Has anyone looked on www.realtor.com lately? Go there and type in Detroit, MI and see what $1 will get you. I saw this last week on Yahoo news and couldn't believe it. There are houses and property selling for $1. They are mostly, if not all, bank owned and sold "as is."
I can't imagine what the neighborhoods must look like. Boarded up houses, unkept yards. It must be very depressing. It would be so nice to have someone come in and buy up all or most of the houses and repair them, sell them at a reasonable price and let the people back in their homes. Wouldn't that be something to see? But sadly I don't see that happening. More than likely these homes will continue to sit empty and over time will simply fall apart. Neighborhoods that once sported young families will continue to sit in disarray.
That is just a small example of what is going on all over the country. Folks were given loans for houses they couldn't afford. The banks and lending institutions encouraged mortgages that a family thought they could afford, that is until the interest rate ballooned forcing many many families out of their homes. Now, I realize that every consumer should know what they are signing, read all of the contract prior to signing and educate themselves before the purchase of a home but not everyone does that.
Before Joe and I bought our first home I went to the local bank and sat down with a loan officer and told her that I needed to know everything about buying a house. I found out and quickly got upset with Fannie Mae. I had no clue who or what Fannie Mae was and actually told the woman that I wanted to talk to her. Fannie Mae that is. OK, you can stop laughing at me now. The point is that I found out what I needed to know. But I didn't know everything. Far from it. I trusted my banker and my realtor to educate me further.
So where were the loan officers and realtors when these folks were buying their homes? Has the world sunk so low that no one cares about anyone but themselves anymore? Apparently in the world of banking and realty that is the case. Now I'm not saying that every banker and every realtor is this way but there were enough involved a few years back to give people loans that they knew they would not be able to afford eventually.
It's just not right.
12 comments:
I think that you have summed up a lot of the thinking about how many people are self-centered and greedy. Bernie Madoff is a perfect example. If you want to read a horror story about greed and the result, google him.
The housing market here in Alberta went through the roof a couple years ago ,property values were tripling at least, wages however weren't .I am not sure how peple are going to survie with these gigantic mortgages, values have as the banks say"self corrected " and have dropped by as much as 30%
I have a realtor's license and let me tell you, you should be afraid of these people. They are STUPID and the mortgage industry is rampantly corrupt. I remember when we first started looking for a home in San Diego, and did not buy one. I was looking at the numbers this woman was showing me (and it was one of those loans, the ARM balloon ones? Yeah) and she was going on and on about how we could afford something waaay out of our range, mainly because nothing was selling in our price range, so cal duh. And sign here please. What? No thanks anyway. Not 2 weeks later we get a thing in the mail with all that paperwork written up and a sticky on it that said sign here please. Oh my god no. Did they think they could con or pressure me into it? Yes. Did it work on some people? yes. Now they are all out of business. Reap what you sow. And I have at least 3 friends going into forclosure right now in San Diego. God I'm glad I moved the hell out of there. Oh and Detriot? I hear it's a real scary place. In the snow belt. No thanks!
Whatever happened to starter homes?
Aw Bill!! No one wants a STARTER home, much too small. We want what our parents worked their whole lives for...NOW!
Great informative post. When I bought my first house after my divorce I remember being encouraged to "get something bigger." I didn't need more or bigger. It was just me and my son. Bigger and more expensive houses mean bigger commissions. Sad but true. I'm glad my Dad taught me to be happy with just enough.
We started seeing foreclosures here before the downturn. They were giving away mortgages to anyone that applied it seems. Plus so many people thought they could afford the mortgage without considering all the other costs of home ownership.
They are still building these massive (300+ unit) apartment buildings here, not to mention the townhouses. Where are they getting all those people to move into them? What about the places they used to live? I don't get it.
We are living in scary times.
I'm just thankful I can afford my home, most of the time. Glad to see Annie is still with us.
Sad comments. I'm sure there are bankers and realtors that are less than above board, but I also believe this is also fruit of a community that has lived under ultra-liberal dominance for many years. I don't pretend that conservatives are all saints and have all the answers, but I do think that Detroit and Washington, DC are good examples of what ultra-liberal policies lead to.
Sorry, I'll get off my soap box now.
Dan
Oh I have such mixed feelings about this. I know some of my friends mortgage payments and I want to thump them! It seems some people (not all by ANY means) want what they see on TV as a "good life". To me, we buy what we can afford. This just seems simple and reasonable to me. But there will always be good decent hard working people who are just suseptable to pressure from advertising.
When we bought our first house (still live in it) the bank told us how much of a mortgage they thought we could afford. We laughed like hyenas and went with something much less. We still wanted to be able to eat every week. Where do they get those estimates?
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