Unfortunately, people make mistakes

And some have surely gambled big-time on housing...

And for a while they were right... 

Some who were just "hanging on coat-tails" will really pay the price of failure and embarrassment, shame, etc...

The investors/gamblers - well they may or may not feel any embarrassment... I don't know

It is sad... 

 I hope someone can help some of these folks... even the gamblers - united we stand - or fall...

When my favorite dog died the Federal Government should have stepped in and provided me with another one.

Why can't the housing industry get price supports the way farmers do? Congress needs to get to work on this.

Mark 

Does anyone have data on how many properties were actually "homes" (residences which families own and occupy) and how many were investment properties where speculators didn't live in them but gambled on being able to profit by selling when the market went up?

I think we all sympathize when a family is thrown out into the cold, but most of us on this website are familiar with investments going down sometimes as well as going up and don't have a lot of sympathy for investors/speculators taking a chance and losing. It happens to us frequently.

I think the real estate speculators should accept their bitter medicine without getting bailed out. The folks who are/were living in the property they bought as a home should be helped - but not made entirely whole - depending on circumstances - or the lesson won't be learned.   jim  

Hi Jim,

Yes I do feel sorry for home owners thrown out in the cold but I saw on TV a person making $15.00 dollars an hour bought a $700,000.00 house and was losing it
in forecloser.

I feel sorry for him BUT he bought a house he could not afford.   

The problem, APPARENTLY, is people who purhcased homes RECENTLY, afterwhich the market price fell and adjustable rates started kicking in.

Hence, they didn't own or live in the house long term, hence if they forclose - SO WHAT!   They (and the lending istitution) will learn and will be less likely to make the same mistake a few years from now.

If someone bails them out, aren't we just encouraging bad behavior, AND encouraging more of the same?

//mjs

What about the folks thaat live in the same area with the foreclosures - their stuff goes down because we won't find a way to help on this....

I think the drag on the economy is yet to be felt -

I saw an article that sez this mess will flow well into the next decade...

And, what about the McMansions that are 50 miles from workplaces - those folks are going to get a double whammy...

And what about dropping local gov revenues.... 

It AIN'T JUST about the guy with poor judgment 

It AIN'T JUST about the guy with poor judgment

 IMO there are villains in all this - the lending institutions who made the "bad" loans that enabled buyers to speculate with someone else's $.   Often it was obvious to the lender that the buyer was unqualified, but the loan was processed anyway. This was widespread misconduct that should be punished - but won't. jim

Austin, TX has a "Parade of Homes" this weekend. Six houses ranging in size from 5,000 to 10,000 sq. ft. and priced from $2M to $4.5M. One house has already been sold. Better hurry if you want one.

Now, what is this chitchat about a housing crisis? What foreclosures? The good times are still rolling in Austin.

Sam

This reminds me of all those ENRON employees that had all their 401k in ENRON stock.

Subprime loans have been with us for decades....what's different this time is who was 'allowed' to participate.

Speculators and 'flippers' aside.......If relatively poor people (and presumably less educated) are allowed to buy a house whose PITI eventually adjusts to exceed monthly disposable income, and they buy it anyway because the lender didn't say no to their loan application, whose fault is it? Who bears the cost of the repossession?

The lender? The borrower? The taxpayer?

'Predetory Lenders' are certainly the personality types few would spend their quality time with, and few tears would be shed over watching them get financially whacked. But at what point does the (presumed) adult accept responsibility for the lending documenet they just signed?

All of us who have become reasonably successful at managing our own $$ have done so down the road of financial hard-knocks. Who on this forum hasn't made a really bad (read: dumb) financial decision, likely in their early days? But I'll bet most of us learned from that bad experience. Angry and financially smarting, we picked up and moved on.

Will those whose homes are about to be swept away, learn from this experience and be better for it....or is the cost here in the multitude of ensuing Chapter 7 bankruptcies too great, acting as an anchor on economic growth? If the overextended borrower is allowed an 'out', will he do it again in some other financial venue and when it blows up, expect reparations?

No answers....just questions

BruceM