Can't pay your bills? It's rich peoples fault.

[Rogue9Volt]

I think it's stoopid for the government to bail out anyone that made a bad decision, be it a bank, or a person.  Where's all this funding coming from?!  Who pays for the bail out?!  A bill passed last year to create yet another program for affordable housing for low-income families, and guess where THAT funding comes from?  It comes from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac PROFITS every time they raise their rates.  BTW, FM & FM are the people who most likely own your loans if you have college loans.  It's basically a middle class mortgage tax in all but name...

[ink]

Do you realise that 1 in 500 home owners in America should have bought something they could afford, but didn't?

thats pretty friggin serious!!!

yup put the blame on the people who are the true americans,but lets not blame the big companies that have ruined our country, and force people to live the way they want us too,

  every thing in this country caters to the rich!!!   and if you cant see the truth than you are exactly the way they want you!!! a friggen robot!
unless of course you are in the tiny % that are rich in this country, well if thats the case i guess you are right! you cant be wrong! because you have more money than us, and your smarter then us, and you know whats good for us,

[Gunslinger]

yup put the blame on the people who are the true americans,but lets not blame the big companies that have ruined our country, and force people to live the way they want us too,

  every thing in this country caters to the rich!!!   and if you cant see the truth than you are exactly the way they want you!!! a friggen robot!
unless of course you are in the tiny % that are rich in this country, well if thats the case i guess you are right! you cant be wrong! because you have more money than us, and your smarter then us, and you know whats good for us,

Well obviously they are doing something right if they are wealthy.  The only thing keeping my family down financialy is a spend happy wife who doesn't understand the concepts of budgets and don't spend money you don't have.  When I bought my first house 2 years ago i made sure

1 I could afford it.
2 I could afford it in the future as well.

[Shuffler]

yup put the blame on the people who are the true americans,but lets not blame the big companies that have ruined our country, and force people to live the way they want us too,

  every thing in this country caters to the rich!!!   and if you cant see the truth than you are exactly the way they want you!!! a friggen robot!
unless of course you are in the tiny % that are rich in this country, well if thats the case i guess you are right! you cant be wrong! because you have more money than us, and your smarter then us, and you know whats good for us,

I paid quite a bit in income taxes..... then I have to pay my half of my employees taxes (PR tax) then I pay quite a bit in property tax for my company and my home then tax on some of my equipment. This is just some of the taxes I pay.

I don't tell you how to live nor do I demand anything from you (heck I don't even know you)... yet depending on your income or lack thereof I may be supporting you and your family and that is your gratitude?

[Xargos]

No one was forced to buy a house they couldn't afford, but the tax payer will be forced to cover the cost.  I have no sympathy for those who signed for houses they couldn't afford.

[Maverick]

A home buyer should have their finances in order and be bright enough to figure out a budget. If you are signing for an ARM or an interest only mortgage you are speculating. You are gambling that the mortgage rates will go down instead of up and that you will be able to flip or sell the house before the note is due. Sorry but you should never gamble with more than you can afford to lose. If you lose your shirt in Vegas, it's your fault and no one will bail you out.

[Casca]

I paid quite a bit in income taxes..... then I have to pay my half of my employees taxes (PR tax) then I pay quite a bit in property tax for my company and my home then tax on some of my equipment. This is just some of the taxes I pay.

I don't tell you how to live nor do I demand anything from you (heck I don't even know you)... yet depending on your income or lack thereof I may be supporting you and your family and that is your gratitude?

Exactly. At least if we sent it to Sally Struthers we'd get a picture and a letter.

[Simaril]

There is the problem..... the loan institutions are floundering now because of pulling that scam and the government is talking about bailing them out with our money. Let those loan institutions fail. Let those folks lose their home. The only way out for them should be by their own means not with money stolen from me by the government.

Note I say THE govrnment not MY government. The US government has not been for the people by the people for a long time. Just a bunch of disconnected head in the sand indigents.

That was my first response too. Unfortunately, it turns out that the impact of all those stupid people's stupid mistakes would likely be enough to hammer the rest of us into a major recession, if not depression. As I understand it, the banking industry stays liquid by giving and receiveing short term loans to each other, almost like a power grid distributing electricity. Once everybody gets nervous about the stability of their trading partners, solid banks stop offering those 72 hour loans that keep the wheels greased -- because who wants to loan a million bucks only to see the client go under the next day? Without that free movement of assets, banks don't have the resources to extend business loans, even to good prospects. Small companies can't expand, new ones can't start. The guy whose big contract payment gets delayed by the client suddenly can't make payroll, or can't pay HIS creditor -- and the banks have all pulled in their credit lines due to general uncertainties. Now good businesses start going under because they can't get the short term or emergency funding they need.

Growth slows, stops, and starts moving backward because of the dual pressures causing more failures and making it harder to expand. People get laid off, so spending drops even among those who keep their jobs -- cause who knows if they might be next? Less economic activity means further contraction, and the cycle continues.

The great depression was NOT caused by the stock market crash of 29. In fact, there have been equal or greater drops in the years since then without triggering catastrophe. Instead, from what I've read, the major factors were the absence of effective international currency systems (is it the Breton Woods agreement?) and a critical loss of economic confidence that made everyone afraid to take the economic risks that keep growth moving. I'm no economist, but I have to wonder if a failure of the "currency" system among banks might end up causing a similar disaster.

[Mustaine]

I don't know if any of you know regular people, but you all assume people in possible foreclosure are people with dumb loans...

My best friend with wife and 4 kids own a home in the northern ghetto of Milwaukee. They bought the house 9 years ago, with the housing "boom" their appraised value went up, and actually went up above their income level (meaning if they were to apply for a loan in the amount of their house they would not qualify). They refinanced 4 years ago to help with some debt, single working adult earning >$50,000 and got a decent rate for 4 years fixed rate.

Now with gas, utilities and cost of living raising 10x faster than raises, and he works in a business dependent on the new home market money is tighter than a nun's bum.

Market value has dropped on their appraisal, and currently they owe after 9 years just $3000 less than the value of the house. They never did a "dumb" loan, and have spent a bunch of money on the house in improvements. with that refinance 4 years ago I helped them completely finish the unfinished basement, including adding a 3/4 bathroom, and 3 rooms.

Situations like the above make up some part of the current housing problem, and you can't discount the housing "boom" 2+ years ago artificially inflating home values of those that already owned homes even in urban areas.




Personally I am disgusted with the home market, especially what I have seen in urban areas like my buddies. He has to deal with minorities walking into his driveway on fathers day afternoon and stealing his 5 and 7 year old's bikes with training wheel's still on them. He and I made the mistake of going to Home Depot for some plumbing accessories and left the wife and kids to watch the teenage minorities carry off the bikes, only to find 2 days later they bikes ruined and lying in a ditch. That was 2 years ago.

So his neighborhood has become a cesspool. It has happened in the same time frame as the housing "boom" but now he is S.O.L. He can't afford a home out of the city and they have to deal with it... and because of appraisers artificially inflating the value of his home, then killing that value in the last few months he is losing more equity than 9 years and thousands of dollars invested in improving his home instead of letting it go to pot.


I rent and wouldn't consider owning until this stables out.

[Holden McGroin]

yup put the blame on the people who are the true americans,but lets not blame the big companies that have ruined our country, and force people to live the way they want us too,

90% of these people who signed unaffordable mortages did so at the point of a gun. 
8% had children held hostage until they signed.
2% were idiots.

[splitatom]

some froclosures are from people loosing ther jobs

[Trell]

There is enough blame to go around, 
It is the fault of the dumb home buyers that listened to the upselling of the mortgage people rather then look at there own budget. 
It is also the fault of the lending companies leaning more money then realistically the home buys could afford,

Dont know about the rest of you buy what kind of idiot loans money to a guy that when looking at how much he makes you know he will have a hard time paying it.

But the fun part is it will be the Mortgage companies and banks that get the bail out,  for being greedy, not the home buyers.

Home buyers will loose the homes to the banks, the banks will get the bail out,  and they will have both the homes and the money back.

Sounds like a win win for them

[DREDIOCK]

Basically the lending companies play hot potato with the mortgages.
They lend the money initially. then sell the mortgage at a profit to another company.
who then sells it to someone else.

Thats why they made the loans to people who couldnt afford them.
They knew that all they had to do was sell the loan to the buyer. As long as things were good they had nothing to loose because they knew they were going to sell the loan to someone else and it would no longer be their problem in the homowner defaulted.

Not speaking of the current situation.
One persons loss usually turns into another persons gain.

When the time is right. Some folks are going to make a ton of money buying then selling forclosures.
Some already are.

[SteveBailey]

When the time is right. Some folks are going to make a ton of money buying then selling forclosures.
Some already are.

not selling.. buying.. sitting on them/renting them.  Selling them down the road as market recovers.

[FrodeMk3]

not selling.. buying.. sitting on them/renting them.  Selling them down the road as market recovers.

If you time it right you can, Steve, but...The houses' on my street, which the original owners' sold when the value started going up, were turned around and bought by flippers. However, they got stuck with them, and are now having a helluva time, because it's been long enough now, that the original lease agreement's have expired, and the old renter's are moving out to cheaper places. The flippers' are having to lower rent's below what their original payments' were, and are starting to hurt now.