The Economy

[EdRyder]

Yes.

They also decided to purchase big screen TVs and boats and a number of other things.

And while I understand that people were getting scammed in some instances, you generally can't be involved in a scam without buying into it yourself beforehand. People should be responsible enough to know how much home they can afford on their income. And many people were, and thought they were getting a great deal, and didn't think it through, and now they're suffering for it. Granted, you really need to assess these things on a case by case basis, but in general, the issues we face now are stemming from irresponsible personal financial decisions.

Nothing can be further from the truth.
The situation clearly goes beyond a few individuals who made irresponsible financial decisions.You cant obsolve the lenders of fault.Let me propose a hypothetical:Lets say three borrowers defualt on their home loans on the same block.You just lowered the value of the entire area.Now the bank owns those homes but when they attempt to sell them they have to take a loss.
It all goes beyond the scope of what individuals didnt think through.The consumer didnt create a subprime crisis by buying plasma tv's.As a matter of fact the consumer came out on top when you consider this is the perfect time to buy a home now.Its the worst time to sell a home.

 

[The Guard]

Nothing can be further from the truth. The situation clearly goes beyond a few individuals who made irresponsible financial decisions.

So you think that personal financing decisions didn't have anything (a lot) to do with the current crisis? I don't recall indicating anything about a "few". Obviously many people made bad financial decisions.

You cant obsolve the lenders of fault.

I'm not. But the lenders cannot have any fault for the issues we are facing now if the borrowers don't borrow. Just like drug dealers cannot be responsible for widespread addiction if people don't buy their drugs.

Let me propose a hypothetical:Lets say three borrowers defualt on their home loans on the same block.You just lowered the value of the entire area.Now the bank owns those homes but when they attempt to sell them they have to take a loss.

Right, but why did the borrowers default on their home loans?

It all goes beyond the scope of what individuals didnt think through.

True. It would appear that lenders didn't think it through either.

The consumer didnt create a subprime crisis by buying plasma tv's.

You're right. The consumer helped to create it by buying everything except what they could reasonably afford.

As a matter of fact the consumer came out on top when you consider this is the perfect time to buy a home now.Its the worst time to sell a home.

Consumers in general came out on top. Consumers who lost their homes? Not so much.

 

[Figs]

All I know is I worked in the mortage industry for three years starting around 2003/2004 with a subprime lender which will not be named.

A lot of the blame goes to the greedy ass brokers, they lie to people telling them that they can afford these homes and on our end(the lenders) as long as they came up with the proper documentation and income to support the mortage our Underwriters would sign off on the conditions and the loan would be good to go.

What they need to do is make it 2-5x harder to become a broker. The process is so damn easy that it's just not right because of all the greedy, shady scumbags I had to work with over the phone.

Another thing that killed the home market was those damn interest only rates.

Not to mention another problem I noticed with the brokers I had to deal with, they were usually Hispanic and the people that went through them to get a loan were also Hispanic. Most of them didn't speak English, whenever I had to call on reference letters to verify their work(according to that area in CA which I won't name every hispanice out their has their own house cleaning service) I would need a co worker to talk to the references in Spanish.

I believe it was a lot to do with the brokers taking advantage of these people because once the loan was funded the Brokers got their cut/commission and it was out of their hands.

I do realize people should have the smarts to know if they can or can't afford a home loan regardless what the broker is telling them but that's why I feel those non english speakers were getting played. That and the interest only loans tricked a lot of people and screwed them over in the long run.

 

[EdRyder]

^ Funny,theres talk now of making the brokers private listings database open to the public.And the brokers are fighting that notion with the claim that average person doesn't have to be educated and ethical..I tend to agree,but I also agree they need to make an extra effort to regain their ethics.I know plenty of somewhat shady brokers,.They make side deals with contractors, etc. But Ive never known any that would even take you to a home without checking out if you could get a loan first.

 

[Figs]

^ Funny,theres talk now of making the brokers private listings database open to the public.And the brokers are fighting that notion with the claim that average person doesn't have to be educated and ethical..I tend to agree,but I also agree they need to make an extra effort to regain their ethics.I know plenty of somewhat shady brokers,.They make side deals with contractors, etc. But Ive never known any that would even take you to a home without checking out if you could get a loan first.

I think they should make it open to the public. The ones fighting against it are most likely the shady ones that have something to lose.

I lost count of how many forged and faked documents were faxed over to me in those three years. I would email or call them back up telling the morons basically "WTF are you doing?"

They would always have some dumb excuse like "Sorry, I sent the wrong thing". When you can clearly tell they used whiteout then retyped it with a typewriter then photocopied it, me(account manager) or especially the Underwriters are sure as hell Not going to sign off on those conditions.

 

[EdRyder]

^ Well what they lose is the advantage.In all reality this is like the one profession in the world where they make tens of thousands of dollars on a sale but never really "do" anything.It could be argued they broker the deal on the buyers behalf so that get the best possible deal in the contract.But for sale by owner proves otherwise.People can do all the work themselves.And still come out with an actual contract that the sellers must abide by.The idea that they have some connect at the bank to get you the best loan rate is nonsense,especially now.

 

[Figs]

I think it's for the peoples best interest that they educate themselves on how the home loans system works so they can sell or buy without having to go to a broker. Their fees can be ridiculous.

I'm glad my gf and I got the experience in that field that we did, so when were ready to buy our first home we'll know the ins and outs of it all.

 

[Darthphere]

FAIR TAX.

 

[SuBe]

FAIR TAX.

YAY FAIRTAX!