[nico7]

A sign of the recent economic trends... tough times for many in CT.

I just saw this article and thought it might be a good resource for folks looking to relocate to CT, to get an idea of how the people in different towns are managing economically.

Article:
Foreclosures Hit Connecticut Cities, Eastern Towns Hard -- Courant.com

List of rates and rank (links to PDF from article): http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc...865344.acrobat

Map of towns and rates:

[skytrekker]

Yes, it does not look good.

[andthentherewere3]

I imagine it's not so different around the rest of the nation, though.

[mels]

That Courant story was rather maddening. That registered nurse who ran up credit card debt furnishing her home, had a 6% fixed rate mortgage, but can't pay her mortgage? Boo f-ing hoo. Live within your means like the rest of us, or get foreclosed upon.

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by mels

That Courant story was rather maddening. That registered nurse who ran up credit card debt furnishing her home, had a 6% fixed rate mortgage, but can't pay her mortgage? Boo f-ing hoo. Live within your means like the rest of us, or get foreclosed upon.

I thought the same thing. Your property appreciates allowing you to take a home equity loan in the amount of $50,000 to pay off credit cards [which were a result of furnishing(?!) your new home]. However, not all of the money goes toward paying off the credit cards. Now that the money's spent, that's right! Start using those credit cards again.

[skytrekker]

Many uninformed people thought real estate only 'goes up' so they took out MEW (mortgage equity withdrawals) now they are in deep -------

living within ones means is no longer the American way- maybe in the future it will be again after these kind of horror stories.

[glxyman21]

Unfortunatly, the U.S. encourages people to live outside their means in regard to corporate America. The "stimulus" checks were for us to blow on impulse items- I know many who used it only to pay off debt or put in the bank. If people lived within their means we wouldn't be in this problem in the first place, yet the government is still encouraging this destructive behaviour (i.e. stimulus checks) only to repeat the cycle in what, five years?

[vvolin]

It is hard to watch the American Dream turn into American Smoke. Overspending is an epidemic on this continent, something that will take years to heal. How do you teach people who were raised with debts to start saving instead? Unfortunately, the hard way: essentially, what we are seeing today.

[vvolin]

I just want to add this. The epidemic is not of the American people, t is of the American system. I have a couple of friends down in South FL who put down $200,000 on $1.2 million house. They are in foreclosure. And they are Italian. They would have never had access to such credit in Italy.

The fact is, people do mistakes, we all do, some more than others. But the freedom Americans still think they have the patent on is what creates this kind of problems. Is it freedom to be allowed to take credit so easily? Or is it a monster system that likes to eat its own children in the name of freedom?

[Cruikshl]

Other than a house or car, we should never of gotten away from the 90 days same as cash or lay -a -way.