The Mortgage Meltdown

[SiouxMeNow]

Just keeping it local...a lot of suburban housing developments around the Twin Cities for people "trying to escape the inner-city" got sold a HUGE bill of goods with mortgages beyond their means based on future "speculation" that are now holding houses worth 1/3 of what they were supposed to be worth? That's PURELY the greed of the banks and mortage companies that were willing to throw the dice on that deal anyway! Think about Vegas rules...gamblers lose 95% of the time when the house gives them a pass. Just saying...

[moser53]

The Time's article mentions the Clinton administration pressuring Fannie Mae to encourage all of these sub prime loans, but it was Carter's administration that originally encouraged home ownership for EVERYONE, especially if you were a sub prime borrower.

Watching Fox news last weekend they said 93% of Americans make there mortgage payments on time every month. It looks to me like the Average Joe is pretty responsible. But some of you want to blame the little guy for this mess. Obama and the Democrates are going to have a landslide this time. Why? Because of all the debt. Weather it's Bush and the Republicans fault or not the people in power get blamed for the mess. And remember we had all this debt before the Dems took control of congress last election.

[Oxbow6]

Heard on the radio this AM that there were 80,000+ foreclosures nationwide in Sept with 200,000+ default payments letters sent as well. Living outside your means have anything to do with this??

[sioux7>5]

I am currently trying to sell my house, we are about to loose almost $40,000 on my house.

I wish I could sell it for at least whet I paid, funny I was always taught that a house is your best investment, you will never lose on a house. I am losing huge.

[Flatland]

Sorry about the loss on your house, but on the other side I bought a foreclosed home last year and saved a bunch. Needless to say though, there was a very wide selection of houses on the market (as well as signs for house auctions) All these foreclosures have dramatically increased the supply of houses to the market and has driven prices down across the entire market. I feel bad for people I know who bought houses in '04-'06 during the height of the housing bubble when housing was definitely over-priced. Most of them didn't have much of a choice since they were changing jobs, etc... In retrospect, the smart thing to do at that time would have been to wait to move or rent in the new location. (which is not much of an option for many families)