 In fact, house prices could take another jump because Zero Hedge reports that government-owned mortgage bundler Freddie Mac, which already owes roughly $3 trillion worth of mortgages, just applied to a deal in second mortgages. Now, a second mortgage is when you take a fresh loan out to take money out of your house. The problem is that this effectively turns a house into a credit card, in fact, one that is government-subsidized by Freddie Mac.