American Dream Rant.....

[jmc]

Back to the subject at hand - the folks signing the papers have responsibility to understand what they are getting themselves into (especially these "creative financing" schemes".

Homer Simpson sums it up nicely when presented with the papers to sign for an important deal. He says something of this effect to his adversary in the transaction:

"Would someone please summarize this for me so I don't have to read all this?"

So you've got Homer signing up for sub prime mortgages without understanding them, middlemen packaging these bundles of loans, and other Homer Simpsons buying these higher yielding packages who don't understand their risk either.

BTW, that oneliner of Homer's made me squirm a little because I have accepted their explanation of what I was signing in the past, just to get out of there. But 95% of the time I sit there and read it and don't worry about inconveniencing them like that because they initiated it and its for their benefit, not mine.

John

 

[mjarrels]

Saw something in the news the other day where you can buy boarded up houses in Detroit for as little as $1500. Something like 90,000 people have moved away. Houses cheaper than cars.

mark

 

[hazmat]

Saw something in the news the other day where you can buy boarded up houses in Detroit for as little as $1500. Something like 90,000 people have moved away. Houses cheaper than cars.

mark

Wow - just looked on realtor.com for detroit. 150 homes for less than $5,000

Unemployment is 8% (worst large city in US)
Median household income is $30,000 US average is $44,000

 

[scott_vt]

Wow - just looked on realtor.com for detroit. 150 homes for less than $5,000

Unemployment is 8% (worst large city in US)
Median household income is $30,000 US average is $44,000

Afternoon Haz,
They had a piece on one of the national nightly news programs about that ! They even showed some of these small homes boarded up, not much to look at ! In fact, my little 900 sq ft home up in the mountains looked pretty impressive in comparison !

Although, that would be a bit biased IMO !

 

[MikePA]

I know it is a lot tougher now than 20 years ago.

I disagree. There was a time when people had to move from the country to the city to find a job. My father had to move from rural Virginia to a mid sized city in Pennsylvania to find a job. I had to relocate from a typical, suburban neighborhood to the Balt/Wash corridor to find my first job. These things run in cycles and the current generation always believes that it's the worst it's ever been, probably because for most people, history began on the day they were born.

Some people are blessed with being able to live where they want as well as achieve their career goals. After working in the Balt/Wash corridor for a few years, I found a job withing 30 miles of where I grew up, which allowed us to buy a 2 story house on 1.5 acres for the same price we were going to buy a condo in the Balt/Wash area. (We've since added to the 1.5 acres). Some do not want to make these choices. They don't want to move, or they do not want to live in a smaller house, etc.

There was a show on recently about Detroit and the auto industry that covered how different people were dealing with their situations. Both guys were in their mid-30s. They guy that was laid off and was single thought his life was over. His grandfather and father had both worked in the auto industry and he could not imagine anything else. The other guy didn't wait to be laid off, he quit, started training for a new job, in a new city (somewhere in the upper mid-west) and was moving on with his, and his family's life.

 

[tallyho8]

They just took a census in New Orleans and found there were about 250,000 people compared to 600,000 before Katrina. Everyone is complaining about high rents now but there will soon be tens of thousands of homes on the market cheap for those willing to gut and do flood repairs. And there are thousands of job openings in New Orleans with $10 an hour the minumum wage and most trades earning over $1000 a week. Anyone out of work in this area just doesn't want to work!

 

[riptides]

CNNfn has a pretty good read here on my rant for those of you interested.

-Mike Z.

 

[riptides]

I am still following the rant thread, especially since my banks own a substantial part of my real estate investments.

Not to say the markets and sub-prime issues have touched just about everyone, I find these comments interesting.


Get creative to save homes

Enjoy!
-Mike Z.

 

[riptides]

Over a year later, what a disaster!

I am waiting for my hand out. How many other people who pay their bills are wondering and waiting for their relief.

I could use a three precent mortgage... how about the rest of you? I'll take that other 4 percent and put it right back into the economy.

Unreal....

 

[nate_m]

Yeah, kind of makes you feel like a sucker for paying your bills and being responsible with your money.

I think I'm gonna go run up some credit card debt, not pay the bills and just let good 'ol uncle sam take care it.

It hurts to think about it too much.

Interesting thread to read all the way through, though. Like watching a train wreck in slow-motion.