Letters to the Editor
-
cestmoi123
As for being a conservative, well, compared to you I probably am. Given your posts, so is Hugo Chavez.
You really read my letters?
I have a fan. I'm so flattered.
blush
-
Some are to blame
Not everyone that is in trouble deserves help. I know of 2 people in my neighborhood that used their home as an ATM and just kept pulling money out through refi's. There is greed and stupidity on both sides of the equation.
-
J.F.Dooley
Not everyone that is in trouble deserves help. I know of 2 people in my neighborhood that used their home as an ATM and just kept pulling money out through refi's.
The bad news is that if they don't get help then your property values are going to tank.
Are they more deserving yet?
-
Spitting in the wind.
There's a sort of slow-motion inevitability to this fiasco. All the hot air won't stem the tide.
And really, when was the last time the government made a real "difference"? And I mean in a good way. The short-sighted actions of government, a certain pseudo-governmental agency (read Fed) and the Law of Unintended Consequences got us here. Why should more of the same help any?
-
walter_map
I'm not trying to help the lenders or the borrowers - I'm trying to be fair to all. I'm not trying to bail anybody out. To be fair to all, we can't allow either party to unilaterally change the terms of the mortgage. It's not fair to the lender to require them to lower the principal value, just as it's not fair to the borrower to arbitrarily raise the principal value for houses if they go up in value.
In terms of my "narrow self-interest," I do have some self-interest here. I thought properties were overpriced. I didn't buy one. Now, it looks like many are proposing that those who DID choose to buy a property get bailed out. In effect, they'd get to buy the property, retroactively, for a lower price.
Imagine that you were applying for a job, and someone else got the job because he was willing to work for 25% less than you were. Then, a few years later, the gov't comes around and tells his employer that the employer has to not only pay him the wage you wanted, but also make back payments so that his wages to that point are at your level. Wouldn't you be a bit peeved?
-
cestmoi123
"It's not fair to the lender to require them to lower the principal value, just as it's not fair to the borrower to arbitrarily raise the principal value for houses if they go up in value."
What about a situation where manipulation by lenders resulting in artificially high valuations on houses?
-
Depends on how you look at at
I know of 2 people in my neighborhood that used their home as an ATM and just kept pulling money out ...
And if they were overextending, why in the world did the lender keep giving them loans (with many $$$$$ in fees) ?
Whomever gave them the loans, accepted that house (at that grossly inflated appraisal) as the collateral. That's the deal.
The banks are as screwed as the homeowner.
If the loans were made in a traditional way, this wouldn't be happening, the owners could not keep refinancing and using their houses as ATM's to 0% equity, and it would be in the lender's interest to work out payments.
Now, in some cases, even finding out who officially is the mortgage holder is a problem.
-
cestmoi123
To be fair to all, we can't allow either party to unilaterally change the terms of the mortgage.
Except that no one here in the reality-based community has proposed doing that, which makes yours a topic best discussed with a fellow conservative.
Imagine that you were applying for a job, and someone else got the job because he was willing to work for 25% less than you were.
And provide one-tenth the proficiency? Not a reasonable scenario, sorry.
-
AnnieW
If the loans were made in a traditional way, this wouldn't be happening
Which suggests that reasonable regulations might be better than an anarchic predatory free-for-all catastrophe at that.
Republicans, naturally, disagree.
-
personanongrata
The short-sighted actions of government, a certain pseudo-governmental agency (read Fed) and the Law of Unintended Consequences got us here. Why should more of the same help any?
Come up with a plausible answer to that one and you can sell it to the pubs for a fortune. You may prefer payment in rials or rubles, though, given the situation.
-
Walter
Two foreclosures won't tank my neighborhood. I'm not against helping those who due health reasons or job loss are in trouble, but if you pulled out all your equity for a new BMW, Boat, etc... I don't want hear victim, victim ,victim. Grow up and take some responsibility for your actions.
-
cestmoi123
I'm not trying to help the lenders or the borrowers - I'm trying to be fair to all.
Which is no doubt why you're siding with the lenders against the borrowers. Unfortunately, it's only 'fair' if you happen to be a conservative.
If you were sincere in dealing justly with the lenders you'd have them jailed, except that predatory mortgage scams happen to be legal, however catastrophic.
If you're prepared to explain how millions of half-educated lower-middle-class borrowers managed to swindle the nation's professional corporatist predator class, I'm prepared to be amused.
-
J.F.Dooley
if you pulled out all your equity for a new BMW, Boat, etc... I don't want hear victim, victim ,victim.
Got any statistics on how many people pulled out all their equity for a new BMW, Boat, etc.?
If you faked some up it would help your argument. Ten or twelve probably won't be enough, so keep dredging.
-
Not a marxist
In the sunbelt city that I live in it's all about the bling! To afford the clothes, cars and vacations people do stupid things. And for the record, I am for some regulation of the lending industry. Next, we as individuals need to learn to live within our means.
-
no skin in the game
most of these people who are underwater didn't make a downpayment in the first place. on the other hand if you have been in your home for more than say ten years, and you are half way through a 20 year mortgage, your percentage of equity is actually rising.
there is a tangible difference between people who are simply riding the wave of rising home values, and those who have some skin in the game. rising home values provide no benefit to homeowners, in fact falling home values actually help the long term homeowner. why? their percent of ownership actually increases. i have paid 100k on a 200k house and the value falls to 150K, i am now closer to paying off my mortgage.
put that in your pipe alan greenspan.