Posted on 05/21/2008 11:33:58 AM PDT by Dawnsblood
As the real estate market softened in 2007, the new owner of a three-bedroom, 1,600-square-foot house in Sacramento's Curtis Park neighborhood ran into trouble. The house that was purchased for $535,000 in January had lost equity. The owner fell behind in her payments, and eventually, the bank seized the home.
What makes this story different from the thousands like it is that the owner of this house was a member of Congress.
The story of the foreclosure of Long Beach Democrat Laura Richardson's Sacramento home is a tale of a real estate market gone sour. It is also an illustration of how far many candidates will go to seek elected office, even if it means quite literally mortgaging their own financial future.
While being elevated to Congress in a 2007 special election, Richardson apparently stopped making payments on her new Sacramento home, and eventually walked away from it, leaving nearly $600,000 in unpaid loans and fees.
(Excerpt) Read more at capitolweekly.net ...
“eventually walked away from unpaid loans.”
Sounds like a congressman to me!
What a sleeze ball. They should sue her for mortgage fraud. Any loan that goes south that quickily was fraudulent.
I suppose they will re-elect her..she fits the RAT profile perfectly.
Democrat not being good with money? Hmmm.
Residential real-estate - what a scam. If it goes up in value, pocket up to $500K tax free. If it goes down, walk away and try again in a few years or wait for a bailout from the government. Privatized profit, socialized risk. The hallmark of a free market. /sarc
There are so many aggravating things listed in that article, I couldn’t even pick one to hone in on!
:)
I agree. Kept looking for something to comment on. The whole thing makes me sick.
Here’s a thought Missy - it’s called RENTING. Your job is not permanent in the Assembly in any event - you could be voted out in four years. A $500,000+ house in the Sacto area is nothing to sneeze at, even before the market went south - you could have rented a town house on your @#$%^ per diem and not contributed to the credit crisis.
I’m surprised that the article mentions that she’s a Democrat.
I hope her Republican challenger is taking notes. Long Beach is pretty blue collar - they aren’t gonna appreciate this.
The government doesn’t bail-out these real estate gamblers, many of whom are “flippers”, that land up in foreclosure, we the taxpayers do.
Democrat.
Bets.
Loses.
Has the taxpayer foot the bill.
I’m going to make a fair guess that the $535k house was never worth that amount...and likely was probably worth no more than $400k max. What gets me...across high-cost urban areas, in California, Seattle, Florida, etc....house prices simply went beyond logic and nobody questioned paying $400k for a house that worth a $100k less. I know of lots of military folks in the panhandle of Florida leaving this summer and their home value has suddenly lost twenty-five percent and they can’t sell although they must rotate to another base. Even renting is a joke when it barely covers 70 percent of what you have to pay the bank each month.
Everyone got a unrealistic vision of homes gaining seven percent a year, and thinking that was typical and normal...while it isn’t. You go and browse around areas like Flagstaff and Vegas...and things are a joke. Its not a crisis...its an act of stupidity which everyone is a part of. I live in Germany and work for the US government...and the home I bought fourteen years ago is probably valued at four percent above what I paid originally. This is reality...where homes don’t double in price over twenty years.
Foreclosures here have increased in the past year, but not a big jump. We never had "bubble" conditions, and so prices haven't fallen that much (or even at all in the "best" areas). There aren't so many upside down mortgages.
And while she was failing to make payments on the home, she had no problem spending $60K of her own money on her congressional campaign.
I will pick one.
You would think people who are making decisions for others would be able to make good decisions for themselves,” she said. “She should have known what she could afford and not afford. In this neighborhood, you just don’t do that.”
These are the folks that are getting elected, citizens in this country are fools.
There is no shame anymore for defaulting on loans, or debts.
If there was we would not be seeing this crap.
I say that banks should attach her salary,bank accounts,savings and campaign coffers until this debt is payed off.
Why should I have to pay for something she could not afford.
Typical leftist thinking, I want it, someone else will pay.
Even worse. This was NOT her primary residence.
The headline is very misleading no one being “immune” from crisis implies that this congresswoman was helpless.
Quite the contrary - she basically funded her campaign race using a mortgage intended for a home.
I understand that walking away does not absolve a buyer from his/her debt. Wouldn’t she still owes the mortgage holder the amount of the difference she contracted, and its current value?
Probably they were the very ones who needed "Stated Income" or "Liars' Loans".
"Needed" is the point:
"You NEED to live in Pretentia Shores Luxury Estates-You DESERVE TO! For The Children, of course."
To heck with them.
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