Hooray - Help for Homeowners is on the way!

[beerman]

JoeH, did you post pics of that house to the forum at one time? That story sounds very familiar to me.

You mention that sometimes people end up on the street and it allows me to segue into a little parental story telling. I am a strong supporter of our local mission and I want my kids to grow up understanding how important of a job the mission performs. So I took my eight year old daughter to tour the local facility with the ceo in the lead. In the end I had my daughter write a report on what she had learned and her teacher asked her to read it in front of her class. You can imagine my pride. I read the report later and notice she talks about how the mission feeds people who walk around on the streets. That little tidbit came from the ceo of the mission when he told us they feed the "streetwalkers." She came up with her own interpretation of that!

[deckeda]

JoeH wrote:
It is the sort that comes from the mind-set of "I've got mine" and assumes everyone else is in the same state. Well they are not, and yes some are ending up on the street.

Dakota's not convinced the housing downturn, or even national foreclosure rates, is anything more than a normal scenario, to be completely fixed by market forces. This alternate reality is certainly more agreeable than actually wishing someone address the real one.

[$tevie]

I can't understand the bitterness here. The people aren't getting a free house, they are getting a refinanced house. If some people want to jump on that train, I just don't see how that hurts the rest of us. Certainly not as much as a neighborhood filled with empty houses would. And while it's easy to say somebody should just go rent a place, where I live renting is more expensive than buying, unless you think these folks should be punished by leaving a middle class neighborhood to go live in a rundown, possibly dangerous one. I fail to see how that would give anyone satisfaction, except for really nasty folks who are into seeing revenge against people who haven't actually hurt them.

[mikebw]

I can see this actually helping, assuming we can keep too many people from taking advantage of it.

In my situation I own a house where I currently owe more than it is worth. I make the mortgage payments in full every month and I am fortunate enough to still have a job, however my hours have been reduced and I am not able to save as much as I used to. I feel this puts me at risk. I am living within my means now as I was before, but right now I am closer to the edge than I would ever like to be.

If I could renegotiate the terms of my mortgage to something with a slightly lower interest rate (or perhaps one that was not an interest-only loan) I could pay down the loan faster and resume my previous savings agenda, or perhaps put some of that money back into the economy. Do some home improvement projects, or maybe replace my 22-year old car.

I am not looking to be "bailed out", but I think that if we can take a step back and reassess the situation that things can and will turn out for the better. I will still be paying back the loan, the mortgage company will still be making money from me, I will still have a house, and a job, and the extra money can go back into the economy.

I see very few to no reasons why people who made responsible choices about home ownership should continue to bear the burden of over priced loans. It just doesn't make sense to perpetuate that strain.

[deckeda]

One of the big problems with "bad mortgages" given to people who wouldn't have qualified for sounds ones is that they were additionally lead to believe they did qualify for a "good mortgage."

And so they sign. And then the terms come due in some undesirable way and the payments double or triple. Ooops.

As a nation we now have a choice.

A) Sit and spin endlessly about how every mortgage holder "should have known" they didn't really qualify, and therefore don't deserve help etc. Meanwhile, the global economy is in the tank, partly as a result of what happened in the U.S. housing market.

B ) Clean up the mess and make sure it doesn't happen again.

[JoeH]

beerman wrote:
JoeH, did you post pics of that house to the forum at one time? That story sounds very familiar to me.

You mention that sometimes people end up on the street and it allows me to segue into a little parental story telling. I am a strong supporter of our local mission and I want my kids to grow up understanding how important of a job the mission performs. So I took my eight year old daughter to tour the local facility with the ceo in the lead. In the end I had my daughter write a report on what she had learned and her teacher asked her to read it in front of her class. You can imagine my pride. I read the report later and notice she talks about how the mission feeds people who walk around on the streets. That little tidbit came from the ceo of the mission when he told us they feed the "streetwalkers." She came up with her own interpretation of that!

No, that was another person who also had a "problem house" in their neighborhood that posted pics. But, as illustrated by the similarity, if you look around enough they can be found all over. Though I might post pics of the ground hog I have that sometimes lives under my porch courtesy of the neighbor. During the time it was unoccupied, a female set up a den in the barn in back of that house and had a few offspring. They spread out into the neighborhood from there. Several have been trapped and dumped in the woods miles away by my neighbors. One was run over on in the street just around the corner. But the one I have in my yard must have got all the intelligence, it has avoided traps, cars and neighborhood dogs for two years so far. Will try to get rid of it again this year if it comes back from wherever it has denned up for the winter.

[Mac1337]

There are two groups. Those who are struggling to make payments but are nowhere near foreclosure and those who are in or close to foreclosure but refinancing won't help. Couple of hundred dollars up and down won't make much difference. How do you still keep them in their homes without giving them a free house?

[beerman]

Is a ground hog similar to a gopher? I recall my grandfather using something that looked like a huge mousetrap to get rid of them. This reminds me of the mousetrap thread which is currently being discussed on the other side of the forum. Maybe you could get a really really big sticky pad...

[kj]

I can't help but see this as a situation where people are taking my money so that they can maintain a lifestyle that is better than mine. All because I was dumb enough to buy a house I could afford. And again, before you call me selfish, this is not about generosity. They're taking this money from me, and anyone else who did not buy more than they could afford. Our neighborhood is full of houses that were bought sight-unseen by Californian flippers/speculators, and they are being rented out to 10-12 people per house. Forclosure might be better!? Either way, their selfishness "ruined" our neighborhood. Now I need to bail them out? I don't know why a person would defend all this, unless they are one of those who was not financially judicious. If people are on the street, I say help them (and I will). But take my money so they can continue to live better than I? Please! kj.

[$tevie]

I don't understand what you mean by living better than you?