There is no villian . Just individuals and lenders (and those who buy their mortgages) making stupid decisions. The only villian to the extent there is one is the appraiser and or Realtor.
Hmmm, interesting..but I was aware of what was going on..so..doesn't that make me a co-conspirator? And what about the people who took a loan out that they knew would change one day...Doesn't that make them a co-conspirator? Everybody had to sign on to this "transaction."
Upon reflection, I'd be inclined to agree. The villains are the people who knew they were doing wrong.
When I sold my home in 2004, this is how it went down...I sold my home for almost double than what it was worth (we all knew that)...
Sorry Hildy, you are one of the villains. (Not that I would have done anything different! I was hoping to do precisely the same thing when my son reaches his majority, and get the heck out of California...)
When I questioned how it would appraise that high, the realtor told me that it was his college friend who was the appraiser...
Both the realtor and the appraiser are co-conspirator villains.
the people who bought it got a stupid loan in order to live in the home they wanted to live in, not the one they could afford...
Ultimately the people who set the price are the buyers, they bought more than they could afford, with he ope of ultimately sticking it to someone else when the final bill comes due. They're villains, too.
The bank? They're left holding the bad loan...
Villains. They made a loan they knew was going to go bad from the get-go. That's not a very responsible thing to do.
OTOH...
Hildy maximized the cash she got.
The realtor maximized his commission
The appraiser maximized his business volume
The buyers got a place to live at a price they agreed to
The bank managed to make some interest
Everybody got out more than they put in.
Who's the villain? If everyone wins a little or a lot is there really a villain?
No villain ? Are you joking ?
There were fraudulent appraisers, mortgage brokers pushing up income on no-doc loans, banks who gave loans w/o verification, IBs that securetized the loans and sold them to investors as something other than they were, ratings agencies that gave AAA ratings to these securities so the IBs could sell them, brokerages who knowingly sold the crap to their customers... All of whom should know that if a borrower does NOT HAVE THE INCOME, they CAN’T PAY IT BACK.
It was a Ponzi scheme and they all knew it. In the meantime they all made huge fees off each step of the process.
Get real.
“The only villian to the extent there is one is the appraiser and or Realtor.”
Nope the borrower for shear stupidity. The appraiser and realtor made out.