More than 14 percent of borrowers were in trouble on their mortgage during the third quarter

While I agree that unemployment contributes to mortgage defaults, some of the banks are still pushing the “get 3 months behind on your mortgage and then we’ll help” program and there are people falling for it that could have re-financed–the rates are still relatively low. I wonder how many of those are factored in.

I’m still wondering when they will sentence Barney and Chris
So what ever the hell you want it should start here.

bluegrass on November 21, 2009 at 9:38 AM

Amen.

there is still a tax advantage for buying vs. renting becasue owning a home has been judged by our government for decades to be a stabilizing societal force that is to be encouraged. to state that a young family should only rent is ridiculous.

also, who the hell are you two to deny a young family the pride of ownership? get a clue..owning your own home is rewarding in many ways not revealed by a spread sheet.

DrW on November 20, 2009 at 1:25 PM

Our family of 4 lived in a 2 bedroom apt for a couple of years, then we were 5 and moved into a larger 2 bedroom apt. Once we saved enough, our target home was 30% of income. We settled on a nice one with a bit more sq ft and a huge yard at nearly 40% of our then income–bonus being that it’s semi-rural, yet mins from anything in town. 3 years later, the mortgage is down to 30%, but I can tell you it’s rough making ends meet. Way rough. As someone noted above, the little stuff adds up. Replacing the climate unit, other home repair/improvement stuff brought net current cost of ownership up to 40%, and that before factoring in inflation in cost of living.

Imagine if I’d lived in a home-owner covenant area where you have other mandatory fees that don’t factor into home prices. I specifically avoid such homes. We have an acquaintance that lives in such a community and when the dam broke on their pretty lake, the homeowners were hit with the repair bills of approx $2500 each – payable ASAP. In my brother’s community, they have a community-owned water supply system and when that crapped out, everyone had to cough up to restore water.

Word to the wise, yes it’s nice to “own” a home, but if you don’t watch it, the home will own you. There’s no shame in renting an apt and waiting. In fact, the market is all but sure to keep dropping, so why don’t/can’t you wait till you think it’s hit bottom. Then you’ll have the home you always wanted and extra money to play with compared to your Joneses.

Simply put, there are lenders and brokers out there that should have known that Stated Income Stated Asset loans were ridiculously risky,

Simply put, the government should never have put the screws to lenders to lend to people who, by all evidence, should not have been borrowing the money in the first place.

Simply put, there’s a lot of blame to go around. I’ve seen it from several of these vantage points.

Let’s go over this again. You seem to think that the Obama administration was concerned about unemployment AT THE TIME they rammed through the Porkulous legislation. Nothing could be further from the truth. boqueronman on November 20, 2009 at 1:27 PM

Bozo said it would keep unemployment below 8%. His clown posse had charts and all kinda spew about jobs. \”Shovel Ready\”What we didn\’t know it was a plastic shovel for a beach bucket.

There are still no interested buyers.

Mike Honcho on November 20, 2009 at 3:09 PM

You sure? In bold it says there was a buyer… but you all have no clue.

“The citizens of Pontiac deserve better,” Seay said. “This is pennies on the dollar (of what it cost). It goes to show how bad times are … Worse, we don’t even know who bought it.”

there is still a tax advantage for buying vs. renting becasue owning a home has been judged by our government for decades to be a stabilizing societal force that is to be encouraged. to state that a young family should only rent is ridiculous.

also, who the hell are you two to deny a young family the pride of ownership? get a clue..owning your own home is rewarding in many ways not revealed by a spread sheet.

DrW on November 20, 2009 at 1:25 PM

Wow, if I were to make a caricature of a clueless realtor, I couldn’t do a better job than what you just wrote.

There was an article on The Market Ticker that stated that the Pontiac Silverdome’s price was recently reduced from $20 million to $583,000.

There are still no interested buyers.

Foreclosure Rescue

angry red and redwhiteblue

there is still a tax advantage for buying vs. renting becasue owning a home has been judged by our government for decades to be a stabilizing societal force that is to be encouraged. to state that a young family should only rent is ridiculous.

also, who the hell are you two to deny a young family the pride of ownership? get a clue..owning your own home is rewarding in many ways not revealed by a spread sheet.

DrW on November 20, 2009 at 1:25 PM

You have to be kidding, right? Or are you 12 years old? If so, I apologize for my angry tone.
Integrity, personal responsibility, sacrifice, financial stewardship, diligence, perseverance, and stability – please look these words up.
Perhaps you will begin to understand the actual process involved in matters of home ownership. Best wishes.

there is still a tax advantage for buying vs. renting becasue owning a home has been judged by our government for decades to be a stabilizing societal force that is to be encouraged. to state that a young family should only rent is ridiculous.

also, who the hell are you two to deny a young family the pride of ownership? get a clue..owning your own home is rewarding in many ways not revealed by a spread sheet.

1. buying a house is not a totallly economic decision. if you just had twins and live in a 1 BR apt, you are going to need a home with more bedrooms.
DrW on November 20, 2009 at 1:04 PM

Wrong Doc! The word buying means it is an economic decision. In the case of the twins, I suggest you will have to tough it out and make your living room into a bedroom, eat cheaply, stay out of the malls, and work your freakin way up in the world like the generations before you have!

1. buying a house is not a totallly economic decision. if you just had twins and live in a 1 BR apt, you are going to need a home with more bedrooms.

DrW on November 20, 2009 at 1:04 PM

Or you get a 3 bedroom apartment. Or you rent a house you can afford. Or if you’re hell bent on buying, you move to a lower cost area. Why is the default option to buy more house than you can afford?

Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Maxine Waters are here to save the day.

Oh, wait………..

If you have a house built, and you hire an architect to design and build that house, and you hire a contractor to build that house…and that house, after moving in, collapses because of poor design and work. Do you blame the home owner for relying on their experts? Who is at fault?

right2bright on November 20, 2009 at 12:25 PM

I did have a house built. It did fall apart. I was mad as hell at the builder.
But I was even more upset with myself for not making a better choice when I selected that builder. Since it was my house, I took care of fixing the problems. I let the builder know I was unhappy with him, and also mistrustful of anything he could do to help fix things…since he did such a bad job in the first place. Shortly thereafter, the bad builder went out of business. After some sacrifice, I now have a solid home. It wasn’t a pleasant experience…but accepting personal responsibility ceratinly helps me be at peace. I recommend that you try to avoid playing the Blame Game….and keep it real.