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109 Comments
- swankboy, on 04/09/2009, -1/+29This is great for people who are behind on their mortgage and/or have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan. For those of us with standard mortgages who are underwater, we're stuck. I make a good living and have a reasonably nice first home I bought just about three years ago. I've lost a lot of equity and I don't have a prayer at refinancing to lower my rate.
So I'll continue to pay my mortgage (on time) meanwhile likely paying more to close my equity gap and maybe in a few years when prices are back up, interest rates have gone back up, and I've diligently paid my mortgage and then some, I might be able to refinance or sell at not a loss. Meanwhile I also get to pay my taxes assisting those who got the handouts; and probably the next round of handouts that will come when these people default again. I'm so excited. - peacelvr, on 04/09/2009, -2/+26Well, I wonder if he's tried recently.
If your home is underwater and you even ask the bank about anything they yank your equity line and up the percentages on cards. It's ridiculous. - jeffiek, on 04/09/2009, -7/+30Wow. This is brilliant. First pump the money out through the banks, then
pass it out directly to the people.
Well, some of the people anyway. The "favored" group gets the benefits of political power. The people that have worked and saved and been responsible get the bill. And their children. It's going to take a long time to pay for this bailout.
People have more "money" without producing more goods. More dollars chasing the same goods.
What is that called? - uptwolait, on 04/09/2009, -1/+22Obamanomics.
- kemp34, on 04/09/2009, -1/+21With massive Fed purchases of agency debt and the Treasury taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the massive expansion of the balance sheet of those two companies, the national mortgage market is essentially nationalized at this point.
- mouthbreether, on 04/09/2009, -16/+27The fact that Obama said this should make anybody very skeptical.
- xXMetalJesusXx, on 04/10/2009, -1/+12All of you are idiots. The Problem isn't Obama.
It's the 2 party system that forced you to pick between Obama or McCain. Either way you voted, you were going to have to deal with severe consequences. - PeppermintPig, on 04/09/2009, -12/+22If you're offended by what o0lIl0o has just said, GOOD. You should feel insulted by the situation and wake the ***** up, or let government determine your future for you. How anyone can imagine that Obama has the ability to organize the economy on behalf of everyone is loony!
Obama parades as the great philanthropist, yet spends other people's money to create the illusion of good. He is a complete fraud. - expatcatalyst, on 04/10/2009, -0/+9Yeah, $185K under water is a little hard to convince anyone to let you refi! Silly me and all the rest of the middle class smucks!
- zomgz, on 04/10/2009, -5/+14to bad no one has the ***** money to refinance ;\
- 3drage, on 04/10/2009, -2/+10I'm sorry, your score is a measily 764, this means you qualify for the 24% APR compounded daily.
I don't know where all these miracle loans are coming from, but with a near perfect credit score I can't even get my credit card APR lowered from 14%. The politicians, lenders, and the entire system needs to eat a huge dick. - skellener, on 04/10/2009, -0/+8For those people who have made their payments every time, on time, and have made responsible decisions on what type of housing they can really afford, this is actually true. I'm not talking about someone who is rich either. Just for people who live within their means and play by the rules and pay their bills. It is a good time to refinance if, you are still working of course. Judging by the comments I expect to be dugg down though.
- lordmike, on 04/10/2009, -1/+8Your loan may have been bought by Freddie Mae or Freddie Mac, check with your bank... the bank may still be servicing it, but the mortgage may have been sold to someone else. Even so, people have a lot of misconceptions about the mortgage relief program. It's not designed for those who are upside down or underwater, really... You have to be in good financial standing and have a significant amount of equity in your home to qualify. It's not for "freeloaders" like some think... Even though you consider yourself to be a "responsible" citizen, since you are a recent homeowner, you may not be "responsible" enough to qualify for the program (not enough equity). This program isn't a giveaway to "deadbeats", like some people think.. you have to prove that your good for the money, and the requirements are pretty steep.
- inactive, on 04/10/2009, -0/+5Funny how ignorant you people are when it's the banks who caused this, not "dopey americans"
I'm not sure if you've even tried to buy a house, but the myth that people making minimum wage walking away with houses is just that... a myth.
At no point in history has a bank lent people mortgages if borrowers were not in a safe debt/income ratio zone. They've always done risk assessment. The reason you see tons of foreclosures is because of the job losses on TOP of expired ARMS (and face it, an expired ARM is $200-300 more a month IF that for your average middle class house, which isn't that much).
The problem was the shady lenders trying to collect a quick commission who cut corners. The borrowers can't cut corners. You can't walk into a place and ask for a $300k loan only making $40k a year. It's impossible. Even if you had $200k to put down on a $1 million house, they wouldn't give it to you because no one could afford an $800k 30 year loan (with risk of ARM expiration) on such a low salary.
Investors got the bright idea to try and capitalize on mortgages, which is an area they should've never EVER touched. So they alone (with a few other problem areas) causes this. Not Joe Blow down the street working a blue collar job.
Another problem area were all the house flippers (they actually accounted for most of the initial losses) - warhead, on 04/10/2009, -0/+5My mortgage is at 4.75%. Why in the hell would I want the government to fix it at 5%?
- Mockylock, on 04/10/2009, -0/+5On that note.. it's funny that they can't hold into account that you pay $1600 a month for 4 years on a rental without being late on a single payment........ and it doesn't help you at all... even if your mortgage payments would be substantially less. Instead, you're stuck in an endless loop of renting.
- Stiverton, on 04/10/2009, -2/+7Inflation is a side effect of expansionary fiscal policy.
The Obama administration is trying to preserve liquidity in the ***** up credit markets by pumping cash into them. The credit markets are at fault for keeping a tight grip on these funds. They should be giving away loans like nobody's business, something that would be happening right now, except they like everyone else are hesitant to give away money in such an uncertain economy. - felman87, on 04/09/2009, -5/+10Buried for having an inaccurate name
- PeppermintPig, on 04/10/2009, -1/+6In which case, the system itself is the problem.
- d3dm, on 04/10/2009, -0/+5http://media.bonnint.net/seattle/1/188/18838.jpg
- emmeron, on 04/09/2009, -1/+6dugg both of you for humor...
though I sadly believe he is smarter than that. That's what scares me! - lordmike, on 04/10/2009, -0/+4Interest rates for home loans are the lowest they've been in 50 years... somewhere around 5% for a 30 year fixed (stay away from the variable rate loans... that's what got us into this mess!) If I can ever sell my house, I'm going to be in very good shape for the next house! More people like me buying homes means the prices will rise... values rising will help people upside down in their homes not be upside down anymore and they can refinance at a lower rate... this is a very positive development...
- convergent, on 04/10/2009, -0/+4price ceiling ;)
- deema1, on 04/10/2009, -0/+4Our best friend's neighbors owned SIX properties on a combined annual salary around $100,000. I'm telling you, this kind of stuff is not a myth. You wouldn't believe the kind of things people pulled over the past several years.
- lordmike, on 04/10/2009, -1/+5Oh, but according to the freepers, you don't deserve to own a home... back to the rental underclass, pleb!!!
- inactive, on 04/10/2009, -2/+5I can't refinance a cheeseburger let alone my house
- Mockylock, on 04/10/2009, -1/+4But, it's unfortunate if you have less than perfect credit and don't have 20% down if you're trying to purchase a house.
I don't see him doing anything about that. - inactive, on 04/10/2009, -0/+3Kind of impossible since most people owe more than their houses are worth.
Fortunately, they can foreclose and not get stuck with the financial burden, so that's good. Best advice is to see how much you'll spend out over the course of 5 years in interest versus foreclosing, getting a cheaper place to live, then just banking that extra cash. It's safe to say house values won't go back to normal for another 3+ years, which is how long the ***** on your credit report will last. So if you can bank 10% down payment on a better house in that time, you're better off just foreclosing.
If you're in an expired ARM and owe more than the value, you're covered if you choose to foreclose (aside from the blemish on your credit report, obviously).
***** it, the banks did it to themselves, so hit em while they're down. - FearFactory, on 04/10/2009, -8/+11Its like Obama did a complete 180 from his campaign trail.
- stuffradio, on 04/10/2009, -1/+4Obama didn't get the gas prices down you fool, lol.
- MindState, on 04/10/2009, -2/+5where the hell did all you nutjob neocons come from, anyway? interest rates are at a near all-time low, and you guys are bitching. if the interest rates were high, you'd be bitching. do you have a clue how this works? some of you complain that this doesn't help their situation of being upside down in their mortgage, while others assume this is a handout to people who made bad decisions and are now upside down in their mortgage. try to refrain from your brainwashed knee-jerk reaction to blame Obama and pay attention for a second. lower interest rates help people who have been responsible (good credit) get a better deal on their mortgage. this has multiple positive effects. the first is that it puts money into the hands of probably millions of americans who will take advantage of this situation which will have a positive impact on the economy. the second is that it will entice people who have been wary of buying homes to buy, which means more people will be willing to buy houses, which means property values will stabilize and people who already own homes won't be so bummed out and those who are upside down will get a little relief. all without the kind of cash handouts you psycho neocons are so afraid of. go watch your fox news, you're obviously having a hard time reading real news.
- aphex, on 04/10/2009, -1/+4The following categories of whiners need to sit down and be quiet:
- People who put less than 20% down
- People with sub-par credit scores
- People who bought between 2005-2007
- People who got an ARM
- People who got 'no doc' loans
- People who lied about income
- People who knowingly took a sub-prime loan
- People who took equity out of their house during 2005-2007
- Lenders that participated in anything but properly underwritten fixed rate full doc mortgages
If you fall into ANY of those categories you shouldn't have bought a house in the first place. Those of you that bought in 2005-2007 when the increase in prices was painfully obvious are included. And less than 20% down (which puts you into PMI territory) are to blame too. Putting 20% down at least represents that you a) have the financial ability to buy a house and b) that you have a vested interest in the house.
If you fall into any these categories - STOP BLAMING EVERYBODY ELSE for your problems.
If you don't fall into these categories, blame these people that got us here. - InfiniteNothing, on 04/10/2009, -0/+2See but that doesn't really make sense does it. As the loan exists (at the higher interest rate) you can only improve your odds of paying off the loan by adjusting your interest rate. That is, if you can afford your mortgage now, clearly you become less risky if you refi.
- PseudoThink, on 04/10/2009, -1/+3You can check to see if you have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan by visiting the link in the article: http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/loan_lookup.ht ...
I tried it for mine, it worked like a charm. - chinaman1212, on 04/10/2009, -0/+2am there doing that. just tried to refy. my house lost $6 thousand in value. now im top heavy. again.
- Drakoi, on 04/10/2009, -0/+2let's just hope stupid americans know the difference between refinancing an existing loan and taking out a 'home equity' loan when their equity is negative. you can just feel the countrywide lenders chomping at their evil bits.
- Mockylock, on 04/10/2009, -1/+3More like... pump money into banks... and thennn...... the home owners pump in even more money to the banks.
The bailout should have been given to those who were having problems getting homes and those behind on mortgages. THEN the banks would have gotten their money AND the owners wouldn't need to refinance. - edalquist, on 04/10/2009, -1/+3Actually I'd like to thinks that people who have been responsible can take advantage of these rates. We bought a place 3 years ago with 20% down and have refinanced twice with no problems. We have good credit, we don't carry any other debt than our home and have made a point to build up savings.
I realize once you're overextended it is hard to get out of it but if you avoid it from the beginning by making reasonable purchases and living within your means the low rates are easy to take advantage of and save even more money. If you don't qualify for a refi right now then guess what ... you probably shouldn't have gotten into it in the first place and I don't have that much pity. - swankboy, on 04/10/2009, -0/+2My mortgage is not owned by either. Besides you're wrong, you don't need to have equity to qualify. IF my mortgage was owned by either entity I would probably qualify under one of the programs. I'm current, it's my primary residence, and I owe equal to or more than my home's value. Problem is a government sponsored entity (and that's what they are) doesn't own my loan, so no socialism for me.
Personally I'm fine, and I'll be fine, I'm just pissed off that a select group of people are getting charity and I'll just continue paying my mortgage and paying taxes while others get a break. I'm pretty used to it, and I don't expect it to change with the state of politics in this country. - manstein01, on 04/10/2009, -2/+4"When prices are back up"
Keep dreaming. The housing meltdown is occuring with interest rates at record lows. Wait until mortgage rates go to 15-20%. Then you will see the REAL housing meltdown.
It's coming. The dollar cannot be propped up forever, and Atlas will eventually shrug. - diggydougie, on 04/10/2009, -2/+4But, I thought tight credit is the problem.
And explain how I can refinance with no job! - ittrp, on 04/10/2009, -0/+2If you have a DTI (debt to income) of around 30ish % and a 630 credit score and your property is 105% LTV (loan to value) you MIGHT have a chance to refi.
- nablec, on 04/10/2009, -0/+2He's still on the campaign trail.
- inactive, on 04/10/2009, -0/+2We're in this mess because gamblers took over banks and investment companies at the same time the government stopped regulating them. They over-leveraged the world's assets. Greedy bankers manipulated the system to the breaking point, and it backfired on all of us.
- lordmike, on 04/10/2009, -1/+3Yeah, it's almost as silly as saying tax cuts increase revenue.... oh wait, a lot of people HAVE said that... crazy talk...
- d3dm, on 04/10/2009, -0/+1It absolutely is NOT a myth. Go watch NBC Dateline's "Inside the Financial Crisis: Mortgage Madness" and you'll see how many, many loans were given to people who had no way to make payments. The entire system was a sham in order to turn a buck as quickly as possible. Everyone from the banks, mortgage brokers, underwriters, and the borrowers share the guilt.
Here's a link to a video of show:
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/dateline-nbc-ins ...
Watch this, then come back and tell me that people who had no business getting a home loan were never able to get a mortgage. -
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