一场金融危机，让很多辛辛苦苦工作的普通民众成为“负翁”，在房子这笔家庭最大的资产上资不抵债。于是乎，很多银行不得不面临房主“耍赖”的困境，很多家庭选择放弃当房主，留给银行一个个的烫手山芋。

对于银行来说，处理掉一栋被房主放弃的房子，大概得十来万美元的代价。实在是委屈，虽然今天的这种局面也算是它们自作自受。

现在，美国银行出了一个新招：让你从“负翁”变为租客，如果你满足它的条件的话。如果这一招能够走通的话，银行就有机会盘活自己手下的很多有毒资产了。

这样一来，银行就有一个新的选择：将代价高昂的“拍卖”（法拍屋）变成资产重组，希望在变身之后，再将这些房子捆绑一下卖给投资者，让希望投资地产市场赚得租金的“稳妥”投资者，获得一个“难得”的新的投资机会。

这里面，华尔街又在通过“创新”来折腾那些相信他们的投资者了。而银行又可以通过这种途径，来联手华尔街，忽悠普通的投资大众了。很快，类似于当初的CDO，CDS之类的玩意，也会被华尔街的聪明人创新出来，再在捆绑之后卖到世界各地的那些寻求保守投资的投资客手里。

（想理解CDO，CDS和金融危机从美国梦开始，被人忽悠，一直到后来被华尔街牵着鼻子走到金融危机的逻辑和历史轨迹、来源细节的读者，请阅读我的《危机与败局》（商务印书馆）。好像在市面上还没有更好的在这个领域的普及读物。哈哈！自傲一下！）

新的陷阱开始布局，它正在等待那些“贪婪”的投资者们。如果你对于投资和积累财富有兴趣，我建议你还是好好学习和研究一下这场金融危机的来源，因为，今后类似的花样还会继续被华尔街以不同的面目玩出来。不然的话，你还会

B of A to offer rentals as foreclosure alternative

6:42 AM, Mar. 23, 2012 

NEW YORK -- Bank of America says it has begun a pilot program offering some of its mortgage customers who are facing foreclosure a chance to stay in their homes by becoming renters instead of owners.

The "Mortgage to Lease" program, which was launched this week, will be available to fewer than 1,000 BofA customers selected by the bank in test markets in Arizona, Nevada and New York.

Participants will transfer their home's title to the bank, which will then forgive the outstanding mortgage debt. In exchange, they will be able to lease their home for up to three years at or below the rental market rate. The rent will be less than the participants' current mortgage payments and customers will not have to pay property taxes or homeowners insurance, the bank said.

"This pilot will help determine whether conversion from homeownership to rental is something our customers, the community andinvestors will support," Ron Sturzenegger, legacy asset servicing executive of Bank of America, said in a statement.

Among requirements to qualify for the program, homeowners must have a BofA loan, be behind at least 60 days on payments and be "underwater," owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

The bank based in Charlotte, N.C., said it will at first own the homes, then sell them to investors. If the program is successful, it could be expanded to include real-estate investors who buy qualifying properties and keep the occupants on as tenants.

"If this evolves from a pilot into a more broadly based program, we also see potential benefits from helping to stabilize housing prices in the surrounding community and curtail neighborhood blight by keeping a portion of distressed properties off the market," Sturzenegger said.

Foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac says foreclosure activity has picked up in some states, as banks deal with a backlog of homes with mortgages that had gone unpaid yet remained in limbo due to delays stemming from foreclosure-abuse claims, according to

Nevada has the nation's highest foreclosure rate as of last month, with one in every 278 households in the state receiving a foreclosure-related filing, twice the national average, according to RealtyTrac. Arizona ranks third behind California, while New York has not been as hard hit, with one in every 4,604 households receiving a foreclosure-related filing.