Comments on: House Of Cards: The Mortgage Mess

60 Minutes Reports On How The Subprime Loan Crisis Is Shaking Markets Worldwide

[nookster57]

But Matt and Stephanie Valdez say they knew exactly what they were doing when they bought a small two-bedroom for $355,000. "The house keeps going down, payments keep going up. Where''s the logic in that? If the value is going up. But we''re not going anywhere. The price or the value is going down. It makes no sense because we will never be able to refinance and get a lower payment. There''s no way," Stephanie Valdez replies."

It''s the mentality of these types of people that are a part of the problem. When did the American Dream of owning a home become about turning a profit? That''s what gambling and the stock market is for. I always thought the purpose of home ownership was to have a roof over your head, raise a family in and it was a long term investment, a necessity, not a short term investment and whether or not you could turn a profit?

[tdunne2]

Thank you jrhtrader -

Now I understand. Instead of keeping the homeowners paying high interest on a higher loan, they would rather write off the loss, and take a big fat tax deduction? Nice!

[lizzi27-2009]

what do you do when your mortgage lender won''t allow you to sell your house. that is what we went through - we had sold our house and had enough money to pay off the loan on the house, but our lender wouldn''t take the money because the last time we had re-financed there was a little clause that stated that there "may" be a pre-payment penalty. Our mortgage lender held us to that pre-payment penalty, so for $7,000 we lost our home to foreclosure.

[whatithink-2009]

MensaBrite,

I know it is easy to bash illegal immigrants as they are very vulnerable and easy target. However, much of what is happening today has very little to do with illegal immigrants and more to do with legal greed. The ugly truth about inflation is that without the slave wages being paid to illegals how much we would need to pay for normal goods would be even higher. It is not that i support illegal immigrants, I just think it is too easy to point the finger at those below us (in society''s pecking order) instead of making those above us also accountible.

[mensabrite-2009]

Another dirty little secret is that while interest rates have increased, PROPERTY TAXES have doubled primarily because of the social, medical and educational expenses caused by the multi-millions of illegal immigrants who have bankrupted us all!

[mom_o_truth]

smithbjs1 welcome to Manhattan.

[mom_o_truth]

FBI where are you ? THIS IS A NATIONAL EPIDEMIC. It took Japan over 15 years to recover somehow as they lowered their lending rate all the way down to almost ZERO to solve their problem. Japanese housewives were selling their gold reserves at the lowest prices to survive.
Our insightful former FED chairman saw this coming before he left years ago, but nothing was done to salvage the problem before it reached this epidemic proportions. Late as usual the FED is now cutting interest rates but this is just a drop of water on a hot stone. Recall Michael Milken the junk bond king and others. Our current global crisis was caused by big brokerage houses and big banks as obvious from this documentation. Only our next government may be able to salvage the American DREAM.

[dlb0115]

The true victims of the mortgage crises are not those who signed on the dotted line and entered into a mortgage without educating themselves or understanding what they were doing; nor is it the mortgage companies and investors-they choose to play in an arena where sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

The true victims are those of us who understand morgtages, did out homework, and paying our bills and maintaining our homes, while our neighborhoods fill with foreclosed and vacant homes, rentals. Our quality of life, neighborhoods and property values are collapsing around us!

[tjanusz1]

I am a former senior loan officer for a regional mortgage bank. It made me sick to see how we took advantage of consumers for thousands of extra dollars.

As my "penance" I wrote a book entitled Kickback: Confessions of a Mortgage Salesman. In my book, I list the Top 10 Mistakes Mortgage Borrowers Make :



1. Not knowing which mortgage fees the borrower can -- and cannot -- negotiate.



2. Choosing and trusting the first loan officer the borrower interviews.



3. Using an interest-only or "payment option" adjustable-rate loan primarily to qualify for a more expensive house than the borrower could normally afford.



4. Thinking the interest rate is always the main thing.



5. Not comparing the final fees listed on the closing documents to the up-front estimates to avoid the lender "packing the loan" with added-on fees without the borrower''s knowledge.



6. Not knowing if the mortgage has a pre-payment penalty - until it''s too late.



7. Thinking that renting is always just throwing money away.



8. The borrower does not know if he or she is paying a back-end yield spread or Service Release Premium.



9. Paying for mortgage life insurance, credit insurance or other expensive lender add-ons to increase the amount of kickbacks the lender can receive from various vendors.



10. Paying hundreds of dollars to have a company set up a biweekly mortgage payment plan, something the borrower can generally do for herself or himself -- for free.

[tjanusz1]

I am a former senior loan officer for a regional mortgage bank. It made me sick to see how we took advantage of consumers for thousands of extra dollars.

As my "penance" I wrote a book entitled Kickback: Confessions of a Mortgage Salesman. In my book, I list the Top 10 Mistakes Mortgage Borrowers Make :



1. Not knowing which mortgage fees the borrower can -- and cannot -- negotiate.



2. Choosing and trusting the first loan officer the borrower interviews.



3. Using an interest-only or "payment option" adjustable-rate loan primarily to qualify for a more expensive house than the borrower could normally afford.



4. Thinking the interest rate is always the main thing.



5. Not comparing the final fees listed on the closing documents to the up-front estimates to avoid the lender "packing the loan" with added-on fees without the borrower''s knowledge.



6. Not knowing if the mortgage has a pre-payment penalty - until it''s too late.



7. Thinking that renting is always just throwing money away.



8. The borrower does not know if he or she is paying a back-end yield spread or Service Release Premium.



9. Paying for mortgage life insurance, credit insurance or other expensive lender add-ons to increase the amount of kickbacks the lender can receive from various vendors.



10. Paying hundreds of dollars to have a company set up a biweekly mortgage payment plan, something the borrower can generally do for herself or himself -- for free.

[smithbjs1]

derek 2013.
Are you really that naive, will suffer little consequences? We lost our home !!! That cash, we invested right back into the home.
What happens to you if you lose your job,your investments or your business etc. It could very well happen with the way the economomy is going. In my area alone in the last week over 600 were let go including not just blue collar jobs but white collar to. Another 225 were laid off from a plant, other plants have closed or are closing. They want to take a prime peice of property and turn into more retail stores. We don''t need another walmart.
My husband has been depoloyed and is fighting for the rights of people like you. Who have absolutely no understanding of what H** we have been through trying to hang onto our home. You come to a point when you are tired of fighting.Could you afford triple or quadruple your current payment? Answer me another, seniors who lived in thier home for many years are losing thier homes at an alarming rate. Is it okay for these companies to do this to those who have worked hard all thier lives and are a few years away from paying off the home?Maybe they refied to repair the home. Greed is the name of the game the compainies played and they are losing. Serves them right. "It is called predatory lending practices" and they are guilty!

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by gjnerak at 12:53 AM

Here''s something else. In my area, "investors" who were from Southern California came in and bought up hundreds of homes at the price people were used to paying. Then they turned around and tried to sell those houses at nearly triple if not more the value. It was the most sickening thing I had ever seen. Now, they are going bankrupt, and I bloody well don''t care.

[rudy654-2009]

This was a crime plain and simple. And if there are no laws against this kind of fraud, then there should be. Because it is nothing less than snake oil salesman in the form of bankers. I don''t feel any sympathy for the bankers, I can only wonder where they got the idea they can get away with this. They need to go to prison for the rest of their natural lives.

[cutebig]

It just seems odd to lose money to prove they shouldn''''t have entered the contract and receive nothing as opposed to extending their current payment arrangements before the interest adjusted. Even if the home sells at auction for the fair market value, the payments would be far below the previous payment amount with the original purchaser before the interest adjusted because the house was worth more at the time when they entered into the I/O agreement.
=================
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[gjnerak-2009]

It frankly pisses me off - to have the typical mortgage and tax paying citizen foot the bill for another greed induced profiteering scheme which will be covered by those of us that certainly knew and know better. I''m sure we will be asked to mop up the mess (per usual). Must be a new American Dream. Thanks bunches.

[mrricknaz]

All I would like to know is how home prices when up 100,000$ over night for no reason. Realtors and appraiser caused a lot of this problem with their over inflated values. They should be investigated on how they price homes. R.Anderson Flagstaff,Az.

[jvniccum]

Pathic. As I recall 1 and 1 make 2. If you do not understand what you are signing - DON''T. (my friends made me drink) If you signed a contract and walk away lower other home''s you have no integrity, morales or ethics. Don''t pee on my leg and tell me it''s raining. I don''t know why my biscuts don''t turn out - I bake them the same way everytime. Get a mit and play in the game (idiots). (same for wall street)

[jvniccum]

Pathic. As I recall 1 and 1 make 2. If you do not understand what you are signing - DON''T. (my friends made me drink) If you signed a contract and walk away lower other home''s you have no integrity, morales or ethics. Don''t pee on my leg and tell me it''s raining. I don''t know why my biscuts don''t turn out - I bake them the same way everytime. Get a mit and play in the game (idiots). (same for wall street)

[mrricknaz]

All I would like to know is how home prices when up 100,000$ over night for no reason. Realtors and appraiser caused a lot of this problem with their over inflated values. They should be investigated on how they price homes. R.Anderson Flagstaff,Az.

[mrricknaz]

All I would like to know is how home prices when up 100,000$ over night for no reason. Realtors and appraiser caused a lot of this problem with their over inflated values. They should be investigated on how they price homes. R.Anderson Flagstaff,Az.