Posted on 08/27/2007 4:06:37 AM PDT by Notary Sojac
I know people are going to hate me for saying this, but I'm not sorry that foreclosures nearly doubled last month and are increasing every day.
I'm not sorry that real-estate prices are creeping down by the glut of desperate "for sale" signs all over Southern California.
I'm not sorry that all those developers building lofts downtown and in Hollywood and North Hollywood with no parking might have to eat their investment when they find they can't get half a mil for the 400-square-foot corner of a former sweatshop.
I'm not sorry that people who kept taking the "free" home-equity money from the banks beyond all reason are now finding out how not free that money was.
I'm certainly not sorry that the huckster mortgage companies and banks that thought it was a good idea to make subprime loans to people with bad credit ratings are now taking a bath. I only wish it involved some sort of public humiliation involving glue, sand and glittery body paint.
I'm not even sorry that people will lose their homes and be forced to give up the Hummer they bought with a home-equity loan, and move into a one-bedroom apartment in Panorama City or, worse, in with the in-laws in Porter Ranch because suddenly their adjustable home rates adjusted higher than they can pay and they can't unload their McMansions for $1.3 million, as was the plan, despite the newly installed horizon pool and cork flooring.
I tell people I am sorry, but I'm really not. I am, in fact, gleeful.
And I'm not the only one.
Most everyone who is not employed by a mortgage company or is not a real-estate agent or is not trying to sell a house or can't pay the mortgage anymore feels the same. We are secretly dancing little happy jigs because it seems that the insanity is about to, finally, end and the snake-oil hucksters will fold up their tents, take their sleazy subprime offers and slink out of town.
Then maybe life can slowly come back to normal, and regular people with regular incomes can buy regular houses again without agreeing to loans so abusive they ought to be handed out of the back of gangster bars. We don't even care that it means our own property values will drop, if it means we might avoid another block of luxury lofts.
It's a relief, too, because we all knew this was coming, just like you know the Poppin' Fresh dough carton is going to make that loud noise when you pull the tab, and you can't really relax until it comes. Even people like me with math anxiety could work out that at some point the hot real-estate market, built in part on risky loan deals, was someday going to reach critical mass and start to crumble.
Well, here we are, and it's beautiful. And that's why I must implore all the well-meaning politicians proposing bailout measures (You know who you are, Richard Alarcon and Hillary Clinton) to just go away and work on curing cancer, or something that will actually help humanity, not enable it to continue on its financially irresponsible path.
Homeowner bailouts, as warm and loving as they seem, are, in fact, bailouts for mortgage companies, and they don't deserve it. But bailouts play well on the news, and everyone from L.A.'s Alarcon to state legislators to U.S. senators are proposing deals to help people continue to pay their mortgages.
Sure, some poor grandmas and inner-city families will get to keep their homes, at least until the next rate shift on their interest-only loans, but at what price? Is it helping people to keep them tied to abusive mortgages that only help the abusers profit? (C'mon, Hillary, it's the other guys who are supposed to be helping big business exploit consumers.)
To Clinton's credit, she's also proposing penalties on mortgage companies, though it's hard to see the sense of punishing with one hand and rewarding with the other. Better to support restructuring of the loan industry and government-sponsored mass refinancing for at-risk homeowners.
It's hard for Democrats not to rush to the aid of the victimized homeowners. It's a good instinct, but sometimes it's in everyone's interest to step aside and let faulty systems fall apart. This is one of those times when we ought to let it burn. I'll bring the marshmallows.
Looks like we are going back to 20% down but its a bit late for that now.
The liberals in HUD, Fannie and Freddie did this to us ... and now they feel glee? Makes me want to vomit.
I know this is kinda' old, but where DID you put your savings?
“Do we really want to go back to requiring sterling credit and 20% down on all mortgages? “
YES!
DUH!
“I do not agree with this guy on his happiness.”
Since, I, the taxpayer, in all this is footing the bill, I’ll feel any damned way I please, and I feel great! People have said for years, years, as in ten+ years, that this sort of mortgage nonsense was an extremely bad idea that the rest of us will end up paying for in one way or another. We were told we didn’t know what we were talking about and to shut up. Now that we’re paying for all this, those that want to cry in their house they can’t pay for can shut up. Since we are paying their bills, we can feel any damned way we please to include laughing at them, because if we don’t laugh we’re all going to go nuts.
“Many of the speculator class will move from flip that house to flip that burger.”
Nope. The illegal aliens have that market cornered.
We haven't had our first quarter of negative growth yet. Certainly, this quarter will be. Unemployment is still only 6%. Gas and food prices are falling, and inflation is starting to get in check. Interest rates are declining. If we can loosen up the credit markets, it is still possible to avoid a technical recession. Falling stock market and housing values are hurting people, big time. But for the sharp investor that still has some cash, this is a HUGE opportunity. Great time to buy a house and start getting some positions in the market. I would have started with the DOW at 10,600. But now is even better.
I agree loosening the credit markets a bit is one of the keys.
But not as loose as we were in the 90’s and earlier in this decade.
I think that those with cash aren’t investing too much right now It seems to me the mattress is getting all the cash.
In plain old CDs at the highest rate of interest I could get. That might not work for everyone but I lead a very simple life and have no debt. I don’t travel a lot, don’t eat out much, etc.
A good friend of mine lost $80K a few days ago when the stock market plunged. She was at a funeral out of town and her broker couldn’t get ahold of her so they sold her portfolio out from under her. Something to do with margins. As I said, I don’t know enough about the stock market to discuss it intelligently, much less understand how to invest in it. So I stay away.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.