From $70K to food bank, one family's struggle (contract, borrow, for sale)
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Sorry - very little sympathy from me for these folks. I truely feel bad for those who lose jobs or due to an illness end up not being able to stay in their homes, but stories like this one just reek of absolute greed. I want that big house, but can't afford it, but I really want it because my friend mr jones has one and if he can have one so can I.
How about people start living within their means and not trying to live to impress others or make themselves "feel better" because they have that 3,000 square foot mcmansion that they feel like they are entitled to? I say too bad, cut your losses and rent an apartment.
Did you all notice the line that said she is estranged from her hubby? Anyone ever consider that she restructured a loan (to an interest only loan) so she could hang on to her house after her DH walked out???? She probably had a two income situation until he left - and then she tried to figure out the best way to hang on to her home - knowing houses are not selling in her area. She also had her mom move in so her mom could contribute on the payment every month. So it seems to me the woman was trying to hang on to a place to raise her kids - and provide housing for her mom - and that she was not being foolish. She can't help her EX walked out. She can't help the housing market sucks. Maybe everyone is being a little too harsh on her.
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Last edited by brokensky; 03-30-2008 at 12:44 PM..
Reason: typo
Did you all notice the line that said she is estranged from her hubby? Anyone ever consider that she restructured a loan (to an interest only loan) so she could hang on to her house after her DH walked out???? She probably had a two income situation until he left - and then she tried to figure out the best way to hang on to her home - knowing houses are not selling in her area. She also had her mom move in so her mom could contribute on the payment every month. So it seems to me the woman was trying to hang on to a place to raise her kids - and provide housing for her mom - and that she was not being foolish. She can't help her EX walked out. She can't help the housing market sucks. Maybe everyone is being a little too harsh on her.
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Anifani, maybe that was a little too harsh, but nowhere did it say she converted to an interest only mortgage. I suspect they (her and her husband) bought at the peak and did a risky loan (like an ARM) w/o thinking about the consequenses like a loss of income.
We do need more details to understand, but being a loan officer, no way she should be in an interest only mortgage.
If she's underwater, I'm not sure what good will come out of this.
Hopefully she can get the bastard (again, assuming details here) to pay his fair share before its too late.
Maybe someone can provide more details w/o us all speculating..
Anifani, maybe that was a little too harsh, but nowhere did it say she converted to an interest only mortgage. I suspect they (her and her husband) bought at the peak and did a risky loan (like an ARM) w/o thinking about the consequenses like a loss of income.
We do need more details to understand, but being a loan officer, no way she should be in an interest only mortgage.
If she's underwater, I'm not sure what good will come out of this.
Hopefully she can get the bastard (again, assuming details here) to pay his fair share before its too late.
Maybe someone can provide more details w/o us all speculating..
Well - I saw this spot on CNN . . . and I just felt so bad for this woman, altho when I saw her house, it is nicer than mine and I am about 20 years older than she is . . . so I had to think . . . how the heck did she afford that house when DH and I have made higher salaries than she . . . and we have always been rather modest w/ our homes b/c we had children to put thru/ school and retirement to plan for. So I did think - these young people so often jumped in and got houses nicer than their own parents could have had at 50. But then as I listened to her story, I thought . . . at least she didn't just let the house go into foreclosure when her EX walked out . . . she was trying to do the responsible thing . . .
But you are probably right, Jack . . . she probably got greedy and got a loan for a house she could not afford (even w/ her DH's salary) - and now she is stuck in a mess.
I just felt so bad b/c if her H had stuck around - then on 2 salaries - they could have made it . . . but w/ her losing her job . . . just seemed like a really awful mess. She and her kids and her mother, as well, are gonna be out on the streets.
But yeah, she probably did get greedy . . . and go for a no interest loan.
Right now it seems there are foreclosures coming up in our community and the people don't even put their homes up for sale. They have lis pendens for months, liens of the HOA and the year time line is coming up, so IMO they just lived almost a year for free (no mortgage payments) and than walk off! Letting us stuck with higher HOA fees, so I'm getting to the point to be so mad. In the beginning I felt sorry for them, but now it isn' just the innocent people anymore, these are calculated home owners who know they can live for free until the have to leave and didn't try to sell there home. This should be criminal looked at since IMO this is intend!
[quote=RoaminRed;3273138Uh, that's her mistake right there -- even before she got laid off, she was paying nearly half of her income into an INTEREST-ONLY loan. Bad choices, now coming home to roost. Not only that...she's a former loan processor! There's no way she can claim ignorance of just what kind of loan she took out.[/quote]
There was a case similar to this in Boston. A homeowner was crying a blue streak because she was going to be forced out of her home, the public got on the bandwagon, etc., and then it came out that she worked in the mortgage industry and knew full well what she was getting herself into. I can emphathize with her plight but......she should have just admitted that she made an error in judgment, not played on the public's sentiment like she was a hapless victim.
Did you all notice the line that said she is estranged from her hubby? Anyone ever consider that she restructured a loan (to an interest only loan) so she could hang on to her house after her DH walked out???? She probably had a two income situation until he left - and then she tried to figure out the best way to hang on to her home - knowing houses are not selling in her area. She also had her mom move in so her mom could contribute on the payment every month. So it seems to me the woman was trying to hang on to a place to raise her kids - and provide housing for her mom - and that she was not being foolish. She can't help her EX walked out. She can't help the housing market sucks. Maybe everyone is being a little too harsh on her.
Since your down to speculation, let me speculate one.. perhapse her and her hubby broke up over the house.. I mean, she wants to hold on, (obviously) and he didnt want to throw good money after bad, causing them to fight daily..
I mean since we're down to speculation, lets all speculate about what could have happened.
Right now it seems there are foreclosures coming up in our community and the people don't even put their homes up for sale. They have lis pendens for months, liens of the HOA and the year time line is coming up, so IMO they just lived almost a year for free (no mortgage payments) and than walk off! Letting us stuck with higher HOA fees, so I'm getting to the point to be so mad. In the beginning I felt sorry for them, but now it isn' just the innocent people anymore, these are calculated home owners who know they can live for free until the have to leave and didn't try to sell there home. This should be criminal looked at since IMO this is intend!
Actually HOA fees are a liability that the banks need to clear up before reselling the homes. It does nothing to make your HOA fees higher, it just delays when they get paid. (technically it would make them lower because one would presume that HOA fees have late fees associated with them for failure to pay on time).
The old adage, "you shouldn't judge someone until you've walked in their shoes" comes to mind. The truth is we really don't know the whole situation. If her husband walked out on her, she may have been trying to do what any good mother would do and try to keep some normalcy in her children's life. Everyone is just looking at if from a different point of view, but try looking at it from a single mom's point of view and trying to explain to children why daddy is no longer around and now they have to move.
So she made a mistake - who hasn't! It is easy to get caught up in what society says you must have. I feel compassion because she is stuck. She probably can't sell her home and try to make things better. She can't find a job that would really help her situation. Compassion shouldn't just be given to the sick and indigent but to human beings in general. Maybe she should have known better - but you can't criticize her for taking a handout when even though she's living in a mcmansion - she can barely hang on. She's scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to cling on to everything she has. I'm sure if someone offered her to buy the home she would sell - then again maybe not. THe whole point is we don't know the entire story or what she is really going through. Remember it is just not her - it is also her children.
The media makes me want to puke!!!!!!! Did you see the size of that kitchen with the granite counters, stainless appliances and beautiful hardwood floors?? Or, where she had to take off her Tiffany bracelet and leave her Coach purse at home when she went to the foodshelf?? Blah...puke again!!
CNN needs to get real!
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