Posted on 03/10/2010 4:41:55 PM PST by Kartographer
Jose and Anna Tolentino moved into their Novato condo in August 2005, two days before Jose, a Navy reservist, shipped out to Kuwait.
"I was happy to have my wife in such a nice place while I was away," he said.
But now, with the condo worth about half the $425,000 they paid, his attitude has changed.
"I don't want to keep on paying when the house will never go back up to its value," he said. "It's better to cut our losses, get out of there and go rent."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
geez, complete with a flag. walking away from your commitments is so patriotic.
>>”While we’re certainly not encouraging this, if the numbers were to grow substantially, it would provide leverage to get servicers to be more proactive in offering modifications, particularly principal-balance reductions.”<<
Hey, how about reducing MY principal? What a fool I was, when I:
* Bought a house I could afford
* Paid as promised (actually better, since I overpay to reduce principal faster)
* Saw it as a place to live, not an investment. I never took a dime of equity out.
I am not saying these all apply for the instant case, but heck, why don’t I qualify for principal reduction?
Answer: Liberalism rewards bad decisions and punishes (or ignores) good ones. It this cultivates those bad decisions, thus turning them into good ones (from an outcome perspective).
>> “It’s better to cut our losses, get out of there and go rent.”
The same argument could be made for bailing on any commitment.
In before “it’s the greedy bank’s fault for loaning to a naval reservist who didn’t know what he was doing and had to do it fast because he was shipping out” crowd.
The same argument could be made for bailing on any commitment.
Bailing out of a marriage to rent prostitutes. Morally the same.
Every person that does this puts everyone else a little more “under water”. It’s dog eat dog in America though and Americans are always gonna take care of numero uno. that’s how we roll.
Why do we continue to make our car payments when just about every car on the road is “under water”?
I’ve never even been in a home worth a half million dollars. I wonder what they look like inside.
livin’ the new American dream
no mortgage payment, no recourse by the lender, no worries
So, in other words, they bought a house that they could only afford if they didn't have kids and now are using its value to renig on their promise to pay. Also, isn't it "special" that they can afford to make the payment, but have decided not to since last summer, while continuing to live in the house. What honorable folk.
But now, with the condo worth about half the $425,000 they paid, his attitude has changed.
"I don't want to keep on paying when the house will never go back up to its value," he said. "It's better to cut our losses, get out of there and go rent."
This guy buys the condo for $425,000 so his wife has a nice place to live while he's away, serving his country.
So now that the value has decreased it isn't such a nice place to live anymore?
He purchased the condo at an agreed price, interest and terms to provide a nice place for his family to live. I have serious doubts he had a clause giving an option to back out if the value declined.
Does this jerk complain about making car payments on a car that isn't worth as much as when he first bought it?
I'd expect someone who thinks this is the way it's done, that this is the way America became the greatest, wealthiest nation on the planet, to flame the bejezzus out of me when I say things like, "free markets cannot function without an informed moral conscience of its participants." That would imply things like "rule of law," "sanctity of contract," and "trustworthiness.""
dog-eat-dog is for animals -- in fact, I'm not sure even dogs do it. If you want to ruin an economy for good, teach people that it's OK to fail to honor their commitments. It works every time. It's working again.
Good question.
You could say that also about a dress bought on a credit card. “I decided after wearing it once that the dress made me look fat. Why should I pay for it when it has no value to me now?”
“free markets cannot function without an informed moral conscience of its participants.” That would imply things like “rule of law,” “sanctity of contract,” and “trustworthiness.”
AMEN TO YOU!
There's your problem. You weren't running up your cards on the anticipation of cash-out refi and you weren't sending dollars to China so that they could turn around and finance our federal debt with them.
face it man, western civilization is a notoriously self centered culture with America being particularly guilty. It happens at all levels of the SEC spectrum too. You can’t expect the middle class to stand by on a sinking ship while the upper class steals all the life rafts. It is every man for himself and it always has been.
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