Should the Mortgage Industry Fear Maxine Waters?

9:57 pm - January 11th, 2007

Representative Maxine Waters (Dem-CA) is the incoming chairwoman for the Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommitte which is under the House Financial Services Committee. During a speech on Tuesday, she made a fairly boldÂ statement to the industry

Â ”For those of you who are worried about people like Maxine Waters in the financial services industry, stay worried,” she said during a luncheon speech to the Women in Housing and Finance group. “Come up with some answers. Come up with some ideas. Come up with some things that we can do that would help us work together to get the job done.”

In the past, Representative Waters has been a strong supporter of FHA lending and the FHA initiative. She has been responsibly critical of sub-prime and other higher interest rate lending alternatives for homebuyers with less than perfect credit. She supported the “Expanding American HomeownershipÂ Act of 2006″Â which promoted the idea of allowing the FHA to offer risk-based pricing in their upfront mortgage insurance premiums.

So why is Representative Waters so antagonistic in her comments? She claims she will start with a focus on New Orleans and in trying to bring people back by providing new affordable homes in the area. It seems a better approach would be to foster a team approach, especially in an area recovering from natural disaster.

Ms. Waters isn’t new to making bold statements. According to Wikepedia, Representative Waters as a first-term representative,Â gained fame by walking into the Oval Office and telling then-President George H.W. Bush, “Your time is up.”

She’s also no stranger to allegations of corruption. (Wikepedia cited below)

“In January 2006, Waters was named as one of the twenty most corrupt members of Congress in the Beyond Delay report^[8], commissioned by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The report accused the Congress member of abusing her position for the benefit of her family. Her family members earned more than $1 million through business deals involving companies she had been in direct connection.”

While she is opn-mouthed at times, Representative Waters has a track record of promoting homeownership initiatives, FHA lending concerns and homebuyer issues. Frankly, I’m not sure what to worry about with her in this position….other than perhaps her mouth”.