Home foreclosers?

[Tom Earp]

The FED is dropping interests and it is devaluing the dollar.

It helped in the bail our of Bear-Sterns at what cost to us the tax payers?

Now, the Congress wants to give out Billions of Dollars to help Main Street, us as citizens.

Wouldn't the smart thing for the lenders to do to drop the high ARMs to a reasonable interest rate, keep people in thier homes and getting payments made? Would they not make money?

I guess I am just to damn dumb to understand.

[SWTXBelle]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=89344381
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89338743

[DeltAlum]

A story on yesterday's local and national news reported 7,000 forclosures last year, and 11,000 to 12,000 expected this year here.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

A story on yesterday's local and national news reported 7,000 forclosures last year, and 11,000 to 12,000 expected this year here.

Out of how many homeowners?

[Thetagirl218]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

Out of how many homeowners?

I am not sure where the poster got the stats from but I know in Florida the amount of foreclosure cases is reaching an all time high!

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by Thetagirl218

I am not sure where the poster got the stats from but I know in Florida the amount of foreclosure cases is reaching an all time high!

No doubt, and I think it is true all over. And the problem is certainly real and of a scale that we many never have confronted.

But, I think it's probably worth mentioning that it's still a pretty small percentage of homeowners overall and that homeownership (or whatever the appropriate term really is for a 100% financed house), I suspect but don't know for sure, it probably still at a pretty high level, maybe even historically high if we go back to immediately before the current "crisis."

I don't doubt that we're heading into a recession and it scares me, but the mortgage crisis, on some level, may reflect a somewhat natural economic correction to some bad business practices in the form of making it too easy for people to buy and walk away from houses they couldn't really afford. And that people signed extensive legal paperwork accepting the terms of their loans, so it's hard to see them as being victims of anything more than their own bad judgment. (Although I certainly make enough mistakes that I'm still sympathetic to that)

The instances of people claiming to have been mislead about the terms of the loan seem pretty rare in contrast with people who took a calculated risk about ARM who assumed that they'd be able to refinance or sell before the ARM went up or who continued to refinance as the house appreciated until they had payments bigger than what they could afford.

I'm sorry if this sounds really harsh and uncaring. I do feel bad about people losing their houses. And I'm certainly concerned about the number of houses that end up in foreclosure and unsold, thereby affecting the housing values and quality of life of all the neighbors. And I'm kind of mad at the banks/mortgage companies who had to see this coming and chose to make an easy buck instead of thinking of the effect on other people when the deal went bad, as they had to realize that it would.

But I don't really think that big government bailout is the way to go here, and I sort of think we're going to be sold one.

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

Out of how many homeowners?

Beats me -- just passing on the number given by both national and local TV.

No matter what the percentage is, though, it's pretty tough on those thousands of people/families.

[Tom Earp]

The foreclousers not only seem to be affecting signle family homes but apartment complexes and duplexes too. So where do these homeless people go?

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

Beats me -- just passing on the number given by both national and local TV.

No matter what the percentage is, though, it's pretty tough on those thousands of people/families.

No doubt, but I think the coverage on this issue may be A) escalating problems with consumer confidence beyond what actually might be merited and further weakening the housing market and B) making people think we need large scale taxpayer supported responses that I'm reluctant to think we need.

[nikki1920]

I went to a town hall meeting in February. The County's chair of the Board of Supervisors said that in the previous year there were about 200 foreclosures in the county, pretty average in a healthy market. The current year, there were 4000.

[Jill1228]

I happen to be in the number one area of foreclosures--Stockton, CA. The whole San Joaquin Valley area is a foreclosure hot mess

[DGTess]

Homeownership is a privilege, not a right.

If you can't afford it, don't buy it. Above all, don't put every last penny you have into it. And don't give me stuff about the "escalating market" -- anyone with a modicum of sense knew, and many wrote, that the bubble HAD to burst.

If you can't understand the contract, don't sign it. That's a lesson many would do well to learn for EVERY instance, not just home loans. If you can't LEARN what it says, spend your money on school, not houses.

Remember that whole "pursuit of happiness" thing you were guaranteed? You have to catch up with it yourself. Don't expect me to bail you out when you can't.

[madmax]

Originally Posted by DGTess

Homeownership is a privilege, not a right.

If you can't afford it, don't buy it. Above all, don't put every last penny you have into it. And don't give me stuff about the "escalating market" -- anyone with a modicum of sense knew, and many wrote, that the bubble HAD to burst.

If you can't understand the contract, don't sign it. That's a lesson many would do well to learn for EVERY instance, not just home loans. If you can't LEARN what it says, spend your money on school, not houses.

Remember that whole "pursuit of happiness" thing you were guaranteed? You have to catch up with it yourself. Don't expect me to bail you out when you can't.

I agree.


I want to buy a vacation house. I hope all the speculators, flippers, and wannabe owners lose their shirts and prices drop like a rock.

[AGDee]

It's not good for a community in general to have a lot of vacant homes though. The house next to mine was in the middle of foreclosure when I first moved in. It was abandoned for two years. I had to call the city every couple weeks to have them come and mow the lawn of that house. They charged the owners (the bank, at that point, I think). But, living next to a house that has grass a foot tall invites a lot of critters. Kids also tried to break into the house to use it as a hang out because it was quite obvious that it was vacant. I had to call the police a few times for that too. Neighbors started mowing the front lawn of that house because it was a real eye sore and an invitation for trouble. On top of that, when it's in foreclosure, nobody is paying property taxes on it. When home values go down, so do property taxes and then our communities have less money to get by on. It's not a desireable situation. Now I know that the house on the other side of me will have the same fate and I'm dreading it (besides being sad that I'm losing the best neighbors in the world).

You end up paying for it, trust me, whether it's through a bail out of some type or whether your own taxes have to go up to cover the problem. The more houses that sell in distressed sales, the lower your own property values go also. It affects everybody in the community, not just the person who loses their home.

[AGDee]

Senate passes foreclosure assistance bill: (from CNN)

The plan combines large tax breaks for homebuilders and a $7,000 tax credit for people who buy foreclosed properties, as well as $4 billion in grants for communities to buy and fix up abandoned homes.

See, they aren't helping people stay in their homes, they are trying to avoid blight in neighborhoods where foreclosures are high.