Quote:
Originally Posted by madmax
How does that compare to lending money to people that can not afford to pay it back?
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I know we're in a very different situation in Michigan than in most parts of the country, but the people that I know personally who have foreclosed on their mortgages *could* pay it back at the time that they obtained the mortgages. Some lost jobs, one lost her husband (and therefore, his income), etc. On my street, more of the people who are walking away from their homes are either unemployed or they have to move and cannot sell their house for what they owe on it, so they're walking away from it. If you bought your house for $180K and financed $140K and had a family income of $100K, that wasn't an irresponsible buy. The problem is that now the family income is $30K and the house is only worth $120K so they're screwed. I don't know anybody who was foolish enough to do the interest only loans or other crazy loans that were being offered, personally. I'd be very curious to see that breakdown with foreclosures... the "why" of it all. What percentage is due to unemployment, what percentage is due to bad loans, etc.