is the declining value of equity in their homes,” Isakson said. “This legislation is an infusion of confidence the financial markets need desperately. We'll put liquidity back in the mortgage market. There will be good underwriting and accountable credit issued by the mortgages that are then sold to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to provide liquidity in the marketplace. This is not a bailout for those two institutions. It is an insurance policy that's good for this economy and good for this country.”

The comprehensive legislation is designed to stimulate the nation’s declining housing market as well as strengthen the regulation of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. It also modernizes the Federal Housing Administration and expands the FHA’s loan insurance programs aimed at helping borrowers avoid foreclosure.

The legislation now goes to President Bush for his signature.

Isakson spent more than three decades in the real estate business, beginning his business career in 1967 when he opened the first Cobb County, Ga., office of a small, family-owned real estate business, Northside Realty. Isakson later served as president of Northside for 20 years, presiding over the company’s growth into the largest independent residential real estate brokerage company in the Southeast and one of the largest in America.