Get ready to buy everyone’s home improvements
posted at 9:40 am on March 5, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
People opposed to the mortgage bailout have erupted in anger over the thought of having to subsidize their neighbors’ house payments when they’ve responsibly managed their own housing decisions. Diana Olick tells her CNBC readers and viewers that that’s not all we’ll subsidize. Thanks to a little-remarked portion of the bill, we’ll pay for their home-equity seconds as well.
Paragraph vi of the bill states:
While eligibly loan modifications will not require any participation by second lien holders, the program will include additional incentives to extinguish second liens on loans modified under the program in order to reduce the overall indebtedness of the borrower and improve loan performance. Servicers will be eligible to receive compensation when they contact second lien holders and extinguish valid junior liens. Servicers will be reimbursed for the release according to the specified schedule, and will also receive an extra $250 for obtaining a release of a valid second lien.
Olick erupts:
It’s not that I don’t get the reasoning. Sure, do all you can to help people pay their mortgage, like get rid of other debt. By why stop there? What about car loans? Student loans?? The second liens, in general, were used by borrowers to either buy more home than they could really afford or to use their homes as ATM machines. Yes, some people use home equity lines of credit to pay college tuition.
But I can’t tell you how many homeowners I’ve interviewed (and just take a look at David Faber’s documentary House of Cards to see more) who took out home equity lines to put in a pool or buy a fancy car or put an addition on the house that includes a fancy new kitchen with a Viking six-burner. And I’m supposed to pay for all that?
It’s one thing to suck up the bitter pill in order to save the greater housing market and keep families in their homes, but using taxpayer dollars to give homeowners a free ride on second liens is preposterous.
I know that I’ve been putting off some home improvements for some time to avoid taking out a second on my house. I’ve spent cash in savings instead to do things that I couldn’t avoid, like replacing the plumbing in my house when it went bad and getting a new sliding back door when the double-pane seal failed on the old one (and those who live in cold-weather climes know what that would mean). I replaced my roof with a combination of insurance and savings when a windstorm damaged it beyond repair. I’d like to replace the 15-year-plus carpeting in my house, or perhaps replace my eight-year-old car at some point, but I haven’t wanted to assume that debt.
Now I get to assume the debts of everyone who did decide to do all of these things to their own homes by pulling out equity that they didn’t really have. Maybe I can get a list of everyone who qualifies under Paragraph vi, so I can go to their house and enjoy their new carpets, their new barbecue grills, or their enclosed four-season decks. After all, I’m paying for them — I should get the opportunity to enjoy them.
Blowback
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I remember watching the bus driver crying on CNN about her $800,000.00 house mortgage, in her kitchen, with the granite island and countertops. I’ve always wanted granite. Wish I had installed it months ago for you guys to pay for.
Marcus on March 5, 2009 at 9:45 AM
Sheeez! You mean I could have replaced my windows and installed new siding, after all??????
OmahaConservative on March 5, 2009 at 9:45 AM
I’d like to replace the 10 year old carpeting in my house and replace my 11 year old car, too…and update my kitchen, bathrooms and turn my den into a media center, with a big-ass flat screen TV with surround sound as the focal point…
…where do I sign up?
ladyingray on March 5, 2009 at 9:46 AM
REVOLT.
I’m not paying my mortgage this month. Screw this.
Key West Reader on March 5, 2009 at 9:46 AM
meh. the mortgage outrage is faux outrage. what did AIG just get, another 30bil? Isnt that their 3rd time? Wheres the tea parties against the AIG bailout, or the cycle of recapitalization thats driving lindsey graham to grill bernanke on whether nationalization may be a better option?
ernesto on March 5, 2009 at 9:46 AM
Betting $5.00 that you live in your mama’s basement.
Key West Reader on March 5, 2009 at 9:47 AM
This is disgusting. I don’t recognize my country any more.
outOfElement on March 5, 2009 at 9:48 AM
Not everyone has a second for cash, or home improvements, or even college loans. When my wife and I got married, we needed a larger home because she had two kids and lived in a small apt and slept on the couch), due to the down turn in the market then (2006 in Michigan), i sold my much smaller house for a loss. Which meant that we had to finance 100% of the new house. That required an 80/20 loan which apears like a second, but isnt. Now maybe we are a part of the problem and a text book example of what when wrong overall. But we make all of our payments, and we make them on time, and even pay extra. Not looking for a bailout. Even though our house has lost so much value that it is upside down even worse than the value of second (20% loan). So, should I keep paying (like a chump)? or should I just take advantage of the obamanation, and expect dear leader to pay my way and screw the bank who holds the paper with my signature on it.
Snapiron on March 5, 2009 at 9:49 AM
Behold, the new age of responsibility! I wish I could make some coherent argument, but this blew me away by its sheer stupidity and recklessness.
txaggie on March 5, 2009 at 9:49 AM
According to a piece in today’s WSJ,
“The loan-modification component of the plan would extend eligibility to borrowers with loans up to $729,750…”
JiangxiDad on March 5, 2009 at 9:50 AM
$
carbon_footprint on March 5, 2009 at 9:50 AM
good post and this is the problem. DC is so focused on those people that have failed, they ignore those that have succeeded. Some people will get foreclosed. Guess what?! My neighbor’s house was foreclosed a year and a half ago. The world did not end. He over-extended himself and lost his house. The bank has sense sold it and I have new neighbors.
Foreclosure is not bad. . . it’s the system’s cleansing mechanism.
ThackerAgency on March 5, 2009 at 9:50 AM
Wait, does this only apply if you are currently not able to pay your bills? If you have a HELOC and are paying it, do you get the ole shaft again? I’m getting really sick of this BS.
Jamewah on March 5, 2009 at 9:50 AM
R-E-P-A-R-A-T-I-O-N-S
stenwin77 on March 5, 2009 at 9:51 AM
I am in the process of buying 5 acres of land and a home.
I think as soon as I buy it, I wont pay anything mortgage wise. I will just let it default and fall apart, then have Dear Leader and all of you foot my bills and my lifestyle.
And then after we get UHC, I will have all of you support my 5 kids and wife and I and our medical needs. I think that is fair dont you?
Y’all need to sacrifice for me and my family. I am sick of doing this on my own!!! Its just way to hard to be personally responsible for my choices in life.
And while your at it, take out the trash and wash those dishes!!!
*end of sarcasm rant*
TheHat on March 5, 2009 at 9:51 AM
That’s 729,750 dollars more house than I currently own but not 729,750 dollars more house than I will get to help pay for….
sven10077 on March 5, 2009 at 9:51 AM
For a period of the bubble, EVERYONE in CA was using their home as an ATM; This is a huge part of the “upside down” mortgage issue. Everytime I was there I wondered how all these people who appeared to have no job, and no responsibilities were driving a better car, had better clothes and MUCH better jewelry than I could ever hope to have! All on credit, all on money borrowed from the “huge equity” they had in their homes. Sheesh.
anniekc on March 5, 2009 at 9:51 AM
Forget going in to use their new grills and four-season decks. I want those homeowners to get the same treatment that the recipients of TARP funds get. So, you’re a bank that wants to entertain customers…no, no, no….that’s misuse of taxpayer funds.
So, you’re a homeowner that’s getting mortgage relief? Okay, I want to start looking over and approving your monthly spending. I better not see any trips to Starbucks (you can brew your own), trips to any resorts for vacations (camping at a State Park will do just fine) or any premium cable channels on the list of expenses.
I wonder if people getting help on mortgages AND that want the feds to crawl all over the banks will agree to the same level of government control of their own lives.
mctowler on March 5, 2009 at 9:53 AM
We have been taking over by a bunch of whining cry-babies and deadbeats and those who enable them to get votes. It’s just that simple.
Remember, we may be the minority, but we’re still right (correct).
Oink on March 5, 2009 at 9:53 AM
I’ve been responsible all of my life.
I’m screwed.
fogw on March 5, 2009 at 9:53 AM
Pay my rent, bitches!
Abby Adams on March 5, 2009 at 9:54 AM
We took out a home ec loan to improve our 40 year old kitchen. It unquestionably increased our home’s value. But we only took out enough to pay for that and we made damned sure the payment, when combined with the primary (both rates fixed), was something we could afford.
It’s called budgeting and prudence.
Mr. Bingley on March 5, 2009 at 9:54 AM
my 80 year old house still has its original kitchen. i built an emergency fund to pay for necessary repairs in cash before i bought my home. my mortgage is about 15% of my income because i saved enough of a down payment so that my monthly payments could be affordable. so why should i pay for these jokers with gourmet kitchens and negative equity?
and when are the american people going to pay off my student loans?!?!
patriette on March 5, 2009 at 9:55 AM
The tea parties include outrage over AIG. I can’t believe that our elected officials think that giving 30 billion dollars to a company that lost 60 billion dollars in 3 months is a good idea. ALL WASTEFUL SPENDING, ALL SPENDING OUR MONEY, ALL MORTGAGING OUR FUTURE AND OUR KIDS’ FUTURE.
My outrage isn’t just at mortgage. I was outraged at the initial ‘TARP’ plan. I thought it was a joke when dude went to congress and said ‘give me 700 billion dollars’. I thought surely it was a bad dream and I’d wake up in a nation where officials are PRUDENT with taxpayer money.
ThackerAgency on March 5, 2009 at 9:55 AM
I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!
I’m going Galt.
petefrt on March 5, 2009 at 9:55 AM
Like hell! Think of the pain that causes Gaia.
Mr. Bingley on March 5, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Perfect.
OmahaConservative on March 5, 2009 at 9:56 AM
I must say; I ranted and raved about Glenn Beck going 100% into fearing the government and what the government is doing behind our backs… Most of what Glenn was saying (2) months ago when I stopped listening to his show, has now come to life right before our eyes.
Geez, I had so hoped Glenn was wrong.
Keemo on March 5, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Ha! America axed for it…they gots it!
winston on March 5, 2009 at 9:57 AM
I just listened to a tape of Milton Friedman speaking to Phil Donahue about capitalism and poverty.
Why can’t the conservitives of today speak as susinctly as Milton Friedman did then? He literally smoked the proposition of socialism and spoke about greed as being self interest. Einstein and Henry Ford did not achive great things buy governmewnt bureauracy but self interest.
Obama has his advisers not because they are angels of passion, but the serve his self interest. Socialism has never achieved as much reduction of stark poverty as Capitalism has. No where, no how.
Self interest has spawned every great achievement in history, not the dead hand of utopian bureauracy.
saiga on March 5, 2009 at 9:57 AM
And then there are those of us who want to do a home improvement, have the equity to do so even in this marketplace, have the income to make the payments, but won’t because the government is disturbing the markets so much that the lenders are asking a far higher interest rate than they might otherwise. After all, there are two ways to getting a better home — one is to trade up, and the other is to fix up the one you got, and taking advantage of the appreciation of the home is one way to do the latter.
My project (which would move a modicum of money back into the economy) is on hold for this reason — the permits are pulled, the contractor is ready, but the lenders are waiting for the best deal from the Government.
The whole mortgage market is owned by the Government now, if only because of the market uncertainty caused by occasional and random interventions by said Government.
I really do wonder who is profiting from all this behavior, because it sure doesn’t look like it’s anyone on my block.
unclesmrgol on March 5, 2009 at 9:57 AM
Marcus on March 5, 2009 at 9:45 AM
Oh yes, Mrs. Minta Garcia. I’m sure she’ll be able to “take advantage” of this!!
Then there’s the CNN bus driver interview with the lady that’s “losing” her house. What she doesn’t tell us is that she owned at least 3 properties from 2006 to 2008. Poor woman.
She has owned a condo at 6001 Arlington #721, Falls Church, VA since 1999.
She purchased 3438 Charles Street, Falls Church, VA on 1/05/05 for $510,000 and sold it on 6/10/08 for $429,000.
Her current home – 1920 N. Dinwiddie Street, Arlington, Va -was purchased with her husband (Luis Guillermo Flores) on 11/16/06 for $800,000.
sherryande on March 5, 2009 at 9:57 AM
WOW.
I live in a late ’70s double-wide trailer on our ranch.
I can’t afford to replace the roof, plumbing, siding etc.
The inside is falling apart, but we are making do with little improvement projects every year. I can’t afford a project over $250/yr.
Evidently I’m in the wrong business with my $50,000+ student loans (I won’t even mention the ag mortgage). I need to become a govt leech!
Badger40 on March 5, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Thanks everyone, I will have a neighborhood BBQ, to thank you for the patio you bought me…BYOB, naturally, you don’t think I would buy beer for you? I’ll use food stamps for the brats…
I have to hurry and call the bank, hoping they can slide a new car in there for me…I know you won’t mind, only another
$25,000$35,000 (I want a four wheel drive for fishing, I can afford to take some time off now), what’s that compared to $1 trillion….**.0000035%, it’s nothing.right2bright on March 5, 2009 at 9:58 AM
R-E-P-A-R-A-T-I-O-N-S
stenwin77 on March 5, 2009 at 9:51 AM
*
+1
Bingo. Obama is motivated by deeeeeep-rooted resentments. Cloaked reparations is a big part of his plans.
marklmail on March 5, 2009 at 9:58 AM
I’d love to be able to replace the 15yo roof that’s failing, the 10+yo carpet that was installed by non-professionals, or even just a few of the 25yo windows that allow us to heat the neighborhood in the winter. We had to take out a small loan to replace the heating system that utterly failed on us in January. Instead of dipping into our equity, though, we’re doing things piecemeal, so that we can afford it. So, we can’t afford to reasonably improve our house in a timely manner, so we can’t sell it either – but meanwhile I get to watch my neighbors load up their new SUVs with their flat-screen tvs and other crap and leave their houses to foreclosure.
Frak them. We’ve been screwed over enough, it’s just insult to injury to have my neighbors doing it to us too.
Anna on March 5, 2009 at 9:58 AM
You are only upside down on your loan if you choose to sell it. Don’t think of your house as an investment but as a home. Houses today are like cars. You buy a new car and you will be upside down in it for at least 1/2 of the time. Do you sell your car before or after you can make money on it? You hold onto it until it becomes profitable.
Why did you sell your house? It might have been small, but it was still yours. Did you consider just living there? 4 people can live in a 2 bedroom. It isn’t pleasant, but it is doable. When my father passed away when I was a kid my mother, and 3 brothers and sisters crammed into a 3/2 trailer. I hated that thing, but you do what is necessary to survive. A little pain and difficulty in your life is a good thing. Children need to know that not everything will be rosy all of the time.
txaggie on March 5, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Now thats more like it!
It aint just about losers and their mortgages…its about the losers that were standing there right next to santelli, its about the losers at AIG and GM and Citi…all losers, none deserving of taxpayer money.
ernesto on March 5, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Re-default rates on foreclosures averted run roughly 50% according to several analysts on CNBC.
That means after you subsidize their purchases with your money, they will lose it again in half the cases. Think AIG, Citi, GM for a clearer picture.
JiangxiDad on March 5, 2009 at 10:00 AM
From a recent news report:
Ahhhh, Obamanomics at work. Change you can pay for!
littleguy on March 5, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Your misdirection will get you nowhere ernesto. I’m ticked off about AIG as well as this crap. Right now we’re focusing on this part of porkulus.
Seems like instead of buying an 1100 sq. ft. house I should have bought an 11,000 sq. ft. one. And gotten a 56″ plasma tv instead of relying on my old analog CRT one.
rbj on March 5, 2009 at 10:01 AM
I agree with Olick in the sense that this was an all-or-none proposition. Once that gigantic wooden horse named TARP came crashing through the gates, the war was lost.
We let the horse in. It’s doing exactly what it was intended to do. We’re here quibbling about whether second mortgages are eligible for bailout, etc. etc.
It all went to hell when the first dollar was paid to the first executive flunkie at the first failing bank.
It would have been better to let the whole damn thing burn.
Again, we’re just haggling over the details now. And while I recognize I have a tendency toward the worst hyperbole, I am starting to wonder if TARP and its consequences are going to do what Bin Laden couldn’t do: destroy the American economy.
To me, President Bush’s legacy is now break-even. He gave, and then he took away.
jeff_from_mpls on March 5, 2009 at 10:02 AM
I’m with you. Enough!
Gilda on March 5, 2009 at 10:02 AM
There is something I just don’t understand and if anyone here can help me I would greatly appreciate it.
All I keep hearing is how millions of people are living in homes that have lost their values – they owe more than the house is worth, etc., etc.
So what! Unless you’re planning on selling your home or re-fi’ing to pull out money how does the fact that your home has lost value have any impact on your life????? It seems to me that you hang in there and wait for the market to correct itself.
What am I missing?? Why is there a need to bail out these loans???????
sherryande on March 5, 2009 at 10:02 AM
yet another crappy government program… over hyped is the MO of this administration.
Facts on the ground is that there are so many stupid hoops to jump through that most borrowers pass on these and the fact is there are other avenues for qualified borrowers.
I hope this program FAILS. I suspect it will. If it does work, lenders all across the country will be raising rates and fees on the rest of us to carry their load.
gatorboy on March 5, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Yeah! I’m a suffering science teacher. Pay off my loans! I’m teaching in a low income school! Pay them off!
I teach in a hard to fill area! Pay them off!
WHERE’S MY FREE LUNCH?!
Badger40 on March 5, 2009 at 10:02 AM
I am not for govt. subsidies…but of all the idiotic things the govt. does not do, is make loans for students at least tax deductable.
If they truly want an educated society, student loans should be tax deductable. That is, like a 401k, there are no taxes on the money earned to pay for the loan.
Right now you are paying taxes on the money you earn, then the net is paying for the loan plus interest.
If the govt. loans money, it should not be taxed.
right2bright on March 5, 2009 at 10:03 AM
This really does make me want to cry. My partner and I waited for years renting because we refused to do the mortgage gymnastics other people were doing. We waited, we saved, we planned and last August we finally bought a house in California – a 50 year-old foreclosed house that was previously purchased by a real estate agent that never made a SINGLE PAYMENT!
We did everything right. We got a 30-year fixed FHA loan THAT WE COULD AFFORD and now we are being punished by everyone that did it wrong and/or gamed the system.
It’s enough to make you want to just declare bankruptcy and give up.
outOfElement on March 5, 2009 at 10:03 AM
I need a new MacBook…..
blatantblue on March 5, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Maybe Jim Cramer can talk about this tonight?
ctmom on March 5, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Here are a few excerpts from the “Communist Manifesto” . . . do you see any parallels with Obama’s new economic and social order?
******************************************************************************
Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property, and on the conditions of bourgeois production; by means of measures, therefore, which appear economically insufficient and untenable, but which, in the course of the movement, outstrip themselves, necessitate further inroads upon the old social order, and are unavoidable as a means of entirely revolutionizing the mode of production.
These measures will, of course, be different in different countries.
Nevertheless, in most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable.
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.
rplat on March 5, 2009 at 10:05 AM
And to think up toward a hundred years ago or so people only had a couple of rooms in their house & 10 kids.
We are certainly spoiled.
Badger40 on March 5, 2009 at 10:05 AM
by the way, my student loans are owned by citibank. i’m going galt and paying them off as quicky as possible so as to minimize the profit to this bailout whore.
no more spending for me. no credit cards. no loans. i’m paying off every bit of debt i have and saving saving saving. i will never finance so much as a car again as long as i live. if i want to move, i will rent until i can pay cash for a new home. i refuse to owe anything to a government-run/subsidized financial institution.
patriette on March 5, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Obama’s shell game.
fogw on March 5, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Have had the same job for 20 years, our home was built in 1959, 1550 square feet. Now a friggin school bus driver is crying over an 800,000 dollar home, actually wanting government help? WTF?? Since when did living within your means become a mortal sin (I am soooo evil) and living way beyond your paltry means become another form of “victimization by the system”?
This is not the America I knew – nor the one I want.
Ris4victory on March 5, 2009 at 10:06 AM
We are in a MacBook CRISIS!
marklmail on March 5, 2009 at 10:06 AM
Badger40 on March 5, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Y’know, I’ve always wondered how they had the 10 kids with only 2 rooms in the house.
I’m just sayin…
kingsjester on March 5, 2009 at 10:06 AM
That’s the problem… a lot of borrowers in the 4 affected states (CA, FL, AZ, NV) took out payment option ARMs. Now that the value has dropped on their homes, a lot of these borrowers no longer have the interest only payment option (the lenders kicked in provisions to reset the loans), so now they have a higher payment. On top of that, most cannot refinance since they are upside down and if you can’t make your house payment, how are you going to come up with $20-100k to ‘right’ your mortgage to current values.
Anyway – it is a problem.. .mostly in those 4 states.
Don’t believe the media hype, or anything coming out of this administration – it’s all propoganda. Instead, drive around your neighborhood, talk to folks… do you see a lot of vacant homes, for sale signs? Wow! Not as bad as the talking heads would have you believe now is it?
Simply choose not to participate in Obama’s war on capitalism
gatorboy on March 5, 2009 at 10:06 AM
One day perhaps, we will find out who the “counter-parties” were on the other side of the AIG and Citi transactions, et. al. In other words, we will learn exactly who would have failed as a consequence of those giants going under. Of course, the scuttlebutt is that it was several other Wall Steet firms who would have folded, but now didn’t, due to the taxpayer rescue.
In any case, it’s very difficult to imagine the public (especially the baby-boomers who were the most invested and lost the most)returning en masse to stock again for the next couple of decades. The loss of faith “in the system” is even worse than the loss in dollars.
JiangxiDad on March 5, 2009 at 10:07 AM
So, you’re a homeowner that’s getting mortgage relief? Okay, I want to start looking over and approving your monthly spending. I better not see any trips to Starbucks (you can brew your own), trips to any resorts for vacations
Oh hell no! I don’t know how Obama can keep a straight face hen he talks about, “helping the decent, hardworking Americans to get back into society” HA! Without naming the institution I worked for while in CA, it was with utter disgust that I would notice what the welfare recipients were wearing, were talking on, were driving, etc. etc. These were the same people who were given no doc loans, who have long since bled the homes dry and left them to rot and decay the neighborhood they stand in. I must suspend disbelief to think any part of his “mortgage bailout” plan has a snow balls chance of succeeding. These “recipents” haven’t learned squat, and can’t wait to squander anything else they’ll get.
anniekc on March 5, 2009 at 10:07 AM
If I homestead my bunker, can I have you guys pay for that?
I figure the purple shag carpeting I installed, the black-light posters and the mood lighting alone probably cost about $35k, much less the filters, wells and armored cupolas.
Send your checks to:
Bishop
c/o Northern Minnesota Militia and Trust Bank
123 Armageddon Lane
Nowheresville, MN
00007
Bishop on March 5, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Funny, here I am doing everything I can to save every last penny, selling every random thing I own on Craigslist and eBay, and working diligently at my job(except when I post on here) so that my fiancee and I can afford to put down as much as possible(15% right now) on a house that’s priced within our means while having enough left over in savings to deal with our remaining debt and provide cover in case of any financial hurdles that come our way.
And now we’re told that we have to bail out our loser neighbor who did the exact opposite of everything we’ve been doing? I have plenty of experience with friends and family members who don’t understand the concept of personal responsibility. Eventually, you have to be willing to cut them off and let them suffer the consequences of their own actions. Nobody wants to see mass foreclosures, but it’s the best chance we have at resolving this crisis and teaching those who acted irresponsibly an important lesson.
Doughboy on March 5, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Just off the top of my head…
How about, instead of bailing out delinquent borrowers and leaving them where they are, we require that they sell their house, help negotiate a payoff of the mortgage and force them to downsize into something they can afford…even if that’s renting.
If I’m going to subsidize my neighbor’s housing I’d rather have more responsible neighbors.
tbradshaw on March 5, 2009 at 10:08 AM
Will Glenn Beck be there?
blatantblue on March 5, 2009 at 10:08 AM
When a total Obama stooge like Diana Olick gets upset with the Dear Leader, you know these liberals have started reading their 401K’s and have talked to their accountants about 2010.
jjshaka on March 5, 2009 at 10:09 AM
How do we organize revolt?
ballz2wallz on March 5, 2009 at 10:09 AM
This may well be the spark that starts the revolution.
How many of us have lived responsible lives and have been careful with our budgets, even if it meant saving up or putting off home improvements that would make our living spaces nicer? Now, being frugal and responsible is being punished by the greedy and wasteful. I’m not going to put up with it.
The filthy liar and his whole corrupt party is going to have a firestorm of outrage if the vermin who lived beyond their means is rewarded in this manner.
highhopes on March 5, 2009 at 10:09 AM
Go Galt if you like but uhbuhma will find you…you must work..if but for the govment…you must pay taxes…you cannot hide…someone has to pay for the new WH swing set for sahshasa and milaykha…I think those are their names
winston on March 5, 2009 at 10:09 AM
May I add, that I bet the conversations in some neighborhoods are “I ain’t paying my mortgage, we is gettin a bailout”.
Just like paying for welfare kids, and paying for absent fathers, it will just increase the incident.
And, not knowing all the facts, many will just assume they are safe…wait about 4 months and see the hollering of “I thought they were going to help me out, so I stopped paying”…the economic chaos caused by peoples psyche will be as great as the real damage now existing…
right2bright on March 5, 2009 at 10:10 AM
Yep. It “builds character”. A concept long lost now.
tru2tx on March 5, 2009 at 10:10 AM
I have busted my hump to get where I am. I have worked hard, and yes, I have made dumb mistakes, financially speaking. No one ever told me how to manage money, so yes, I made mistakes. BUT! I have paid my debts. It wasn’t easy, and I didn’t do it overnight, but I did it. …Now, I am a bit wiser. I DON’T NEED EVERYTHING I WANT, AND I CERTAINLY DO NOT GO INTO DEBT FOR IT!
Daddy-O on March 5, 2009 at 10:10 AM
So why are any of us paying mortgages? Won’t you get a better deal by defaulting? Is this a good idea for a revolt?
zeebeach on March 5, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Will Glenn Beck be there?
blatantblue on March 5, 2009 at 10:08 AM
Mr. Beck and I are formulating plans to connect our compounds via underground mag-lev railway.
You will be paying for that too; better get a second job.
Bishop on March 5, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Right you are right2bright on March 5, 2009 at 10:10 AM
Once people make that mind set shift there is no going back and uhbuhma knows it…he just don’t give a s**t
winston on March 5, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Beginning to look a lot like Chavez’s world?
Wrong, Ol’ ThackerAgency-the-wise! They’re going after the one’s who have succeeded to pay for the one’s who have failed.
Rovin on March 5, 2009 at 10:12 AM
There are a lot of For Sale signs in my section of Virginia Beach. Something like 6-7% of the homes in my tiny neighborhood are in stages of foreclosure (but I live in a pretty bad neighborhood). This crisis, manufactured or not, is still affecting the selling of houses in this area. I think part of the problem is that it’s a military area, and there are lots of military families (ours included) that are trying to sell.
We can’t even get rid of our house at a loss – we’ve tried. So I sit here, paying our mortgage on time, while I watch the neighborhood fall apart and my husband visits us on the weekends.
Anna on March 5, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Best solution is to convert them from homeowners to renters… overnight… turn the loan back to the bank… keep them in the home as renters now… win win for everyone… the ‘losers’ get to stay in the home, the lender now has an ‘asset’ which they can roll together and spin off to property management companies which gets the ‘default’ off their books NOW w/o incurring 4 months of non-payment, deteriorating property condition, and the forclosure expenses. If the renter gets their crap in order over the next 12 months, go ahead and ‘sell’ them their house back to them.
Of course that makes too much sense, so the politicians will find a way to screw it up
gatorboy on March 5, 2009 at 10:12 AM
I work in the mortgage industry and I hear all day long from a lot people about how it’s not their fault. Some people just had a run of bad luck but that is a small percentage. I just had a USAF pilot tell me it was our fault he didn’t sell his house after taking out a 200k+ 2nd for debts and stock purchases because we were lending to people we knew were going to default. This drove down his value to were he can’t refi the 1st & 2nd together on ANOTHER interest only loan.
I need to start charging a therapy fee.
VikingGoneWild on March 5, 2009 at 10:13 AM
I’d be glad to pay for it! (er)
However the Italianos canned me from the restaurant, and um…
NO ONE IS HIRING!! ARH!
I mean who wants to study all day long? I’d like a job! But as soon as I find one I’ll send you the money. Dont count on a second one
blatantblue on March 5, 2009 at 10:13 AM
I’m not paying my taxes this year. Come get me coppers!
sabbott on March 5, 2009 at 10:14 AM
No one pay your mortgage in July. Why July?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastille_Day
This is our revolt. Every hard-working family that did it right and pays their bills should skip their mortgage payments in July – every last one of them.
outOfElement on March 5, 2009 at 10:14 AM
So why are any of us paying mortgages? Won’t you get a better deal by defaulting? Is this a good idea for a revolt?
zeebeach on March 5, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Because the gubmint is setting stipulations for the mortgage bailout funds; you need to provide documentation which details your earnings/wages and declare yourself under hardship.
It won’t matter if you bought a million dollar house on what you make at Cinnabon, only that you can’t afford it now. Stupidity will be compensated and supported by the taxpayers.
So, you would not only have to not pay your mortgage for two months but also quit your job or arrange to get paid less.
Bishop on March 5, 2009 at 10:14 AM
I’m sure this won’t create any sort of expectations that this kind of stuff will be done in the future or anything. One time shot.
How did Bammy ever make it past kindergarten, thinking this stuff is a good idea?
NoDonkey on March 5, 2009 at 10:15 AM
zeebeach on March 5, 2009 at 10:15 AM
Looks like I’ll be renting for a looooong time.
MadisonConservative on March 5, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Iowahawk is a hoot!
The progressive socialists have revised the moral of the story, as the ant rues the day he slaved to save for the hordes of lazy grasshoppers to consume.
maverick muse on March 5, 2009 at 10:16 AM
I mean who wants to study all day long? I’d like a job! But as soon as I find one I’ll send you the money. Dont count on a second one
blatantblue on March 5, 2009 at 10:13 AM
If you know how to wrench cars or can drive a dumptruck, you could get a job with me; I’m actually looking for two extra people. Or go to Louisiana, they added jobs the last few quarters.
Bishop on March 5, 2009 at 10:17 AM
Exactly, we had to practically have a revolt to modify welfare…and Clinton out of fear signed it.
Now we have reverted back, and even further then prior to what Gingrich did.
The welfare roles were greatly reduced, and along with that was more pride…now we will not only have more welfare families, but along with that will be the anger, and shame that they carry…this is going to be a long 4 years.
right2bright on March 5, 2009 at 10:17 AM
Hey, what do you expect when you elect a community organizer as POTUS?
carbon_footprint on March 5, 2009 at 10:17 AM
We have a few foreclosures in the neighborhood but we were asked, (told) by the HOA that some of our fees were to be used to keep up the homes until sold- at first I was annoyed, but I’m also not interested in prop values going down any more.
anniekc on March 5, 2009 at 10:19 AM
@ernesto:
You’re boring and your posts are pointless. You realize you can be upset about both at the same time, right? This isn’t an either/or proposition. Stop trolling. Find something better to do.
strictnein on March 5, 2009 at 10:21 AM
Hell, I’d like to have a home, period. So no, I don’t feel sorry for people with $800,000 mortgages. And no, I don’t think I should have to pay other people’s mortgages when I don’t even qualify for one of my own. Obama’s plan sucks. In fact, almost every one of his plans so far stinks like the pig odors he wants to spend millions studying.
scalleywag on March 5, 2009 at 10:21 AM
He did a crappy job at that even.
But he ran a brilliant campaign, by showing up where he was told to go and reading speeches off of a telepromopter.
So of course he knows what he’s doing.
NoDonkey on March 5, 2009 at 10:22 AM
If Obama keeps it up with legislation that creates incentives for bad behavior, don’t be surprised when we get a lot of bad behavior. If everyone stops paying their mortgages, we may really have a depression.
RedSoxNation on March 5, 2009 at 10:22 AM
No.
This goes beyond reparations. It’s straight-up class warfare.
It’s all about expanding government and gaining power. This has nothing to do with reparations. There is very little to be gained from pandering to a specific minority. Obama needs to include all minority groups and the “poor” of all races.
The more poor he can create, the more people he can control and on and on…
reaganaut on March 5, 2009 at 10:23 AM
You shouldn’t and this idiotic “plan” will artificially keep home prices high and keep younger buyers out of the market.
Maybe that will wake a few young Obama fans up.
NoDonkey on March 5, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Dear Leader went to the new school, Sesame Street version of kindergarten. The one where we all have to share and not hurt other kids’ feelings and let’s not keep score because we don’t want to have “winners” and “losers”, instead we are all equal in every way (well, except for the redneck hicks like they have in Alaska. Those mouth breathers are contemptible and filled with hatred.)
rbj on March 5, 2009 at 10:24 AM
First, we need a site to register and coordinate efforts. Second, we target the top third income bracket. Third, they stop writing checks to the government.
Then you’ll see what kind of fascist nightmare you’ve elected.
Buy plenty of guns and ammo.
LimeyGeek on March 5, 2009 at 10:25 AM
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