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House Broke
MSNBC.COM ^ | 8-8-06 | Jennifer Barrett

Posted on 08/10/2006 5:31:16 AM PDT by Hydroshock

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To: SengirV

What kind of ARM goes up that much that soon? I am thinking it was subsidized by the builder to move stock- now it's someone else's problem. Cold.


21 posted on 08/10/2006 5:53:03 AM PDT by steve8714 (Michael Fox would suck your baby dry to cure Parkinson's)
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To: steve8714

When I saw the tagline for the thread, I thought it was about a dog wetting on the carpet...


22 posted on 08/10/2006 5:55:01 AM PDT by ricer1
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To: Hydroshock

The home looks like a typical tract built home by one of the major big builders in the country. It probably was financed through their own mortgage company and immediately sold. Usually this builder buys down the interest rates which multiplies this problem. Some of their communities have a 20% default rate and the houses in these communities do not appreciate even in good markets.


23 posted on 08/10/2006 5:55:08 AM PDT by Always Right
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To: Hydroshock
they could purchase it with no money down by taking out two adjustable-rate mortgages. The monthly payments would start at a manageable $1,100.

... and go which way? Since 2004 was near record low interest rates, which direction did they think it would go?

What part of the word "adjustable" do they NOT UNDERSTAND?

With NO MONEY DOWN, they have probably twenty bucks in equity in the thing. So now if they sell it for say $200,000, they STILL OWE $17,000 (minus the twenty bucks), and they have no house at all.

24 posted on 08/10/2006 5:55:49 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: SlowBoat407
Rates high, or you know you'll be able to handle the shift in a couple of years, get an ARM. Rates low, lock it in with a fixed.

Actually he was a good candidate for an ARM as he planned to live there only five years. The problem was a one-year ARM was the stupid part.

25 posted on 08/10/2006 5:56:59 AM PDT by Always Right
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To: satchmodog9
The Howell's weren't really stupid. If you read the article, you can see that they could afford the payments, while he was in the military and/or at the salary of his old job. When he came back from Iraq, he earned about 1/3 of what he did previously. Plus the wife had a baby, and was not working.

Not stupid, but definitely short-sighted. They made some mistakes (who hasn't) but if they learn from them, they will be in another house one day and older and wiser.

26 posted on 08/10/2006 5:57:05 AM PDT by SoftballMominVA
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To: Hydroshock
Millions of Americans bought into the real estate boom with adjustable mortgages and home equity loans. Now rising interest rates are forcing them into agonizing financial choices.

Deceptive word play aimed at the ignorant. When will it sink in? Stupid people do stupid things. Let them suffer so the lesson is learned.

27 posted on 08/10/2006 5:57:43 AM PDT by Niteranger68 (I gigged your peace frog.)
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To: steve8714
What kind of ARM goes up that much that soon? I am thinking it was subsidized by the builder to move stock- now it's someone else's problem. Cold.

If it is the builder I think it is, they tend to buy down interest rates and jack up the price of the home to compensate. Its great for the first year, but then they are left with overpriced poorly built house in a neighborhood with numerous foreclosures. Been going on for a while.

28 posted on 08/10/2006 6:00:15 AM PDT by Always Right
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To: Hydroshock
he thought he couldn’t lose

The standard motto of a loser.

29 posted on 08/10/2006 6:01:41 AM PDT by Jim Noble (I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit - it's the only way to be sure.)
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To: Hydroshock
Howell, an Iraq war vet who worked two jobs but still fell short on the monthly payments after they jumped by more than $300.

Sad

It's all about income and expenses. It can be managed but the streams are what they are.

30 posted on 08/10/2006 6:02:11 AM PDT by af_vet_1981
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

"(I see stupid people. They're everywhere. They don't even know that they're stupid.) *Rolleyes* "

These people aren't stupid, they're just ignorant, and thus, manipulated. Big Difference, IMHO.

For as long as our schools are more concerned with teaching a relative morality where Johnny gets 2 daddys or 3 mommys and everything is OK as long as it feels good, this will continue to occur. For as long as our schools (and the NEA, implicitly) are more concerned with stuffing our kids with communist and socialist idealogy, this will continue to occur.

When (not likely ever) our schools (which WE pay for) get back to the business of teaching the 3Rs, American Pride, Capitalism and good old fashioned common sense, we will begin to see a change. When Johnny learns (in school) about buying cars, houses, investments, insurance, loans, negotiating strategy, simple money management, and a whole host of other pertinent, relevant REAL LIFE issues, we will begin to see a change.

I'm not holding my breath.

R3


31 posted on 08/10/2006 6:02:52 AM PDT by RedRightReturn (Even a broken clock is right twice a day...)
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To: SengirV
That's a great example of stupidity.

Well, sure...but a kind of stupidity heavily pushed by mortgage lenders. I'll bet 30-40% of homes sold in California over the last five years are occupied by buyers who used some similar trickery to "get your piece of the American Dream...before it's too late!"

If it becomes an epidemic, expect the Democrats to call for massive new Federal spending on "housing relief" - on the theory that it is unfair and disruptive to kick people out of houses they can't afford, and it would be better for the government to "help" them make their payments. Ultimately, the taxpayer will get stuck footing the bill, just like in the S&L meltdown of the 80's.

32 posted on 08/10/2006 6:02:59 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ("When the government is invasive, the people are wanting." -- Tao Te Ching)
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To: Hydroshock
But the couple learned they could purchase it with no money down by taking out two adjustable-rate mortgages.

This was Mistake #1.

And Howell figured the value of their home could only go up in the five years they planned to live there.

This was Mistake #2. Ten bucks says the Howells owned a lot of dot-com stock, too.

It's interesting to see these sob stories all over the media these days. I don't have a shred of sympathy for these folks.

33 posted on 08/10/2006 6:08:26 AM PDT by Alberta's Child (Can money pay for all the days I lived awake but half asleep?)
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To: soloNYer

***Shawn Howell gambled and thinks he lost. Would he have spent more money by selling after two years at a loss or by renting at nearly the same amount for two years?***

He lost by buying. If the bank forecloses, it will sell the house for whatever it can get, which will be less than Shawn paid. Shawn still has to pay the difference in what he paid and what the bank sells for in order to satisfy his two mortgages. His two years of mortgage payments will have been interest on the loan only, as is the usual way with mortgage loans, believe it or not. In other words, he has no vested interest in the house.

If he had rented at the same price, he could walk away without any debt to repay.


34 posted on 08/10/2006 6:09:17 AM PDT by kitkat (The first step down to hell is to deny the existence of evil.!)
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To: BikerGold

R O T F L O L!


35 posted on 08/10/2006 6:11:03 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Taglines for sale or rent. Good "one liners", 50 cents.)
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To: 2banana

***The real reason is that banks allowed people to borrow money on houses they clearly could not afford - this is the big change from 5 years ago.***

Right. And the banks are irresponsible in doing so.


36 posted on 08/10/2006 6:11:03 AM PDT by kitkat (The first step down to hell is to deny the existence of evil.!)
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To: Jameison

"Is this example the best the Bush-hating MSNBC could do?"


Drip, drip,drip........


37 posted on 08/10/2006 6:11:58 AM PDT by litehaus
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To: Mr. Jeeves

We may be looking at a second meltdown.


38 posted on 08/10/2006 6:13:04 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Taglines for sale or rent. Good "one liners", 50 cents.)
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To: Jameison

***Is this example the best the Bush-hating MSNBC could do?***

Notice that they posed Shawn in his army camies. THAT makes it Bush's fault. s/


39 posted on 08/10/2006 6:13:06 AM PDT by kitkat (The first step down to hell is to deny the existence of evil.!)
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To: Hydroshock
The irony of all this is that getting an ARM when rates are high doesn't necessarily make sense, either. Since Federal banking laws allow people to refinance their mortgages without penalty at any time, even a "fixed" mortgage functions as an ARM when rates are falling. If you have a fixed mortgage at a rate of 8% and rates go down to 5.5%, you can refinance the mortgage at any time.
40 posted on 08/10/2006 6:13:46 AM PDT by Alberta's Child (Can money pay for all the days I lived awake but half asleep?)
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