Quote
happyorb
Quick question, are you a home owner? Have you been through the foul fucking wasteland that is the mortgage industry? I know when I bought my place, I got screwed over pretty good even though I thought I did lots of research. When I got to my closing, basically they changed around most of what we had agreed upon or forgot to mention some things. Which at the time seemed like small things, and the threat was that if I walked out on the new shady deal I was getting everything fell through. I was out the place I wanted, I was out about 5k in fees, and I was out the hundreds of hours I had put into getting this deal put together. I was told all sorts of things by people who were supposed to be looking out for me(My Mortgage Broker and Lawyer). Now I'm paying 550 more a month then I bargained on, luckily I have a good job and I can make my payments every month, but to a lot of other people it's a deal breaker and they get foreclosed on. So before you get on your high horse and start chanting fuck the poor slobs who got conned by the incredibly corrupt Mortgage industry, maybe you should take off your black and white glasses.
P.S. I also don't believe that shit about people being delinquent on the first payment quote. It's people being conned into getting an ARM and then when their 2-5 years up having their Mortgage double on them that's doing the most damage.
None. While I'm not saying the mortgage industry is blame free here (see item #1 about loaning money to people who can't repay you), don't borrow money if you don't understand the terms. I make substantially more than median income and I don't own a house. And if you want to know why, I'll say it simply - I can't afford one. By that I mean, I'd be significantly altering my lifestyle to afford a house right now. More importantly, it'd significantly impair my annual returns by locking up my money in a more or less an investment that simply moves with inflation. And there are better ways to do it than going out, putting less than 20% down and getting an adjustable mortgage. I look at a house valued at $500,000 and I say "Wow, I don't have that much money." And so you know what? I haven't bought one.
What does that tell you? I should feel sorry for people who are living above the means I sanction for myself and cannot afford to do so? Maybe I should feel bad for people who drive BMW's and can't make their payments? Or I should feel sorry for people who have maxed out their credit cards on trips to Hawaii when I haven't taken a vacation in like 5 years?
Furthermore, getting anything other than a fixed mortgage is not very bright. You're banking on your home value going up, year after year after year. It just doesn't happen. I don't trade on a margin either, because I'm well aware that the deck is stacked. The acid test is pretty simple. If you had zero income for 4 months, would you be late on your mortgage payment? If the answer to that question is yes, you can't afford it. If interest rates doubled, would you default? If the answer to that question is yes, you have the wrong loan. These are things I know not because I'm a professional realtor or because I've bought and sold houses my entire life or because I have a masters in finance. Its just common sense. And if I was going to take out a 30 year loan that'd compromise 3 or 4 times my net worth, you bet your ass I'd do the homework first.
