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I am tired of hearing all this boo-hoo nonsense about how people got hoodwinked by evil mortgage lenders. Borrowers need to know how much they can borrow...period. Do the math people. If you only make x-amount a year you CANNOT afford a 500K house with no money down (cf. the Times story today 12/17 about poor Marcia).
Now these people are losing houses they couldn't afford in the first place, and they are negatively affecting other people's money by influencing the stock market to dive and driving down existing home prices. These people are just plain dumb. And their stupidity is a bane to everyone's economic future.
If they had scaled back and bought, say, a 200K apt with 20% down instead of a 500K house w/ no money down, there wouldn't be such a monstrous economic calamity on the horizon. Does anybody else feel this way? Is the sympathy for these people who foolishly overextended themselves never going to run dry?
People are not dumb. The realtors and banking industry got greedy and it backfired on them too.
Yes, they could have purchased a 200k apartment or house in NYC if they could find one!! But there are very very few of those available and many of them are not in desirable areas. And considering how many people on this board believe that a person making 45k can purchase a 700k or 800k condo or Fedders home, paying 500k doesn't sound as outrageous, does it?
Further, many of the lenders went to people who already owned their homes in areas that had increased in value, and offered them money to repair and restore their homes. What about those people? The majority of NY'ers being affected by the subprime loans are in this boat.
If they had scaled back and bought, say, a 200K apt with 20% down instead of a 500K house w/ no money down, there wouldn't be such a monstrous economic calamity on the horizon.
I don't necessarily feel alot of sympathy for the people who are stuck with these subprime morgtages but I do not blame them for the economic troubles that the rest of us will suffer from it. These folks fed into the greed perpetrated by the lenders & developers who drove up the real estate market and gave out mortgages like candy. Many of these buyers saw the realization of a dream by owning a piece of property or upgrading to bigger digs. Others took advantage of the mortgage market to build on every available inch of land and pepper the area with more housing than the economy can withstand. Now it is all coming home to roost.
I have been trying to sell my house for nearly two years and have been burned bad by the whole horrible situation, but I cannot bring myself to blame the working family who should have been denied a mortgage because they were pumped up by a lender.
they didnt overextend themselves...the problem is at 1 time they could actually afford the payments, but when the rate kicks in and the payment balloons, thats where the problem lies and the lenders are not going to take the time to explain this because they want their points. mortgage lenders provide a service.....therefore people expect to be taken care of. for example, if i go get a haircut, i'm not going to be watching the barber every 5 minutes telling him what to do, i trust that i'm going to get a good haircut. same theory applies. these people trust the mortgage lender to provide a good service and they got screwed. and at the end of the day everybody's just chasing the american dream.....nobody's going to automatically become savvy at lending practices before they buy a home, but at least know the basic ins and outs of it.
I am tired of hearing all this boo-hoo nonsense about how people got hoodwinked by evil mortgage lenders. Borrowers need to know how much they can borrow...period. Do the math people. If you only make x-amount a year you CANNOT afford a 500K house with no money down (cf. the Times story today 12/17 about poor Marcia).
These people are just plain dumb.
I toally agree and, I'm absolutely sick and tired of hearing that these people were tricked.
Four years ago during the boom, we had a ton of mortgage brokers and realtors trying to dump a bunch of crappy mortgages on us. We had people who absolutely refused to do business with us because we wanted to use our VA loan ... where the VA won't let them load up on fees and artificially inflate prices.
When one developer learned we were going to finance with a VA loan, they told us to leave the premises all together.
However, we persisted and moved to a much cheaper area that we could actually afford with a fixed, VA mortgage. We weren't stupid enough to believe that we could afford a $500K mortgage. It's ridiculous!
So when I hear all of this whining in the media about poor so and so ... it makes me very angry. We did what we had to do to be responsible homeowners ...
I agree and, I'm absolutely sick and tired of hearing that these people were tricked.
Four years ago during the boom, we had a ton of mortgage brokers and realtors trying to dump a bunch of crappy mortgages on us. We had people who absolutely refused to do business with us because we wanted to use our VA loan ... where the VA won't let them load up on fees and artificially inflate prices.
When one developer learned we were going to finance with a VA loan, they told us to leave the premises all together.
However, we persisted and moved to a much cheaper area that we could actually afford with a fixed, VA mortgage. We weren't stupid enough to believe that we could afford a $500K mortgage.
So when I hear all of this whining in the media about poor so and so ... it makes me very angry. We did what we had to do to be responsible homeowners ...
Why do idiots deserve a break?
we all arent in the military......consider yourself lucky that u had a va loan.
most people are dumb
if people werent dumb there wouldnt be any casinos or sratch off lotto tickets
People are also lazy and don't like to take responsibility for their own actions
Its easier to pass the blame than to say you made a mistake
Seventhfloor- that is a terrible analogy
When you go to get a haircut your spending 10-15 bucks and getting a service that while you want it to be good won't ruin your life if it isnt. You're not going to spend months reseraching different barbers,hiring lawyers etc to see if he is good at his craft. If you get a bad haircut you don't go back, maybe you tell a few firends and in a few weeks your hair grows back.
The problem is too many people approached mortgages with the same amount of care and research as they would have done when getting a haircut. Ive come on here asking lots of questions about buying a coop. Im reading books on the topics, Im asking friends who have gone thru the same process, When i finally buy something I will have a lawyer and read every word of everything I sign. I understand that it is a complex process and I want to be adequetly prepared for it.
Only a dumb person could take out a mortage for 500k , with an 800 dollar a month payment and not see that the math didn't add up. Ofcourse the lenders are to blame as well. They were blined by greed. They saw houses were doubling in value over a short time span and figured they could make a quick buck themselves.People arent willing to have the patience or put in the effort to do things correctly. This is why they signed these mortgages and this is why people on infomercials selling get rich quick schemes get rich off of them.
Go google bluehippo.com. They basically sell 500 dollar computers to people for around 2 grand, but people either dont read or don't understand what they are reading and they continue to get ripped off.
Buying a house is usually going to be the biggest decision you ever make in your life. Dont you think you should treat the process a little more carefully than you would when going to get a haircut?
The people did NOT come up with these CREATIVE loans the banks did.
The people did not ask for ARMs and zero money down the banks and lenders pitched it to them.
When people were like 500K home I can't afford that the landers and underwriter said YES you can....here is how. Making a $4000/mo payment look like a $2500/mo payment.
The people were not the ones advertising I have bad crdit someone please help me. The lenders where putting these things on TV and posting them all over neighborhoods. Bad credit no problem...zero money down you can own your own home.
I can go on but please look at both sides of the coin.
I am tired of hearing all this boo-hoo nonsense about how people got hoodwinked by evil mortgage lenders. Borrowers need to know how much they can borrow...period. Do the math people. If you only make x-amount a year you CANNOT afford a 500K house with no money down (cf. the Times story today 12/17 about poor Marcia).
Now these people are losing houses they couldn't afford in the first place, and they are negatively affecting other people's money by influencing the stock market to dive and driving down existing home prices. These people are just plain dumb. And their stupidity is a bane to everyone's economic future.
If they had scaled back and bought, say, a 200K apt with 20% down instead of a 500K house w/ no money down, there wouldn't be such a monstrous economic calamity on the horizon. Does anybody else feel this way? Is the sympathy for these people who foolishly overextended themselves never going to run dry?
Completely agree. I've stated many of times that the bailouts being proposed, are bailouts for the banks, not the homeowners.
They all made stupid moves but a homeowner will lose their property with $0 equity, the banks will lose $50K+ by foreclosing.
Yes, they could have purchased a 200k apartment or house in NYC if they could find one!! But there are very very few of those available and many of them are not in desirable areas. And considering how many people on this board believe that a person making 45k can purchase a 700k or 800k condo or Fedders home, paying 500k doesn't sound as outrageous, does it?
Do the math, if they are making $45K a year, they cant afford a $500K property.
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