news.yahoo.com — Economists disagree whether soaring foreclosures in California suggest the world's eighth-largest economy is poised to slump or if it is just seeing its share of disarray from the subprime segment of the mortgage lending industry.
Aug 1, 2007 View in Crawl 4
thecashAug 1, 2007
Not to downplayCalifornia or anything, but the headline of this submission isn't exactly accurate. It doesn't mention California anywhere, and is more of a broad statement regarding the housing market everywhere, which isn't true. Frankly I'm suprised the submitter didn't manage to squeeze in a dig on the president somewhere. As bad as this situation is, and the fact that I hate seeing anyone in these kinds of situations, I have a hard time feeling too bad for people who should have known better, especially the woman in her 70's who probably tried to save a buck by buying into that whole 'refi now with Ditech' garbage, and now might lose her home of 40 years. How does someone with 70+ years worth of experience not understand the difference between a fixed rate and a variable rate loan? A ten year old could spot that difference. Most loan contracts of that size are some 20+ pages long, and you have to sign or initial the rate and rate rules in at least 4 different places, so unless she was mentally impared at the time and not in her right mind, the only person she can blame for this is herself. If she was mentally impared, she's got a good case against whatever company sold her the refi, and there are many many nonprofit groups and pro-bono lawyers that would love to help her take them to court. Personally, I can't afford a home of my own at the moment, which is why I have three roomates and a savings account. My first roomate moved out and bought a condo with his wife at the time because the monthly payments on the low variable rate mortgage he got were a third less then he was paying to live with others. He was pretty proud of that fact and made sure everyone knew how good of a deal he got. Trouble is, he's facing foreclosure and a divorce right now himself because he didn't plan ahead. Not only is he going to be back at square one, worst case scenario his credit is ruined for years. On the flipside, folks that lived within their means and saved up will be ready to buy a home around the same time the market crashes and everything becomes dirt cheap. I can't really be too hard on people getting currently hosed though I guess, as the only reason I know this myself is because my family of seven lived in a two bedroom apartment until I was 9 so my folks could save up enough for a home in a decent neighborhood that wouldn't bankrupt them for the next decade. Yeah Christmas kinda sucked compared to my friends, but I got a yard next to several acres of woods and my own bedroom for my tenth birthday so I thought it was a great deal. Yeah it sucks for these people, but everyone gets thrown a curveball sometimes and no one ever said life comes with any guarantees. Ultimately the only one responsible for watching your own ass is you who are attached to it. Of course it's garbage that some local governments turn a blind eye and even support shady contractors who build these pathetic high density multi-family dwellings that fall apart in ten years because more property owners per acre = higher tax revenue, but people in Cali still wear their democrat buttons with pride even though it's the republicans and libertarians that have been pushing for housing reform and decreased property taxes. I stopped trying to make sense of people years ago. Not going to try again now. Would be nice if they stopped blaming others though.
floodleAug 1, 2007
the bank doesn't take the loss - you still owe them the difference so you're left with no house but still a bit of a mortgage
gunbusterAug 1, 2007
I make roughly that much... and I still can't see how I could afford a median price home. At 20% down (unheard of these days), I'd still be supporting a 500K mortgage and payments at near $3,000/month. Add in insurance and property taxes and there isn't a lot of after-tax income left over for anything else. Basically, I'd be a slave to my home.
abend954Aug 2, 2007
Not surprisingly, you missed the point. Yes, you and a few others made some money from the housing bubble. You got in at the right time, flipped a couple of properties, and got out before it all came crashing down. Congratulations, you made some quick cash.The housing bubble was built upon the fall out of the tech stock bubble. And the merger bubble that’s about to burst is being built on top of the housing bubble. Soon there won’t be any more bubbles to save this economy. The dollar will be devalued to nothing and there will be mass inflation and a depression to make the Great Depression look like a walk in the park. Enjoy those real estate profits while ya can.
llurkerAug 2, 2007
Yes, but these license baring [R] logo wielding people pretending to be highly educated sure fooled a lot of people. I would guess in ways that congress should hold hearings over.Yes it is capitalism, but remember that free societies only exist when those taking advantage of the freedoms do so responsibly.
gg705Aug 2, 2007
I work for a CA wholesale lender for Prime and Alta products, yesterday our biggest competitor went bankrupt due to lack of funding sources to sell their loans.I am a bit incredulous to the fact that some of you diggers think that these foreclosures and dropping housing prices are going to make easier for you to buy a home. If anything this drop out of the subprime market and dropping values are going to make it even harder to get a loan. Banks are even more so looking for pristine borrowers for loans, for you that means, higher FICO, and more seasoned $$$ in the bank; as well as being hesitant to loan on depreciating property values and previous foreclosures. All a foreclosure means to us as a lender is the current appraised value is inflated, because the property was bought for so cheap, so good luck on refi-ing that in less than three years if you want to keep the property and good luck on selling if there was more foreclosures in the area. That will just lower any compensating value for your property and effectively making the appraised value the same as the foreclosure price.
stopforeclosureAug 9, 2007
Here is there REAL scary one...<a class="user" href="http://www.consumermortgagereports.com/global-market-jitters-part-4-buffet-says-we-will-be-paying-the-us-government-and-the-chinese/">http://www.consumermortgagereports.com/global-market-jitters-part-4-buffet-says-we-will-be-paying-the-us-government-and-the-chinese/</a>Warren Buffet says in 5 years we will all be paying Both the Chinese and the US Government.....wow...at the rate things are going and China buying everything, I believe it!!!!!!!!!!!
desertbeagleSep 18, 2007
There are definitely 2 sides to this. It has already been said that many would be first time home buyers have been priced out of the market. That is true, but I don't see a slide big enough happening to let these people back in. Market price will always be high in a state people want, and are willing to pay more for, to live in. This foreclosure boom is also creating a lot of opportunity for wealth. Helping people out of foreclosure is a great way to get a deal on a house to live in or flip, even in a sliding market. You just have to know what you are doing. For more info on how to buy right, check out <a class="user" href="http://www.dominatepreforeclosures.com">http://www.dominatepreforeclosures.com</a>
mrhooplaNov 30, 2008
This is a problem that needs to be fixed now. People need to be aware of the economy before going ahead and purchasing homes. And if worst comes to worst they need to know how to deal with foreclosure.<a class="user" href="http://howtodealwithforeclosure.com/">http://howtodealwithforeclosure.com/</a>