Comments on: Upside down on a mortgage

By: crowd with pitchforks

crowd with pitchforks — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:30:53 +0000

It’s white collar crime and the criminals are on the top down. Top that off with nearly no real consumer protection and the same crooks that caused this housing crisis are still out there, wheeling and dealing.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:00:48 +0000

The lending institutions who designed and engineered these “destined to fail” loan products are to blame. It’s not the millions of people who bought them. If you don’t offer the junk product, nobody would have been hurt. It’s not the loan officers fault. They simply sold what was on their platter. The lending underwriters who conjured up these products are to blame. I bought a house with a down payment, full document loan, and now am big time upside down because all the sub-prime mortgages that went belly up. Again, if the braniacs who wrote these loans couldn’t see that it was a recipe for disaster, then I don’t know who would have known. It’s their full time job to design and engineer loan products that will work. It worked alright. It gave them big time profits for the short term, while screwing millions of homeowners. If this real estate crash was due to a war, disease or other reason non related to bad loans, then people would just have to sum it up as a risk they took gone bad. This however is not the case. The lending institutions created this mess. What really ticks me off is that I have a 5/1 arm about ready to mature. All I want to do is refinance at today’s rate, but since I am upside down, my lender will not refinance. Given the situation, they should just do a loan modification at today’s rate. If they don’t, and my payment goes up significantly, they are going to be holding a note on an empty unoccupied house, and at that point I could give a rats ass about my credit. It’s a bigger problem for them than it is for me.

By: melanie

melanie — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 07:42:23 +0000

It is not “greedy lenders” who are at fault or home buyers who bought houses at reasonable prices until the market dropped out. (For the record, home values have not dropped since the great depression [which is where we are heading]).
I specifically remember Greenspam urging Americans to “buy adjustable mortgages” in ‘04! NO ACCOUNTABILITY!!! And if you don’t think you are scathed, check out how your home has deflated as well as any savings/IRA accounts.
Sheep. You all should take to the street, but rule by the gov’t through ignorance, indebtedness or fear.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:41:43 +0000

Mr. Greenspan,

You seem to be forgetting that 2 years ago no one could buy a reasonably priced home that was not in a ghetto or was not in disrepair. Can you blame anyone for wanting the “American Dream” like everyone else? The greedy lenders who made it impossible to buy without a non-traditional loan are the ones to blame. No one could have predicted this turn of events and for many of us we saw no other way to buy a home. Get off your highhorse. This blog is to help people caught in a bad situation looking for some honest advice. You and your snide comments have no place here.

By: Diane

Diane — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:43:40 +0000

I bought a house 1.5 years ago and it’s upside down. I’m an emptynester and found out to my horror that this neighborhood is not safe. I want to get out and rent where I lived for 22 years…But I can’t sell. I think short sales are only for folks that are forclosing…and I’ve been late by just 1 -2 weeks. But I can’t pay my other bills or eat..or buy clothes. Any ideas on how to get out of this bad place The stress is killing me. A guy was on my roof and was taken down in my front yard.. Help…Ideas?

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:44:28 +0000

Many mortgage companies (at least in ATL) are offering 5.5% fixed rate. I am not sure how legit they are and what would be closing costs.

By: Yan

Yan — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:32:46 +0000

I am sure his ability to refinance the first loan is linked to his entire amount of debt against the house and not just the portion tied in the first loan so it would be a mistake to assume that paying off the second loan doesn’t help refinancing the first one.

What I would probably do in his case is bargain a different arrangement now, before the deadline is upon you and you are not in position to negotiate any more.

I hear a lot about the government advising banks to give people like this a bit of a slack. It essentially comes to banks losing some revenue at a cost of saving the business and economy. Each bank however has a different policy and you might be more lucky with some than others.

By: XynamaX

XynamaX — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:01:54 +0000

Lots of blame to go around, but it all comes down to not doing due-diligence.

People got out of hand with their mortgages and didn’t read the fine lines on the loans with “teaser rates” and adjustable rate mortgages.

I don’t understand why he’s paying down the fixed rate loan faster. It’d make more sense to pay off the higher principal loan, if he puts enough extra principal towards it, he may be able to refinance. The 15yr fixed stays the same.

-X

By: Alan Greenspan

Alan Greenspan — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:30:12 +0000

Your breaking my heart with your sob story. Should I feel bad for you because you strung yourself out on debt? Not…..

By: Mr. Debtbeater

Mr. Debtbeater — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:04:58 +0000

I can totally feel the pressure. My entire story on my blog is pretty much centered around the fact that we’re upside down on our mortgage and have very little room to pay it down on time before we can refinance or lose it.

We’re not in a panic, but we’re not far from it. We have the same decisions to make…pay the 2nd mortgage, or pay down the credit cards?