A bit small, but this just leaves me shaking my head...
How is it Constitutional for the Federal Government to "bail out" one set of homeowners like are described in this story at the expense of we people who are responsible homeowners??
I have a very difficult time feeling sorry for people like the Andersons, or anyone else who agreed to a mortgage on these terms, and is now simply walking away.
God save us from greedy people like the Andersons, as well as a Democratic Congress who wants to help prop them up....
These people were fools....there is an old saw about fools and their money.
What made them think they could buy a home and then simply flip it for a neat 25% profit (~150K) just weeks later?
Did they think everyone else was just dumb?
Am I understanding this correctly, they bought a NEW house at the height of the housing boom expecting to sell it at a handsome profit? That just doesn’t make sense.
I bought a piece of property in the Northwest in 2002 and built a house on it in 2005. A vacation/retirement house.
I got a 4.75% fixed loan for the property and paid for the construction mostly with savings and out-of-pocket. It’s small, but nice. Not extravagant and sprawling. It was something I could AFFORD.
I’m not patting myself on the back, here, for being smarter than the average bear. Honestly I made plenty of stupid mistakes, but speculating and gambling that I’d be able to make a killing in the housing market was not one of them.
This is a small parable to explain why this country will fall. Not because of muslim terrorists, or other external threats, but because we read this article and feel sorry for these people.
It's plain old insane that Americans are subject to prices created by speculation for the basics of life such as a home and gasoline.
Of course, the type of house they were dealing in was hardily a typical home. But, still the concept has a trickle down impact that affected everyone. I can't say I have sympathy for folks like this. I'll save that for the folks pushed into higher mortgages for a basic home because of this speculative insanity.
Let's hope no one corners the market on water.
I bought some stock when it was high...hoping it would go higher but it went lower and I lost money. Can somebody bail me out? It’s really not fair !
You cold, cruel SOB. These poor retirees were just trying to improve their nest egg. Now you want to hold them accountable for their own personal investment decisions? How can you be so heartless? It’s our obligation to pay more taxes to help out these hapless souls. I know I am undertaxed and am only more than happy to fork over more money to prevent more of these sad cases from going to foreclosure. We should all do our patriotic duty and send more money to Washington.
Capitalism implies a profit motive, which is another word for greed. Let them succeed if they can, but if they fail, then that's on them.
The real greed is on Wall Street, where trillions of dollars of securities where sold on the foolish notion that markets will always go up, never down, and risk is spread out so widely as to be inconsiderable. All false, but because they had such powerful allies in Washington then they where bailed out, at our expense.
We all said "let them fail", but that's not what our overlords in Washington wanted.
The government is not supposed to save people from themselves. Who would be so stupid to buy an investment property in an undeveloped area, where there are no jobs?
What makes him think he's not speculating that the bottom has been reached. The article says the glut of empty lots and partially built homes there will depress prices for "months if not years". Buying a grossly-overprised home at a 20% discount in a falling market is not, IMHO, a good practice.
These were speculators. they took risk in order to make a profit. They lost their gamble. There is always risk associated with this sort of transaction. Although Wall Street is working very hard to eliminate risk, it won’t work.
Greedy speculator gets burned.
“How is it Constitutional for the Federal Government to “bail out” one set of homeowners like are described in this story at the expense of we people who are responsible homeowners??”
It isn’t.
Some folks are now more equal than others.