• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

mortgage mess

Share this page

Or as Willie the Shake once advised: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be!!" /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
When I was in Sacramento,I remember reading an article about a developer who spent lots of time & money to get
a new upscale housing community built North of there.
Now he's asking the voters to vote against it now that
things aren't going his way.Ironic,isn't it?

- Doug
 
my step daughter is a real estate appraiser, as is her husband. January has turned out to be the biggest month they have ever had, due to the most part, from appraising foreclosures. They are averaging 2 foreclosures to every purchase they do.
 
For what it's worth I agree with many of the sentiments here and perhaps it was our New England background or just plain we've had debt and don't ever want it again attitude that we are as lawguy says living in the same house we built over 10 years ago and our income is far greater now then it was then. We've thought about getting a summer home but then the thoughts of maintaining two homes is not very appealing. Instead we are giving serious consideration to adding a "fun room" which will include a pool. It seems cheaper in the long run and the need for travel, two kitchens, two sets of clothing, extra vehicles, etc. won't be a need.

Part of me feels sorry for those who will face foreclosure but then there's that part of me that says "What were you thinking?"

I am sure it will all play out and maybe the lesson to learn is to really think before you leap.
 
When my husband and I first married everything was CASH. We saved and put a down payment on our first house. Next thing we were offered daily credit offers and like fools we accepted. Over the next couple of years, we used them. No problem until we hit a bump...lost job, income just dropped by 1/2. We had difficulty making payments...yada, yada, yada...eventually, we workied our way out of debt, but not without some hits to our credit rating.
Here's the hard part..although our credit was not great, we were offered three to five credit cards and home loan offers A DAY! What I have found is that these companies prey on people with poor credit. The worse your score, the more they offer.
At present we owe a house payment and a car payment...no more! I tell my boys...Credit cards are the devil! The companies are there to steal your money. If you can't afford it and you want it..work awhile..save and buy it!
 
I have no problem with credit cards. they are useful tools. I just checked the wallet and I have 3 on me with a combined limit of....well let's just say that if I charged them all up....I could buy a nice new shiny GMC extended cab 4x4. What keeps me from doing that?

Fear. Fear of bad credit? Fear of bill collectors? fear of finance charges?

Nope- fear of five feet four inches of economically responsible womanhood. I have the past fifteen years of marriage to her to thank for the fact that I own anything and owe little.
 
We use our credit card for most everything and it gets paid off in full every month. It's just a convenience thing so we don't have to carry a lot of cash and have some protection if the card number gets compromised (versus a debit card where the money is gone from your account in the case of fraud -- easier to argue about not paying for a fraudulent charge than trying to get your cash back).

All it takes is a modicum of financial discipline, something that seems to be hard to come by for some folks these days.
 
judow said:
For what it's worth <span style="color: #FF0000">Dale</span> thought about getting a summer home but then the thoughts of maintaining two homes is not very appealing.
Click to expand...

Actually, the Mrs. informed me any beach home I might build
better have a room for a live in maid 'cause the Mrs. was
not about to maintain two homes herself.

As usual, herself the financial analyst, was correct.
I spent the $$ on much more practical things- a custom
made tarpon boat Tres Gatos and restoring a 1969 bucket
of rusted bolts TR6!!

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/yesnod.gif
 
Tinster said:
judow said:
For what it's worth <span style="color: #FF0000">Dale</span> thought about getting a summer home but then the thoughts of maintaining two homes is not very appealing.
Click to expand...

Actually, the Mrs. informed me any beach home I might build
better have a room for a live in maid 'cause the Mrs. was
not about to maintain two homes herself.

As usual, herself the financial analyst, was correct.
I spent the $$ on much more practical things- a custom
made tarpon boat Tres Gatos and restoring a 1969 bucket
of rusted bolts TR6!!

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/yesnod.gif
Click to expand...
Well, during one of our unusually cold days not long ago, SWMBO turned to me & stated simply, "Next winter I will not be living where its cold. We need to find something for Jan-Mar where its WARM!"

I've never had a mortgage before so have never really paid any attention to things.....always figured the folks who were 'duped' into subprime loans were either fools or people who were trying to live beyond their means!

Credit cards? Good for using another man's money for 30 days while mine earns interest!

I've got lenders falling all over themselves wanting to talk with me about a mortgage...heck, even my local banker wants to talk about it even though he knows I might be buying out of the state!!
 
We should be finishing up on a deal for a weekend place in the Poconos. Inspection is tomorrow. My financial planner has been getting the best rates for the small mortgage as this is a foreclosure, so we are getting it at about 60% of what it sold for 2 years ago. It needs some cosmetic work, but if the inspection shows it to be structurally sound, as I think it is, then we are getting a steal. And our fixed rate mortgage is still running less than most of the returns on our investments, so that works out okay too.
 
tony barnhill said:
...always figured the folks who were 'duped' into subprime loans were either fools or people who were trying to live beyond their means!

Credit cards? Good for using another man's money for 30 days while mine earns interest!
Click to expand...

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif

Well maybe not fools but anyone entering into such a big commitment darn well better understand what the fine print means! Of course these are probably the same people who aren't putting aside anything for retirement either, so maybe fools is justified.
 
Well, the lastest on the news today is that the FBI is opening an investigation into lenders practices in this whole mess!!! This will be interesting to follow!
 
bugimike said:
Well, the lastest on the news today is that the FBI is opening an investigation into lenders practices in this whole mess!!! This will be interesting to follow!
Click to expand...

Mike - at least it's a start. Seems that half of the problem is the "get it quick and easy" of the borrowers, and the "get their signature faster than they can think" of the lenders.

Onward through the fog!

Tom
 
It'll probably all trace back to the World Bank or something. That French financial debacle unfolding is something else too! These are all symptoms of some global back-room banking practices, I'll bet!!
 
bugimike said:
It'll probably all trace back to the World Bank or something. That French financial debacle unfolding is something else too! These are all symptoms of some global back-room banking practices, I'll bet!!
Click to expand...

I'm glad they are looking into it and hope they nail anyone one who knowlingly broke the law.
 
global back-room banking practices

I'm not much for illuminati or cabal theories m'self. Just glad there's a relatively official, dis-interested body starting to peek under the carpet.

T.
 
Credit is useful.

Living beyond your means can be quite acceptable for the right purposes... so long as you can equally accept that it WILL catch up and then you'll be forced to compensate with a lower standard of living....

Student loans, for example. Something with long term benefits.

Live now... pay later.
 
Credit is useful as a convenience, not as a way of life! I'm not into conspiracy theories, cabals and the like either, but you can't tell me there aren't backroom deals and arrangements going on to the benefit of a privileged few with inside info!!!
 
"backroom deals and arrangements going on"

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif

Those "insider deals" go on all the time, in *many* different aspects of life. It's human nature.

But it's the increasing (?) number of folks who get into trouble due to irresponsibility that concern me, and the eventual long-term effects of their poor decisions on many more people than were originally involved.

I mean, no one forced them to sign those mortgage contracts without reading them. Federal law gives *every* residential mortgage applicant 3 days to read the contract and decide yes/no. That's written on the application.

T.
 
Back
Top