On Sat 02 Aug 2008 10:46:04a, told us...

> On Sat, 02 Aug 2008 04:34:46 GMT, Wayne Boatwright
> > wrote:
>
>>On Fri 01 Aug 2008 09:23:26p, told us...
>>
>>> On Fri, 1 Aug 2008 22:55:04 -0400, "Nancy Young" >
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>The guideline I went by was don't get a mortgage more than 1 1/2 times
>>>>your annual income. 2 times was stretching it. Whatever, at least you
>>>>knew not to go house shopping in the expensive part of town thinking
you
>>>>could get it for no money down.
>>>
>>> It seems no institution has used those guidelines in years. Back in
>>> the day, there was no way we would have qualified for the loans people
>>> are given now.
>>
>>That's for sure. When we were planning on buying our present home nearly
>>two years ago, we were told by the lender that we qualified for more than
>>double the amount that we felt we could reasonably afford. We went with
>>the amount we felt comfortable with, and insisted on a 30 fixed rate
>>mortgage. Doing anything else would have been foolish and would have put
>>us at the very risk that many people are facing now. We have refi'd once
>>since then, and are planning to do so in the near future as rates have
>>continued to drop in our area.
>
> My point is they are dangling those loans in front of people that they
> shouldn't... and they are setting them up for failure. Most of those
> people were first time buyers with no previous experience in real
> estate. The housing market around here was very tight and when I was
> reading about the orchards being converted into suburbs, my "uhoh"
> meter went off the charts. But housing nearer the city was
> astronomical and new housing was "affordable"... with first time buyer
> incentives and iffy loan packages. My own kids paid over $500,000 for
> 800 sq ft (used) boxes last September. One is in San Francisco, the
> other in San Jose. They are hardly McMansions, they are bottom of the
> line entry level homes in borderline neighborhoods. I have a lot of
> sympathy for the people who didn't get sound financial advice and were
> suckered into these predatory loans just because nobody puts the
> brakes on lending institutions anymore. That's free enterprise for
> you. Blame the victim... it's the American way.
>
>

In that situation you are absolutely right.

--
Wayne Boatwright
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Saturday, 08(VIII)/02(II)/08(MMVIII)
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Don't start an argument with somebody
who has a microphone when you don't;
they'll make you look like chopped
liver. --Harlan Ellison, on hecklers
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