Why are more Americans failing to keep up with their home mortgage payments?

Question

Can anyone explain in simple tearms what is happening? I am in the process of buying a home, and all this news is quite worrisome.

Answer 1

People are living above their means. If they see something they want, they buy it. When the time comes to pay for it, they have to rob Peter to pay Paul.

Answer 2

There are many reasons why the housing market is having problems today.

The interest rate and adjustable or sub-prime mortgages are part of the problem, but not the full cause.

Sub-prime and adjustable rate mortgages have been around for years with little or no problems.

There are many loan agents that have told their clients the same thing over and over and it has proven to be truthful over and over and time after time.

"If you get a sub-prime loan, clean up your credit, your house will increase in value in 2-3 years, after which we will refinance you into a good rate mortgage which will probably be lower than what you are paying now."

"If you take this adjustable rate loan now, by the time it adjust in the next 2-5 years, we will refinance the property for a fixed rate mortgage and perhaps the rate will be about .125 or .25 above what you are paying now."

The reason these scenarios did not work this time is because the property did not increase in value as it had in the pass. Therefore the mortgage both sub-prime and adjustables could not be refinanced. Now these people were stuck in the situation they found themselves in and could not refinance as promised.

This caused the problem more so than anything else, the value of the properties did not increase as in the past.

Using any of the mortgage products is ok, but you should know if they are for you and fit your needs today and in the future.

If you get an adjustable mortgage, make sure that you understand the adjustment period, how much the monthly payment will adjust to as well as when the adjustment will take place.

I have yet to see an adjustable mortgage jump 5% there is a cap for each adjustment period and normally there is a cap for the year also. Normally the adjustment is limited to .25 to .50 per adjustment period and normally can not exceed 1-2 points per year.

I hope this has been of some use to you, good luck.

"FIGHT ON"

Answer 3

People cannot keep up with their mortgages because of the kind of financing they took out on their homes.

To buy a bigger home, or to qualify at all, many homebuyer's took out adjustable rate mortgages

Their thinking was they would live there for 3 years and just before the rate would re-adjust they would make a bundle on their home and buy something else.

The problem is everyone had the same idea and there was an avalanche of homes put on the market at the same time.

The Fed also raised rates from 1% to 5.25%

Now that the sub-prime rates are re-adjusting to what these people should have been paying all the time they cannot afford the higher payment.

Thinks the sub-prime mess is over?

Think again!

Look at the mortgage resets for the subprime mortgage market next year.

Aug (07) 52 Billion Dollars
Sep 58
Oct 55
Nov 52
Dec 58
Jan (08) 80
Feb 88
Mar 110!!! WOW
Apr 92
May 72
June 75
July 50

Answer 4

Hi,

We had a perfect storm for a down real estate market.

Over the past few years, in most parts of the country, the value of houses was moving up at a super-heated clip. People started re-financing their houses and taking money out, thinking that the market would keep going up at that rate. Mortgage companies pushed adjustable rate and interest-only mortgages to keep payments low and people bought more house than they could really afford.

At the same time, gas prices doubled. Not a big deal if you drive a Hyundai, but if you commute in an Expedition and your spouse has a mini-van, your monthly gas bill went from $250 - $300 a month to $500 or $600 a month. Because gas prices went up, the costs of retail goods subtly went up (it costs money to truck goods all over the country).

A real kicker was that at the same time, the credit card companies raised their minimum payments -- I think they doubled it.

Consider how many people were already living paycheck to paycheck. Any one of those factors could put a person behind. Cost-of-living raises are practically non-existent. For people who were living within their means, their expenses went up by several hundred dollars a month, if not more. All of a sudden, they were living a little closer to that paycheck every month. One late payment on a credit card raises the interest rate from a reasonable 12% up to 29%. Now their minimum payment is higher and the entire payment is getting eaten up by interest charges. And so it snowballs.

All that being said, right now is a great time to be buying a house. Prices have come down to more realistic levels and sellers are begging for buyers in many areas. Lenders will be scrutinizing your financials now more than ever. If the house payment is well within your means and you still have money set aside after the down payment and closing costs, you most likely will be just fine.

Best of luck to you,

Barbara
www.therealestatebirddog.com

Answer 5

The main reason people can't pay their mortgages is because they bought a home that they could not afford. Rather than buy something within their budget, the over extended. Some may have been careless with their spending and bought other things rather than pay the mortgage. One other reason is some may have gotten into a variable interest rate loan which can change annually or over a period of several years. Rates can jump several points in one year. I have seen them jump 5 points in a single year. That can be difficult for most people to absorb. Some of these people were able to get into a home with little or no money of their own and had little risk. Of course, some could have had extenuating circumstances such as family illness with which to deal. Most simply over extended themselves. Many had marginal or poor credit and should not have qualified for a loan in the first place. Banks should not have approved them.

Answer 6

Basically two things happened;
#1 Loan companies providing ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) only qualified people on the current rate. When the rate began to adjust they could no longer afford the payments.
The loan company should have qualified them on a fully adjusted mortgage.

#2 Loan companies provided "Interest only" loans, and only qualified people on that amount of payment. Once the loan was into a few years and coupled with the downturn in housing prices, folks found that their mortgage balance was more than what the current market would bear. In other words the values declined, but because the principle was being added back to the balance of the mortgage, they owned more than they could sell for.

I hope that helps.

Answer 7

A lot of home owners took at ARM loans and once the rate adjusted they were no longer able to afford their house. Their credit probably wasn't good enough to refinance at a lower rate, so they were stuck paying this huge mortgage. Basically, you should never get an adjustable rate mortgage. You never know what your credit may look like in three years. If you can't afford the house now at a fixed rate, you can not gaurantee you can afford it at a fix rate in 3 years. Just buy within your limits and you will be fine.

Answer 8

They were not ready for a house, but bought one anyway. To do so, they had to settle for 100% financing or went with adjustable rate mortgages, hoping they would be able to get out of them in 3 to 5 years. Because their credit sucked, they got higher interest rates.

In short, they did not have a healthy downpayment, an emergency fund in cash, and a credit score that allowed them to get traditional financing.

In some cases, they also bought more than they could afford.

If I were you, I'd put away the amount of my estimated mortgage payment each month to make sure you can afford it. That money will grow into an emergency fund and/or downpayment.

Get a FIXED RATE mortgage for 15 years if posswible, 30 if necesary.

Talk to a good quality real estate agent with a teaching heart that will help you through this.

Answer 9

The biggest reason is due to ARM mortgages. The ARM mortgages locked in their rate for a specific period of time then the rate adjusted often doubling the customer's payment. Then they were not able to pay for their homes anymore. Stay away from ARMS.

Answer 10

Many people took out variable rate mortgages with relatively short reset times (the length of time before the payment rate goes up to amortizing, with full interest), and were simply not prepared for the substantial increase in the amount of payments. Many such mortgages were taken out when interest rates were considerably lower than they are now, and the mortgages are resetting to the higher rate.