[SkaredShtles]

Ahhhahahahhaha - politicians are calling the public "stupid fvcking morons":

" On Capitol Hill, Democratic lawmakers took issue with Bush's stand-back approach and urged more direct action to protect homeowners who may not realize the pitfalls they face as their adjustable-rate mortgages reset with higher rates that push monthly payments up.

"Homeowners are being ripped off by brokers and lenders skilled at deceiving borrowers," said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd."

 

[RenegadeRick]

Ahhhahahahhaha - politicians are calling the public "stupid fvcking morons"

Like they didn't know that already. They bought 9/11 and they bought the WMD myth. Why wouldn't they buy the idea that they can get a million dollar home for only $600 a month?

 

[blue]

Like they didn't know that already. They bought 9/11 and they bought the WMD myth. Why wouldn't they buy the idea that they can get a million dollar home for only $600 a month?

I was getting mortgage offers and I make under $20k a year (and a full-time student, and 19 y/o). It was ridiculous.

 

[SkaredShtles]

I was getting mortgage offers and I make under $20k a year (and a full-time student, and 19 y/o). It was ridiculous.

You sir, are sub prime.

 

[LordOpie]

There's a transformer joke in there waiting to reveal itself.

 

[SkaredShtles]

There's a transformer joke in there waiting to reveal itself.

I don't know what transformers are so you'll have to take it...

 

[LordOpie]

I don't know what transformers are so you'll have to take it...

I believe they convert worthless paper into gold.

 

[manimal]

yeah, my wife and i were wondering how some of my friends could afford these nice houses and new cars on the same salary i make....then we laughed when they told us they got a "great deal" on an interest only loan

 

[SkaredShtles]

yeah, my wife and i were wondering how some of my friends could afford these nice houses and new cars on the same salary i make....then we laughed when they told us they got a "great deal" on an interest only loan

Your friends are imbeciles?

 

[jimmydean]

My old roommate was all excited when he was approved for an interest only refi. His payments went down to $900 a moth from like $1300 and they cashed out what equity they currently had to buy a bunch of crap and pay off credit cards.

I told him he was an ass and he didn't understand why.

Anyone else seen Maxed Out? I liked it.

 

[SkaredShtles]

My old roommate was all excited when he was approved for an interest only refi. His payments went down to $900 a moth from like $1300 and they cashed out what equity they currently had to buy a bunch of crap and pay off credit cards.

Hey! Your old roommate is definitely an imbecile!

 

[DaveW]

Thank your lucky stars that interest rates in your country haven't done what the local ones have done or you would have gone into total meltdown.
Current local interest rates

I just came out of 2 years fixed on mine the rate went from 7.45 to 9.15%
That just takes another $260 a month out of my wallet.
No new camelbak this month I guess.

 

[valve bouncer]

Thank your lucky stars that interest rates in your country haven't done what the local ones have done or you would have gone into total meltdown.
Current local interest rates

I just came out of 2 years fixed on mine the rate went from 7.45 to 9.15%
That just takes another $260 a month out of my wallet.
No new camelbak this month I guess.

Of course this has also turbo-charged the NZ dollar so hopefully those imported bike parts are a little cheaper.
I think I pay 2.1% on my mortgage here.

 

[LordOpie]

Of course this has also turbo-charged the NZ dollar so hopefully those imported bike parts are a little cheaper.

That's the one thing people seem to forget... what the US economy is doing to currencies.

The US$ is dropping in value, so maybe we'll start exporting more goods and importing more tourists?

I know that doesn't help towns that lack such production, but I bet the ski resorts will do well this year with big foreign money.

 

[valve bouncer]

That's the one thing people seem to forget... what the US economy is doing to currencies.

The US$ is dropping in value, so maybe we'll start exporting more goods and importing more tourists?

I know that doesn't help towns that lack such production, but I bet the ski resorts will do well this year with big foreign money.

It's not just the US dollar, the yen is weak too but the "soccer mom" type investors in Japan have trillions of yen in savings and they're increasingly eager to move it off-shore as interest rates are so low in Japan. I've heard that NZ was a favoured place where interest rates were high, the economy stable but the currency weak so Japanese money flloded into NZ boosting the rates.

You guys should be getting a flood of tourists (anecdotal evidence suggests Japan is getting a big influx of cashed up Euros) but something is keeping them away. Internet scuttlebut suggests it might be the War on Terror being interpreted as giving everyone foreign a hard time that's keeping people away.

 

[DaveW]

That's the one thing people seem to forget... what the US economy is doing to currencies.

The US$ is dropping in value, so maybe we'll start exporting more goods and importing more tourists?

I know that doesn't help towns that lack such production, but I bet the ski resorts will do well this year with big foreign money.

Maybe, but a lot of tourists are put off by the rather unpleasant way the US immigration service behaves to forigners.
the average visa application takes 3 months now and several mates who have had to go the the states on business reported that they were treated with barely concealed hostility by airport boarder control.

*shrugs* If you want to go on holiday go some where that you are welcomed.

 

[Westy]

Maybe, but a lot of tourists are put off by the rather unpleasant way the US immigration service behaves to forigners.
the average visa application takes 3 months now and several mates who have had to go the the states on business reported that they were treated with barely concealed hostility by airport boarder control.

*shrugs* If you want to go on holiday go some where that you are welcomed.

If it makes them feel better Customs treats Americans just as bad. Just folks with a power complex and a ****ty job.

 

[binary visions]

If it makes them feel better Customs treats Americans just as bad. Just folks with a power complex and a ****ty job.

I almost strangled one of the customs people coming back from Costa Rica. What a bunch of assholes.

 

[jimmydean]

I almost strangled one of the customs people coming back from Costa Rica. What a bunch of assholes.

That's what I missed about my journeys in the military. Customs was a paper form that you put "Nothing to claim" on and you were good to go. You didn't have to deal with the actual assholes, it was nice.

 

[skatetokil]

All the customs guys I dealt with were super nice, and I most recently returned from a communist country with a travel ban and another that is a major drug transshipment point.

The guy was all "Welcome home sir" with a tear in his eye.

 

[DaveW]

All the customs guys I dealt with were super nice, and I most recently returned from a communist country with a travel ban and another that is a major drug transshipment point.

The guy was all "Welcome home sir" with a tear in his eye.

Probably you were the mule from the cartel he gets a cut from........

 

[skatetokil]

thats what it says when you scan my passport.

 

[SkaredShtles]

I sure hope this foreclosure goodness spreads to the resort markets around here. I'd like to pick up a second pad for cheap in the mountains.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070906/bs_nm/usa_housing_delinquencies_dc_2;_ylt=AjTk5k3FP5egVuKnjDW2E70E1vAI

 

[DaveW]

sheesh go the me me me generation.....what ever happened to the greater good!

 

[SkaredShtles]

sheesh go the me me me generation.....what ever happened to the greater good!

We've been waiting around a long time for the resort market to settle down. If it tanks there will probably be some pretty nice deals to be had...

 

[skatetokil]

I sure hope this foreclosure goodness spreads to the resort markets around here. I'd like to pick up a second pad for cheap in the mountains.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070906/bs_nm/usa_housing_delinquencies_dc_2;_ylt=AjTk5k3FP5egVuKnjDW2E70E1vAI

stay the hell away from my pad in the mountains. we have guns.

 

[SkaredShtles]

stay the hell away from my pad in the mountains. we have guns.

They're not in the "mountains" over there on the east coast, are they? 'Cause you won't have to worry.

However - if the pad is in our mountains here and you're planning on defaulting on your mortgage.... it may be mine!!

 

[Westy]

sheesh go the me me me generation.....what ever happened to the greater good!

My heart breaks everytime some family loses their vacation home.

 

[SkaredShtles]

My heart breaks everytime some family loses their vacation home.

Now give me my cheap house in the mountains!

 

[ire]

I've been watching house prices in this area to see if my wife and I could pick up a house in forclosure on the cheap. Might as well profit from it. I feel bad for a lot of the people though, most didn't know/understand what they were getting into and they can't refinance with the current credit crunch. On a side, it amazes the ripple effect this is having...there was a good article on money.cnn.com about why the stock market is taking a huge hit from the subprime problem

 

[Secret Squirrel]

If you're enough of a 'tard to not do your homework about interest rates and mortgages....you get what you deserve when your interest only ARM spikes to 38%....

 

[Silver]

If you're enough of a 'tard to not do your homework about interest rates and mortgages....you get what you deserve when your interest only ARM spikes to 38%....

Another side effect is that a lot of people in Orange County have suddenly become a lot less smug. There are a ton of people here who worked in the mortgage business who are unemployed, and most of them got used to making lots of money for something that required comparatively little skill. It's almost like the gold rush just ended, and we've got a bunch of miners sitting around. Since a lot of them were crooks, or worked for crooks, or tried to run me over with their BMW or Hummer, it's hard to feel sorry for most of them.

 

[Echo]

Without a doubt the best benefit I got from my military service was my VA mortgage. Great interest rate from a major bank and pretty much automatic approval.

I didn't really know squat about mortgages when I bought my house, so I'm not gonna go calling people who get duped all kinds of names. It could have happened to me.

 

[ire]

If you're enough of a 'tard to not do your homework about interest rates and mortgages....you get what you deserve when your interest only ARM spikes to 38%

What about people who aren't intelligent enough to understand the mortgage they are being sold and, consequently, put their trust in the person selling it?

 

[Silver]

What about people who aren't intelligent enough to understand the mortgage they are being sold and, consequently, put their trust in the person selling it?

How about finding someone who you know who can help you before making the biggest financial commitment of your life?

The little bit of folk wisdom about "If it seems to good to be true..." comes to mind. Even the most retarded hillbilly knows that one.

(Did they deserve to get screwed over? Depends on individual cases. If you know someone who did, and they happen to vote Republican or Libertarian, then they did indeed deserve the shafting they got...They probably still would have gotten screwed voting Democrat, but at least they weren't ideologically committed to the idea.)

 

[fluff]

Seems to me that for every sucker getting screwed over there's got to be a least one avaricious bastard screwing them.

Anyone care to guess who I despise more?

 

[ire]

How about finding someone who you know who can help you before making the biggest financial commitment of your life?

The little bit of folk wisdom about "If it seems to good to be true..." comes to mind. Even the most retarded hillbilly knows that one.

(Did they deserve to get screwed over? Depends on individual cases. If you know someone who did, and they happen to vote Republican or Libertarian, then they did indeed deserve the shafting they got...They probably still would have gotten screwed voting Democrat, but at least they weren't ideologically committed to the idea.)

Some of these people weren't buying for the first time, they were refinancing. There are a lot of cases of people who had fixed 39 yr and were sold on ARMs by the broker. What you're saying about voting is like saying, I didn't vote for the fire department bond and my house burned down, so I get what I deserve.

 

[Silver]

Some of these people weren't buying for the first time, they were refinancing. There are a lot of cases of people who had fixed 39 yr and were sold ARMs by the broker. What you're saying about voting is like saying, I didn't vote for the fire department bond and my house burned down, so I get what I deserve.

Well, yeah, same thing. Have someone who knows his **** look over the paperwork before you sign. A lot of people are too stupid to do that. However, a lot of people were also greedy and got told what they wanted to hear. Just because you're stupid or ignorant doesn't mean that you can't be greedy at the same time.

I'm not saying that people who got screwed in this who voted Republican or Libertarian deserved it. I'm saying I don't feel sorry for them. After all, they voted for people who have a stated mission that regulation and oversight are bad things, and that the market will sort everything out.

 

[ire]

After all, they voted for people who have a stated mission that regulation and oversight are bad things, and that the market will sort everything out.

Yeah, trusting coporations/market to correct/regulate itself is plain stupid....the consumer gets hurt in the end.

 

[-BB-]

yeah, my wife and i were wondering how some of my friends could afford these nice houses and new cars on the same salary i make....then we laughed when they told us they got a "great deal" on an interest only loan

there is nothing wrong with an interest only loan... if you use it right.
If your values continue to appreciate, you do not run into a negative equity situation. Even if it doesnt (but stays at par) and you take the money you saved by getting the lower int-only loan and then invest it, at an average rate of return, you end up ahead of the game.

Also, it depends on if you got an adjustable or fixed int only, or how long your arm is. There were plenty of 10yr fixed int-only arms that are just fine for someone that does not plan on staying in the same place forever. Plus, most int-only products allow pre-pay, or over-payment to turn it into a conventional mtg.