Letters to the Editor
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Rinse, repeat.
Replace 'real estate' with pretty much any topic and it still works.
Collective amnesia and misinformation, mix and serve cold.
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Taking a Squat
Actually...with large number of foreclosures squating does have real advantages.
The biggest problem with foreclosures is the depreciation of surrounding properties.
That banks were dimwitted enough to loan money to suckers who never had the means to pay them back is there problem.
Municipalities should seize the properties of banks that refuse to maintain their properties in saleable condition and offer them up to persons willing to maintain them at no or low cost.
I don't worry about people losing their homes, 10 years and the bankruptcy is off their records, and the banks...they'll do o.k. in the long run without a government bail out, and if they don't well that's the joy of capitalism, idiots are removed from the markets.
But cities do need to maintain their properties, and what better way than to just encourage folks to move in, own a home and take care of it, paying the property taxes and maybe a small fee to take over the property.
Perhaps even those person who walked away could make the effort to take care of their homes if they don't have an idiot's mortage to carry with them. No cost to the tax payer, and proper punishment to those too free with other people's money.
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Even though we didn't learn anything from the internet bubble...
I'm sure this time will be different...right?
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Take out a second mortgage and buy stocks
There was a time when that advice was the mantra. Borrow at 6% and put in the S&P which grows 10% a year, can't miss. Hey wait a minute the S&P is down 10% but housing has lost twice that, hey it's still a good deal!
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two more panels
Should show them BLAMING anyone who bought a home for their own problems, for being greedy financial know-nothings that deserve to lose their homes. Then the last panel shows them praising the fed for bailing our corporate investors as wise.
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I wish I'd bought in 1999 and sold in 2005
I would be sitting on a huge pile of cash right now.
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In other words things change
Now the key is to own income generating property for the tax benefits. I know this because I do.
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next week's cartoon
govt bails out banks and (maybe) the rest of the realty suckers...
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This is the source of much guilt for me
I've wanted to buy a house for a while, and could have purchased one sooner, but I've thought prices were ridiculous and heading for a bust. Some people are said to have been raised by wolves, I was raised by an even more relentless, cunning, and bloodthirsty predator: bargain hunters. I do feel somewhat responsible though, almost Cassandra like, I remember a vague horror I felt in 2003 as a couple I knew described the terms of an interest-only ARM they'd planned (and eventually) took out on a midwestern condo, are you insane, I wanted to screech, instead I let them pay for dinner. I've been waiting for the bottom to come out, and saving a ton of money dwelling in cheap digs in the meantime. Friends and acquaintances have lost their shirts having been charmed into completely irrational financing schemes and I feel their pain. But every down-click on the market secretly brings a cry of jubilation to my heart. The worse it is for imprudent borrowers, the cheaper their sweet, sweet houses are going to be.
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100% accurate, but still missing the mark
As with others, I can't let the dupes who listened to these hucksters and actually bought houses they couldn't afford under credit terms that were disasters in the making off the financial hook. Stupidity has consequences! I've worked too damn hard all my life, educating myself, living on a budget, not spending what I don't have, doing without those nice shiny new cars and plasma screen TVs and oh, so hip electronic gadgetry, not because I didn't want those things...but because I couldn't afford them!
So pardon me if I sit here in my modest but comfortable home, partially paid for with a sensible 6.5%, 30-year fixed rate mortage (after a reasonable down payment to give myself some equity), and politely tell the morons who put themselves and their families at risk by doing something incredibly stupid and the government nitwits who want to save them from their own ignorance to keep your greedy hands out of my well-worn pockets!
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@ kuhnigget
Normally I'd agree with you about letting homeowners who borrowed more than they can afford suffer the consequences of their actions. However it is important to remember these people did not make their decisions on their own. Many of these people were approached by the banks or if they are the ones who went seeking as loan for a sensible amount it was the bank who offered them more than they could afford. So when it comes to assigning fault, who is more culpable, financial-babes-in-the-woods, or banks. For me it would be the financial institution who were trying to take advantage of the borrower. The borrower was merely trying to take advantage of the mythical 'American Dream'.
For me it boils down to blaming gullibility or malice. I say hammer malice.
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@FilthyHarry
I understand that point of view, but I don't agree with it. We're surrounded by these charlatans from the day we're born! Buy this! Buy that! Spend! Spend! Spend! You can't walk down the street without being bombarded by come-ons of every sort. It's in the mail, it's on your phone, it's on the TV, the radio, billboards, stickers on the floor of the supermarket...hucksterism is everywhere! So, do you have to buy into it? Do they hold a gun to your head, forcing you to sign on the dotted line? Or can you use your power of reason to filter out the b.s., read the fine print, and do what's right for you and your family?
My point is, when do people have to take responsibility for their own lives? I don't like the credit sharks, and I certainly don't want the government (meaning me) bailing out their dirty little operations, but when all is said and done those people didn't force anyone to buy their crap.
Hell, if we're going to start pointing fingers at anyone except the poor saps who bought into this nonsense, why not single out the crappy public school system that can't seem to educate the citizenry about basic finances? Why not throw the bailout money, or the "economic stimulus package" at public education? Why keep punishing those of us who learned our lessons early and are tired of everyone else who didn't getting a free ride on our nickel?