Ripples caused by foreclosures on Main Street have suddenly sent shock waves through Wall Street and beyond.
In 2005, with interest rates at record lows, subprime lenders were practically giddy handing out low interest or no-interest home loans to borrowers who would not qualify from mainstream lenders. Promises of owning a piece of the American Dream were to hard to resist, and the low-hanging fruit too tempting for those who had never even considered owning their own home.
According to Jack Guttentag of Mtgprofessor.com, “A very common mortgage in the subprime market, which I have never seen outside of that market, is the 2/28 ARM. This is an adjustable rate mortgage on which the rate is fixed for 2 years, and then reset to equal the value of a rate index at that time, plus a margin. Because the margins are high, the rate on most 2/28s will often rise sharply at the 2-year mark, even if market rates do not change during the period.
For example, the rate is 8% for 2 years but the index is currently 4% and the margin is 6%. If the index remains at 4% after 2 years, the loan rate will jump to 10%.”
That 2- year period is now up, and interest rates have risen sharply and borrowers with subprime loans find themselves unable to pay their high mortgage rates. Foreclosures have doubled from a year ago at this time, with more on the horizon.
And it’s not just first-time buyers. Home owners, some in their home for twenty or thirty years, were lured into getting one, sometimes two new mortgages on their homes only to discover that now their mortgage payments are higher than their initial payments, and unaffordable with the hike in interest rates.
It wasn’t until late 2006 that the ripples began to make waves. Companies that had lent money to buy houses, found themselves in trouble. Ownit Mortgage Solutions was the first casualty, shutting down in December. Soon after People’s Choice, ResMae Mortgage and New Century Financial filed for bankruptcy early in 2007. H&R Block put Option One, its subprime mortgage unit up for sale, and Fremont General stoped making subprime loans. The subprime feeding frenzy had come to an abrupt halt.
In the last few weeks, the waves have hit Wall Street. Many Wall Street firms and hedge funds had invested in bonds backed by subprime mortgages. As they declined in value, those firms lost billions of dollars in a few weeks, shaking investors’ confidence. (NY Times)
Bonds backed by subprime mortgages were downgraded, Goldman Sachs and Bear Sterns injected billions to try and bail out their hedge funds, and the stock market took a dive. There were also reverberations abroad as BNP, a French bank, suspended three of its funds because of exposure to U.S. mortgages. A German bank and an Australian hedge fund were also affected.
Last Friday, the Federal Reserve cut the discount rate it charges banks to borrow money causing the stock market to rally briefly, but it was merely a band-aide, barely stanching the flow of blood.
Today, amid rumors of near bankruptcy, Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest independent mortgage lender, was injected with $2 billion by Bank of America Corp. This was done in hopes of stabilizing the Calabasas, CA company. With this deal, BofA received preferred stock with the potential of converting to 16% ownership of Countrywide. (LA Times)
Other companies were not so lucky. Yesterday, Lehman Brothers, a leader in packaging subprime mortgages into securities, announced it would be closing it’s lending unit and laying off 1,200 employees. Impact Mortgage Holdings as well as Delta Financial Corp, cut 300 jobs, while Quality Homes Loans filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and the sale of Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. fell through.
With tightened lending standards, home mortgage loans have slowed to a trickle, even for those with good credit. As a result, new construction and consumer spending have slowed, creating discouraging economic news. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, General Motors and Ford have all lowered their sales forecasts for 2007. Outsourced products from China, including pet food, toys and tires, have created costly recalls for American companies because of dangerous additives. Oil, and therefore gas, prices keep rising. Wages remain stagnent. And the war in Iraq continues to drain our coffers.
In a statement made to the New York Times, Chris Atkins, spokesman for Standard & Poor’s* said:
“Our concerns and actions have coincided with the worst housing recession in recent history set against a backdrop of loosing lending practices. The market continues to deteriorate, with the level of loss continuing to exceed historical precedents and our initial expectations.”
In other words, the ripple of subprime mortgages on Main Street, has become a tidal wave washing over Wall Street with the potential of creating an economic tsunami.
*Standard and Poor’s is a provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research, data, and valuations.
Cheri Cabot, Politics Correspondent
Cheri’s column, “Personal About Politics”, published weekly, will reflect on how the life of a 58 year-old, middle class woman is affected by politics, policy and the current state of the nation - a look at the personal aspects of politics. The articles will be posted to Politics.gather.com as part of Gather Essentials.
Cheri is a single, freelance writer living in Southern California. She has two grown children, one in Iowa and one at Columbia University, and is the proud grandmother of two. Cheri is also a purveyor of fine coffee, warm chatter and dry wit.
You can find all of Cheri’s columns on Personal About Politics at www.ccabot.gather.com.
|
|
|
More by Cheri Cabot |
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 56
You should point out that homeowners who took out subprime loans and now face foreclosures should consult with a qualified bankruptcy and consumer lawyer. Bankruptcy can help stall a foreclosure until the economic situation improves, and can sometimes help with a refinance, as counterintuitive as that seems. A bankruptcy frequently will not remove a mortgage (since the debt is secured) but can reduce other debt levels, leaving more money available to pay the mortgage and helping with refinancing.
A qualified consumer lawyer can assess the original loan and determine whether the loan itself was illegal. There are a wide variety of state and federal laws that act to protect people from overreaching creditors, and from abusive debt collection practices. In many cases, a debtor may be able to work with lawyers to renegotiate the loan and can in the right situation force the creditor to pay their legal fees.
The bottom line is that when purchasing a house, or when you're threatened with losing it, consult with a lawyer. There are more options and remedies than you would imagine.
A very short sighted and ill-informed attitude. As more and more foreclosed homes come on the market, supply of available homes increases. At the same time, the curtailment of the availability of sub-prime mortgages reduces the pool of potential buyers. As supply increases and demand decreases, prices fall.
Falling home prices impact every home owner, particularly recent purchasers that may have made low down payments even while securing more conventional financing. If you owe $100,000 and your home is now worth only $95,000, you have a problem.
Many municipalities have avoided tax increases in recent years due to rising home prices. If prices fall too much we can expect real estate tax increases or sharp curtailment of municipal services. Schools will also feel the pinch.
Only affecting 2%, think again!
Who could have thought that?
It's not as if the American struggling classes are the backbone of the American economy.
Great article! It was evident to most everyone that a reconning was coming. Now we can only hope that it stabilizes before too much damage is done!
My Wife is a CPA and she has predicted exactly what is happening 10 years ago. She is an exceptional person blessed with insite, but my point is this, if she saw it coming then why have the great minds of our Government not seen it? There is an entity in the Government that has been asleep since the 60's (Secutiry and Exchange Commission). Its time to wake them boys back up and reinstate some ethics to business here in America. One of the biggest problems we have here in the United States other than George Bush is we have taught our kids nothing about Money Practices. What has been taught is dont worry you can always pull your credit card out if you realy want it. Very rarely do you find people willing to look outside of there little world they live in to see what is happening around them. Its here and we are in it up to our noses. I watch people and what I see is a generation of kids that were raised with the (Me first and the hell with everyone else attitude). Working and Saving for what you buy has become a thing of the past because that means you might have to wait for your satisfaction. Besides you can always find an unethical bottom feeder that will front you the money. I used to work for a company that had a saying if you want to get promoted just screw up. Shure these screw ups can talk a good game but have them put it to practical use. These are the guys that are running our businesses here in America. The other thing I noticed was the younger guys that come to work for that particular company wanted to be the CEO in 2 years. I mean all of them. It didn't matter how much they knew or thought they knew. Im sure this all sounds like a pesimist view but what I call it is reality. Not many people these days want to hear anything negative because that might mean they will have to take another pill to handle it. I pray that the United States wakes up in the next years election and do there homework on the People they Vote in as there Political Representatives. Its coming time for the BS of politics to come to a hault and some Common Sence be applied to the problems we are facing.
The problem is not any one person or a group of people who made bad decsions, the problem is systemic. There are people out there in every job who just want to make a sale. They are not bad people, they have hopes and expenses just like we all do and they are competing with everyone else for money and status. They buy into this con-game thinking they are different. It is a pyramid scheme where we all are guilty of ignoring everyone below us.
Every time I buy something now I feel like I am being ripped off, and all of us are. The people with all the money get more money, they figure out bigger and better ways to screw the rest of us and set us against each other.
Buy food, the profit goes almost completely to the capitalists, not much to the people who actually do the producing - the whole illegal alien thing is all about this - use cheap labor and charge the consumers as if you were paying real wages to real Americans. Little by little purchases add up to selling off the country.
Buy clothes, the bulk of the profit goes to the capitalists, and the workers get nothing. Why should'nt we have laws that say if you use cheap labor some fraction of the savings should go to the consumers, and the workers get some protections?
The people who do the work are always at the mercy of those in management, and management now is just a conspiracy against workers. If you do not pay workers enough they cannot afford the time and money to properly manage and protect themselves from the upper classes, who always want more and more.
That is why high taxes on the rich seem justified to me and government regulation. The problem is that the government is just another branch of these corporations now thanks to American's ignorance.
> One of the biggest problems we have here in the United
> States other than George Bush is we have taught our
> kids nothing about Money Practices.
While that is true I don't think it would matter, people will
always be out there in this unregulated market trying to
take advantage of other people. Look at the selling of
the dot-com stocks ... the experts were telling everyone
there was no risk ... now where are those experts.
We put too much faith in laws, when as we have seen
with our government, those who screw us do so by
finding technical loopholes in the law, and our courts
have to inforce the letter of the law, not the spirit.
This country is based on the fine print, and not matter
how smart you get unless you are a total expert which
most of us either have to do the best we can ourselves
or hire and trust someone else ... there is always a good
chance that we are going to got ripped off.
The Bush-rich just set their sites next on whereever the
money moves to and figures out how to get at it.
It is like a tax ... a blood sucking tax that we get no
benefit from while the very people who are doing it
are telling us how incompetent government is with
our taxes.
that would be interfering in the marketplace, right? Which for some of the Republican free enterprise clowns is an alien concept, sort of like roasting and eating your mother as far as they are concerned. How hard would it have been to say no to the idea of adjustable mortgages? Well, they are still having trouble with the idea of getting rid of payday loans that charge 400% interest.
Education at lower levels could start the ball rolling with classes on economic devlopment and ideas. Start at first grade or kindergarten when the brain absorbs the most information in our public educational lives. Learn to balance the numbers in a checkbook. It's incredible how many people have empty entries in their checkbooks and are shocked when they have a shortage. Whose fault is that?
Americans are easily enticed into the get-rich-quick schemes that plague our everyday lives. McMansions are common, just look on the hillsides. Most of these have huge debts that cost their owners most of their income. Why? How many square feet do we really need and how much is for show? Maybe this is an awakening to the mindset bigger is better, and we always need more.
The present thing with mortgages reminds me of the stock market crash in the 20s. As long as borrowers and lenders could ride the housing bubble everything worked fine. It's the same story of too liberal credit and falling prices. People don't learn much about money.
I see many on the Right using record home ownership as proof that the economy is in good condition. Well, so much for that argument.
Too bad you need to hire some "bloodsucking" lawyer to understand the fine print.
If contracts were written in English , this would be a much better place.
Also we would need less "bloodsucking" lawyers.
(Smirk) the comments to this article are a microcosm of the cause(s) of the topic of this article. Yet, they can all be lumped together something like this: undereducated public which has been trained by advertising and big business and raised by parents trained the same. Trained simply as mindless consumers who must have everything their little hearts desire right now on "easy" credit.
When I was a teen and young married, I was informed from all directions that a family should have only a mortgage and possibly a vehicle loan and should have a savings account double that of the vehicle loan principle. To live any other way was to live a "hand to mouth existance" and to be a slave to debt. This is no longer a free nation for we are all slaves to debt; personally or as citizens of a country living by the same "give it to me now and I'll gladly pay you on Tuesday" mentality.
When Bush talked about the Ownership Society in 2004 he meant that, before he was finished, the wealthy would own us all. He and the Republicans accomplished this by quietly ridding big business and banking of all those pesky laws that defined usery as 400% interest, demanded that fraud and deception not have a place in "the free market", regulated banking for things besides government spy assistance, and required in general, ethics in business. They replaced it all with phony "values," which control nothing.
It would be interesting to know how foreign countries holding debt over the head of the USA really benefits the wealthy of this country, wouldn't it? It would be nice to know what we're dying for. And what's up with Halburton moving to Dubai? Maybe you could write about thise things too, Cheri?
Considering how recent the collapse of the internet bubble was, it's disconcerting that so many people and financial companies fell for the housing bubble.
Predatory lending practices . . . unethical and immoral (like 'payday loans' which are nothing less than legalized usury) . . . but not surprising. ...and now I'm hearing talk about a bail-out of these people in foreclosure . . . at tax payer expense . . . and as the Institutions go down . . . Ugh . . . what a mess!
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Thank you for opening up this conversation.
have to disagree that we need to suck up the responsibility for the housing bubble and the credit abuses and the Wall Street selling of bad loans as gilt edged triple A bonds. None of that was My Idea. Okay, I was too smart fo buy an interest only mortgage when the guy at the bank pitched it to me when I went in to refinance my home at 5% a couple years ago. But so what? If something that dumb is legal, somebody will actually do it, then go belly up and hurt the economy for all of us.
Was there any way in the long run that adjustable mortgages could possibly be a good thing for America? No. So why the hell did it have to be legal? Suicide is a free choice too, and they never did make that legal.
Now, of course, some members in congress are calling for some sort of oversite....but it is already to late for many people.
There is also a scramble in some state governments to help families avoid foreclousure, although this too may come too late for many. They will certainly have to be creative, since many lending companies will be demanding their money in order to stay afloat themselves.
Two years ago I was also approached by realtors (some family members) wanting me to buy a house. When I said I couldn't afford it, I was assured that I could. However, whenever I asked them what would happen a few years down the road when interest rates when up, they suddenly got very vague. I stayed in my apartment. My rent is up a little in the last two years, but I can still afford it. I wonder, these relatives that incouraged me to buy a house .....would they have been willing to let me move in with them when the mortage rates had become unaffordable and I lost my house?
But don't kid yourself, even if you did not get caught up in the subprime fiasco, you will still be affected. This will cause a downturn in our economy, how severe is yet to be seen, and we will all be affected. It will also affect the price of the house you have now....and you may find yourself trying to sell it for much less than you paid. Sobering.
Can you give me an answer to the question that burns in my mind (I have a Low 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, by the way)? Why can't the mortgage companies simply NOT CHARGE the big interest rate increases on ARM's? Is there some incontrovertable reason they have to insist Midas-like upn all or nothing? It clearly isn't in their interest to force all those home "owners" to go down and take the mortgage company with them. Does extreme greed trump common sense as well as common decency?
I just spoke with a fellow who has worked for CountryWide for 17 years...he is a vice president of one of their many divisions. He told me today there will be 2,500 layoffs in the subprime division of CountryWide and many, many for foreclosures. Not good news.
While Countrywide claims that they are having too many defaults on subprime loans, perhaps we should look at how their staff manages those loans, how those loans came about in the first place, and how many people with good credit were put into subprime loans because of recommendations by a Countrywide vice president in attempt to collect more fees. Who knows how long this practice was going on before Countrywide put this recommendation in writing. See following Los Angeles Times article (Annette Haddad, "Countrywide Fires Manager, Citing Ethics," LA Times (Nov. 20, 2004).):
Countrywide Fires Manager, Citing Ethics
The lender says he encouraged his staff to steer borrowers to more costly sub-prime loans.
By Annette Haddad, Times Staff Writer
Countrywide Financial Corp. said Friday that it fired a mid-level executive at one of its mortgage units after he encouraged loan officers in a memo to downgrade borrowers' credit ratings in order to steer them into more expensive loans.
The memo was sent via e-mail Oct. 27 by a regional vice president of Full Spectrum Lending, a Countrywide subsidiary that specializes in so-called sub-prime home loans to consumers with credit problems. Lenders typically charge higher fees, or points, for sub-prime loans because they tend to carry higher risk.
Calabasas-based Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender, said it dismissed the supervisor after his e-mail was brought to the attention of upper management this week.
"We are fortunate that one of our conscientious employees made us aware of inappropriate conduct by one of our managers," said the company's chief ethics officer, Richard Wentz. He said Countrywide had "no tolerance" for such actions, adding that "we are committed to responsible lending practices."
Countrywide declined to identify the manager. But The Times obtained a copy of the e-mail, which was circulated by Shane Pew, regional vice president of Full Spectrum's Van Nuys office. In the note, he exhorts his team of 85 to fund more non-conventional loans because "we will not make money if we don't do Subprime PERIOD."
He goes on to suggest five ways loan agents can steer borrowers, including those with good credit, into the sub-prime category, including listing only one income when there are two wage earners, increasing the amount of the loan and not listing any of a borrower's assets.
"These are just a few examples we can use," the memo said. "We have to think outside the box to make this happen." Efforts to reach Pew on Friday were unsuccessful.
Full Spectrum Lending, based in Pasadena, is the nation's ninth-largest sub-prime mortgage lender, according to the Mortgage Bankers Assn.
The memo was issued amid a slowdown in the housing market and rising interest rates, which was cutting into loan volume. Pew noted in his memo that the Van Nuys offices signed "only" 56 sub-prime loans out of 167 in October.
That trend was felt industry wide in the third quarter, when the dollar volume of sub-prime mortgages dropped 8.8% from the April-to-June period, the steepest drop since the third quarter of 1999, according to Inside B&C Lending, a trade publication.
Some employees of the Van Nuys call center, whose job is to find the best rates for customers seeking home loans, said they were troubled by the directive.
"We love what we do," said one employee. "But we don't love what they wanted us to do."
One loan officer was distressed enough to forward the e-mail to Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo, one employee told The Times.
It was unclear whether any Full Spectrum employees followed Pew's directive. A Countrywide spokeswoman said the company was reviewing loans funded since the memo was first circulated.
Kevin Stein of the California Reinvestment Coalition, a nonprofit organization that promotes fair lending, said that although Countrywide should be commended for taking action, he urged a broader review of operations.
"Kudos to them for firing the manager," Stein said. "I would hope that they would look into other possible problems."
Stein's group and other consumer advocacy organizations have been at the forefront of fighting so-called predatory lending practices. They claim the tactics are widespread and end up stripping billions of dollars in equity from homeowners.
The mortgage industry has been successful in forestalling tougher legislation at all levels of government, consumer advocates charge. The city of Los Angeles recently passed an anti-predatory lending ordinance, but it has not yet been enacted. A similar ordinance in Oakland is being challenged by the industry in court.
"Predatory lending is not just a problem for folks with credit problems," said Jordan Ash of the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now. "Even people with good credit are misled and steered to certain loan products."
One reason, he said, is that loans with less attractive terms for borrowers often carry higher fees and commissions for loan agents and lenders. "The worse the terms are for the customer, the better the deal" for the loan officer, he said.
Because of their impaired credit, sub-prime borrowers pay higher interest rates on home loans or refinancings. On top of that, they are typically charged more points than those with good credit. One point equals 1% of the loan amount.
In recent weeks, the head of the Federal National Mortgage Assn., known as Fannie Mae, has expressed concern that the practice of loan steering could be widespread. Chief Executive Franklin Raines said that "as many as half of the people getting sub-prime loans could qualify for conventional loans if they were offered."
Representatives of the industry have asked Raines to meet with them and provide any evidence he may have.
It seems easy for this company to ask for "help" from their own banks and forgiveness from others for how they have run their business for a number of years. It seems to have been even easier for them to foreclose upon countless victims of their fraudulent schemes, and to put those people out in the street with nowhere to go. It has been easy for them to have any number of "irregularities" in bookkeeping methods that have affected their employees, as well as their customers and investors. I believe that it is time to look at the source of the mortgage crisis. While we have put Martha Stewart in jail for "lying", perhaps we should look closer at how ex-Countrywide executives, Alan Cao, Quan Zhu, and Jun Chi settled insider trading charges with the SEC, as well as why Countrywide CEO, Angelo Mozilo, decided against retirement at the end of 2006.
Alex, I agree with you....many people still don't understand, or want to understand that this is not just a problem for people unable to pay their mortgage, this will ripple through our entire society and economy. We will all be affected. Putting our collective heads in the sand will not make it go away.
Realtors and lenders all want us to think this is just a hick-up, but I don't beleive that to be the case. I think it will ultimately lead us in to a recession.
I agree with you about the recession, except it seems it's been here for a while in the guise of an elephant in the room (or should I say the Senate floor?). The cheerful touts of a good economy aren't loud enough to drown it out any more.
I think so often that people living in the huge mansions and estates I see in Pasadena don't often know their own neighbors. A service does their lawn, cleans their house and a nanny takes care of the kids. They drive into the garage....walk to the house....spend some time in the evening there (maybe).
I always have my door open when I am home... eveyone walks by and talks to me or my cats. Often I will sit outside with a neighbor in the evenings and enjoy a glass of wine, inviting anyone else in the complex who happens to come along. When I go for a walk in the evening, families are out walking...stopping to chat, pushing a stroller ...you just don't see that in the high-end neighborhoods. I don't covet the large homes....I have so much right here in my little rented space.
I am not an economist and do not want to give you the impression that I am.
However, the backbone of this nation is not the middle class but, rather it is the savings that that great mass of people put aside.
With our percentage of savings dwindling there is a reduced amount to invest in innovation. Innovation has given this country growth-No- I guess I should say tremendous growth!!
And without this growth in combination with an almost 9 trillion dollar debt my first inclination would be to start learning Chinese, Japanese or German. My second would be to learn no langauge at all, as somehow our people will get the message to increase their savings. But, it is imperative that we tell congress that they must apply any surplus funds to reduce our debt which is increasing at 1.5 billion dollars per day.
Gee, nor do I want you to gain the impression that I am not partially responsible, because I am an American citizen and am.
Nevertheless, I disagree with a previous statement. Yes, it is our duty to enter the voting booth and vote our convictions but that is just the beginning of the process.
We then must manage those who recieve the most votes.
I am growing tired of quoting this guy so much but, Thomas Jefferson said that " The Citizen of America has the responsibility to see that his/her government is properly managed".
I guess it comes down to either better management of this country or hit the pavement.
Many thanks,
Bob Cornell
The big magilla here is re-orienting the US economy to a fuel-rationing regime, which could be within a few years. The best model to aim for is the USA 1910- 1960 transport mix. Generally speaking, we were a lending not a borrowing nation in that era, and did not really need to import appreciable amounts of oil until Ike signed the US Interstate Defense Highway Bill. Freeways came, trucking and shortsighted planners demolished the branchline rail network, chaining us to the imported oil tarbaby ever since. Energy price has a connection with our present financial crisis. If energy from substitues could be counted on, we can work our way thru the present situation. Unfortunately, many authorities are pessimistic about any combination of fossil substitutes coming on line in time to make up for oilwell depletion rates.
The Association For The Study Of Peak OIl & Gas should be required research source (peakoil.net) for interested parties- please note threads therein, and give some thought to concepts expressed in ASPO Article 374, in newsletter 42. A darker read of our energy predicament can be found in "Jay Hanson-Synopsis". My personal remedy is "Parallel Bar Therapy", the deliberate rehab and extension of the railway network, the most readily executed means of maintaining acceptable living standards of health & safety while extending energy supply in a constricting scenario.
The reader interested in following through on these particulars ca, in their respective locales, determine existing rail branchline footprint for rehab, alert responsibles at the local and state level, and be sure same are absolutely savvy on Peaking Oil. The "Formal Document" for approaching the electeds and planning bodies is the Robert L. Hirsch "Report on Peaking Oil" and the 2007 update. Staffers for presidential wannabes are advised to likewise be the Peaking Oil expert in the room...
Darrell Bain see me at www.darrellbain.com
This is very immoral behavior, driven by the greed of the credit industry and enabled by politicians seeking Jack-Abramoff-style helpful business buddies. This is actually how recessions happen, not through inevitable economic cycles, but rather though dummies digging holes in the ground and jumping in. It makes me sick.
The real culprit is lack of education--no one bothers to LEARN about finances or THINK about the consequences of a hasty decision.
People are in fact responsible for their own lives and choices and we all need to think hard about such decisions. I was a Democrat when Reagan was President but I remember something he said that I took to heart.
"The scariest words in the English language are--I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
In all these articles as in the news media, everyone has reported the problem while it has raged on, with no solutions in sight. Ohio is rapdily becoming a " GHOST " state, like the ghost towns of the old west. People are leaving their homes and walking away to other places to escape the predators running the lending industry here and the goverment of the state, and even local govts are choosing desperate measure to keep afloat. Mortages on top of $ 500.00 property taxes per month on a $270,000 home.
With the city raising property tax assessments far and above the loan values of homes.
It is easy to say the buyers are ignorant, but when a person is trying to save the home of thier family, they are not gullable, they are depserate, and loan comapanies will tell them anything to get them to sign, and they will do anything to save thier homes.
Looking for someone to blame is useless, and debating right and left politics amounts to mental masturbation they count on to keep you distracted while laws pass that allow cancer economiucs to incubate .
Americans do want it all and they do want it now, but we stand together or we fall together, Ohio has fallen and all that reamins is the paperwork.
The vast majority of you seem very well educated in Cheri's topic.
We are faced with a very serious problem along with our government being totally lacking in responsibility.
The following can't be said enough. Who is at fault for putting us in that position?
Well, you can say it's our leadership in Washington, but the fault really lies in the laps of the citizenship of America for not becoming more involved in their government. For letting them get by with these atrocities.
Each of us has that responsibility
And the sad thing is, most of that citizenship is comprised of good, decent and caring
individuals. But, as I have stated before vote your convictions and then follow up with the appropriate surveillance.
America is beautiful. Let us all keep it that way.
Many thanks,
Bob Cornell
P. S. This is a subject that is very near and dear to me and I apologize for my vent.
P. S. S. I was honored to write a comment for this article and I want to add something to it . As a third option consider investing in gold!!