Have you been keeping up with the home forclosure problem?

Question

Now please don't jump to the conclusion that I have no sympathy or compassion. I do and I feel very badly for people in that situation. But all my life I have lived conservatively and did not buy something - house or otherwise - that I could not afford. I'm retired now, I still live conservatively and l still pay income taxes.

I don't like the idea that my taxes might be used to rescue people who made reckless decisions or commitments and borrowed more money than they could afford to pay back. No one held a pistol to anyones head and demanded that they sign those papers. They simply wanted more house than they could afford.

I feel the same about people who made bad investment decisions and then expected the government to bail them out. If the loss was due to fraud (Enron, Worldcom, etc), that's a different matter but if its just a question of greed overcoming common sense, should I be expected to make them whole again.

Am I all out of the milk of human kindness.

Answer 1

Probably there are a few in there who legitimately went wrong, but I am like you, I'm out of compassion, I have had some terrible times during my life but it was never because of greed. People do mistake kindness for weakness sometimes and I have had to reasses my position more than once. I have seen those people on Oprah telling their stories and it is all about greed, more, more, more...

Answer 2

The appraiser does not really check for defects that are not visible, and the lender is not responsible for defects found after closing. Did you have an inspection prior to the closing? Did you do a walk through and accepted the house as it is? Did the seller submit a condition report which you signed when submitting the offer to purchase? The time to find all these problems is before completing the purchase, and you and your Realtor should have worked together on that. At this point you are in foreclosure because you haven't paid the mortgage, and I know that is upsetting and you are grasping at straws. You could try to sell your house, maybe at less than you paid (this would be a short sale) just to get out from under the mortgage. Please call your lender and see if you are eligible for a loan modification.

Answer 3

Right now I'm ahead of the foreclosure bit - not trying to keep up. But then, my home is a very moderate, moderately priced estate. Lending institutions, credit cards and the like through total lack of usury laws have become worse than local loan sharks. Their collection methods are just as deadly -- any more one has to have a team of CPA body guards and/or shyster lawyers to make a small loan and keep the butt covered at the same time.

I do have SOME compassion for folks that are going under -- like anyone else, my finances have had some ups and downs. But today is a day for 'Buyer Beware' cause the big bad wolf is on the prawl.

Answer 4

I am sick and tired of listening to all the moaning and growning about all those that have ARM and are going to loose their houses. They knew that when they signed those papers what they were getting into. If they didn't they are dummer than dirt. They did not have the income to afford the houses in the first place and a house is the biggest investment you can undertake in your whole life. Now they want someone anyone to bail them out. I don't think so!!!!!!
But that has caused emense problems for the rest of the world. What about the builders that are trying to build houses that no one wants to buy now.Some builders have gone out of business or had to file banckruptcy. The contractors that are building those houses, that now are layed off. The supplies of building supplies that may go out of business as the supplies are not being sold to the builders to build those houses. It is just a trickle down effect.
And what about all the people who have fixed rate loans, have lived in their houses for years and years, are current with their mortgages or have paid their mortgages off and found now that they want to sell their houses have no buyers and are losing equity in their houses everyday. What about all the Senior Citizens that want to sell and downsize or go into a rental. They also can't sell or will take a loss on their equity. Which might be their investment that they planned to live on the rest of their lives. So do they sell and take a loss on what they could have gotten a year ago. Do they wait it out if they can till the market comes back and people start buying again.
I have n o symphathy for these people that are crying about defaults and forclosures. If you can't afford something don't buy it. If you get sick and or lose your job, can you still afford your house payment. People are so much in debt and have so much credit card debt that they are just a paycheck away from living on the streets.A lot of people do not put money in savings accouts,so they have nothing to fall back on. We are going to have a recession big time. Then wait for all the moaning and growning. Let me get off my soapbox now.

Answer 5

I will address an issue regarding my son and his partner. They are both doctors and make good money. They live in South Florida where property values were soaring way out of proportion to the rest of the nation. They bought a beautiful new home, the thing in FL was everything was going up tremendously in price. They got an interest only loan thinking that they would turn over the property quickly, then the hurricane season of 2005 hit, the market became realistic instead of inflated, no one wanted to move to the hurricane belt and now his property devalued $400,000 in 2 years . Anything that seems to good to be true is usually a rip off, like I told them...but they never listen to mom...kids....
My other son paid a reasonable amount for his condo, it went up in value and all is well...

Answer 6

I know I don't live in US but I think I would feel like that if thats what is happening, I live in a Council property and I am not ashamed, I haven't the means to buy a property, and certainly would not even try if I couldn't afford one, I would love to own a bungalow, but I know I would eventually struggle to make payments, it's the ones who do go above their heads and their means to buy property they cannot afford should feel the shame, how on earth are people going to learn not to live beyond their means if they are going to be bailed out by the governments, using tax payers money....and you haven't lost the milk of human kindness at all, you, rightly so, expect others not to live above their means and then expect you to foot the bill

Answer 7

Am, not sure how I feel yet about our taxes dollars being used.
First , I would like to say. I agree with most of all you said. My husband and I work hard are whole life but had fun doing it.
Two years ago our home was paid off. That said.
I live in one of those towns that has been on the news
Five years ago this town was still a secret to most bay area people.
Then someone with this great idea called us the Bay Area. Our houses went up, and up and up.
But we were still hundreds of thousands less then San Francisco.This silly town started building.
People who thought would never own came to our town.
It was crazy 5 years ago people bought house for 5 hundred thousand and that is how much those people owe the bank.
Now the same house would sell for 3 hundred thousand.

One of my new neighbors job moved to San Jose from San Francisco.(Almost three hours from here)
With gas and not being able to put his house up for sale his life is in the sh---- is how he says it.
If he could sell his house and move to where his job is his life could work again.
Was he being stupid to believe buying a house was not like buying a car it would go up not go down.
Down buy thousands. of hundreds!
I hear stories like this all the time now.
Am scared that the town I have chose to retire in raised my children and now grandchildren will have house after house boarded up and that will bring more crime.
Not sure how I feel yet . I never had a free lunch if I made a mistake just my husband had to work it out.
This is going to hurt a lot of people.
Happy Holidays

Answer 8

The bottle of Milk of Human Kindness is empty.
We who pay our bills on time and spend wisely are paying when these people let the banks foreclose on the mortgages or file for bankruptcy.
I also tend to think the Mortgage Brokers are sharks and customers are their meals.
Since I'm on a roll here, also detest people who have declared bankruptcy and then still get credit cards again at 22-25% finance rates and are allowed to keep refinancing their homes.
The refinance rates for them aren't cheap rates either, they're double what someone with good credit pays.

Answer 9

I don't think the government is bailing out forclosures, just the loan companies to save their own butt. I lost a house in 1981, partly through bad decisions, partly due to 23% interest rates, and I can tell you it is not fun. Whatever the circumstances, I hate to see businesses fail and/or people lose their home. I'm glad that you have never made a bad financial decision, wish I could say the same. peace

Answer 10

well many of the problems can be blamed on the 90's stock market and real estate salesman. back in the 90's had many stockbrokers talking people into taking second mortgages at 8% and let them make you money at 25% . so many people did this and when the stock market fell they lost everything.
and were stuck with a second morgage they could not afford.

and the real estate people use to work with people to find them the right house. a house they could afford and in the right location. my cousin and her husband a couple of years ago was looking for a house and her salesman was bringing
them to 300 thousands houses and showing them on paper how they could afford it.well they bought a house for 200 thousands and were barely able to afford it because the real estate person did not list taxes , yard care, house updating insurance.... in the budget for them. the salesman are only instread in making the commission. they gave people the illision of having more then they did.

yes in the end people should be responible for their mistakes. even if they were mislead by people they trusted. we all need to do our homework before signing for anything.