Since 2007, economists have tried to call the bottom of the housing market. Reaching the bottom is the core principle necessary to stabilize the housing market and allow prices to begin rising and with that in mind it brings me to the issue of what can we do to help escalate this elusive target?

My perception and my own personal opinion has always been that without the aid of the people who had a heavy hand in causing the crisis, we would all suffer in some form or another from the meltdown. Whether it is unemployment, lost equity, or the inability to respond due to personal life circumstances, the crisis has not discriminated. People from all walks of life would be and are being affected. So the question is: What can we do, or better yet what can those who helped create this situation do to bring back stability to the housing market, which in turn brings back jobs and normalcy for thousands?

Today we are saddled with thousands of homes in foreclosure that have not yet hit the market caused in part by the new controversy of the now famous “robo signings” i.e., fraudulent foreclosures. This again perpetrated by many of the same players who created the boom to meltdown.

Furthermore, we now have the tightest lending guidelines in the history. New regulations are costing borrowers upwards of 30-40 percent today and that will increase should the new regulations from the Frank–Dodd Bill go into play April 1. Lastly, the Obama loan modification programs have failed as thousands if not millions have been unable to reduce their rates or the principal balance on their loans to achieve affordability.

The first step is to help those homeowners still able to pay their mortgages. Help them get reduced rates or balances or a combination of the two if that‘s what it takes. By reducing rates and/or principal balances we will eliminate a huge log jam of future foreclosures not even being reported and which will drown the market further.

The second step is that there needs to be an immediate resolution to the fraud and deceptive practices surrounding the foreclosure process.

This does not mean sweeping it under the rug as seems to be the case with many of the top players such as Merrill Lynch and Countrywide.

The penalties should fit the crime as it would for you and I had we signed something as important as mortgage documents fraudulently.

We should then move forward with lightning speed to inserting those legally foreclosed homes back into the market at saleable prices. The foreclosing entities need to put their greed behind them and begin focusing on the issue of housing stability.

The third step is we need the administration to revise its lending regulations that are strangling the daylights out of the recovery while increasing costs substantially.

Keep in mind that when the regulators changed the appraisal process under the guise to “protect the borrowers,” they created a new middleman known as appraisal management companies.

These firms are coincidentally owned and operated by the same banks and lenders who order the appraisals but who can no longer speak with them.

For that protection the consumer is now paying anywhere from $75 to $125 more per appraisal while the appraisers have seen their fees go down.

The profits are going -- you guessed it -- to the appraisal management companies owned by the banks.

In April, the Dodd–Frank Bill will again increase costs significantly to borrowers with many new regulations. Lenders are attempting to lobby these new rules as they know full well the costs will fall upon the borrowers.

The fourth step is lenders involved in short sales must be required to use some of that bailout money to hire more people and be required to respond to an offer within 15 days. Not 30 or 365 days as is the case today. Once again this comes back to who pushed up the ridiculous prices and who were bailed out. In my opinion, these folks need to begin giving back to the people they victimized and spend the money necessary to repair the problem.

The fifth and last step is, we must focus on the lending guidelines. While lenders should never make a loan to a borrower who cannot provide documentation showing the ability to repay the loan, we have seen a drastic swing in what is required for a loan approval.

These strict guidelines are making the process much more difficult and as well are eliminating thousands of potential buyers. These guidelines are being enforced by the big four or five banks that single-handedly have tightened the noose upon buyers they once helped with no documentation.

If one considers the thousands of potential buyers who have now had their credit and earnings ruined from the recession, which was the direct result of the housing meltdown, you can begin to wonder how many people will actually qualify down the road for a home loan.

In closing I would simply state that mistakes were made during the boom times but now is not the time to stymie the housing recovery.

While Wall Street seems to be soaring, one must wonder how long it can last without a housing market. Housing drives the American economy for jobs, for manufacturing and for family stability.

How many more people can we allow to join the unemployed simply because they do not work in technology, research and development, etc?

How many more people can we continue to throw out onto the streets thereby increasing the costs to cities and counties all across America?

There are ways to change this daunting crisis but the people who helped get us here need to step up and give back to the economy.

Joe Adamaitis, a mortgage banker in Sarasota, can be reached at joeadirect@comcast.net.