HUD 'Fix' Likely to Hurt Home Buyers; A supposed simplification of the U.S. mortgage-finance process drastically could alter how the mortgage market functions, leading to an increase in costs for consumers

0 Comments | Insight on the News, March 1, 2004

Yet the public's participation is limited to one-way communication. The actual decisionmaking all takes place outside of the democratic process a necessity, in Sullivan's view. "The history of RESPA reform has been littered with the bodies of well-intentioned reform movements. We had a reform group that met for nearly two years and could not come up with anything," Sullivan says. "Consensus is not possible. Leadership is required. What we want to do is strike a balance between the need to give consumers the info they need and the goal to create homeownership. We get there with leadership."

James P. Lucier is a senior editor for Insight.