Watching while Rome Burns
We can't condone irresponsible lending, borrowing
By Kelvin Wade | | November 20, 2008 20:19
I read a newspaper story this week on our fair city's dire financial situation, asking if we were the next Vallejo. This community, like ones up and down the state and in most of the country, has been hit hard by the mortgage meltdown. I, like many of you, am feeling the pinch.
When you buy your first home, it's an amazing, proud feeling. It's the fulfillment of the American Dream in a lot of respects. Owning your own property gives you a stake in your community. You're concerned about the other homes on your block, the area schools, crime, jobs, etc.
When I purchased my house four and a half years ago, homes sold in the blink of an eye. Soon selling a house was like trying to sell a winter coat to an Arizonan. It was dismaying watching owners on my block dropping the prices of their homes in order to sell them. Then the foreclosures began.
An unholy alliance between greedy lenders and desperate unqualified home buyers had resulted in neighborhoods rotting from within.
When my girlfriend and I had our home appraised earlier this year, we were horrified to find that our house was now worth half what we paid for it. I remember sitting there thinking there'd been a typo or something. Perhaps the appraiser had hit the crack pipe before tallying the numbers. But no such luck.
Those neighbors of ours, now long moved out, had contributed to turning the American dream into the American nightmare.
Along came the federal government passing a mortgage bill over the summer. And then they passed the massive $700 billion bank bailout.
More bailouts and additional mortgage help for those struggling against foreclosure are on the way.
About those pending bailouts, Thomas Friedman wrote in the New York Times this week, 'No, it's not fair. But fairness is not on the menu anymore. We will deal with that later. Right now we need to throw everything we can at this problem to make sure this recession doesn't spiral down into a depression.'
I get how grave the situation is for all of us. But forget fairness? The irresponsible lenders and the irresponsible borrowers just have to sit tight while the Feds ride to the rescue with sacks full of our money to bail them out.
Meanwhile, people like you and me, people whose properties are worthless but who are still faithfully making mortgage payments have nothing coming.
The experts say the bailout helps everyone. And yes, stabilizing the housing market will help prices rise and help out people like me.
But are we supposed to just ignore the message this sends? Are we to pretend it didn't happen? Are we supposed to pretend that we're not rewarding and incentivizing irresponsible behavior?
I understand how massive a hole we're in as a nation.
But it's wrong and really sad that the fastest way for folks like me to get a little relief is to stop paying our mortgage. Peace.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
At the DR Blog, you will find my take on a local pastor who had trouble suppressing his indignation at Obama's election.
When you buy your first home, it's an amazing, proud feeling. It's the fulfillment of the American Dream in a lot of respects. Owning your own property gives you a stake in your community. You're concerned about the other homes on your block, the area schools, crime, jobs, etc.
When I purchased my house four and a half years ago, homes sold in the blink of an eye. Soon selling a house was like trying to sell a winter coat to an Arizonan. It was dismaying watching owners on my block dropping the prices of their homes in order to sell them. Then the foreclosures began.
An unholy alliance between greedy lenders and desperate unqualified home buyers had resulted in neighborhoods rotting from within.
When my girlfriend and I had our home appraised earlier this year, we were horrified to find that our house was now worth half what we paid for it. I remember sitting there thinking there'd been a typo or something. Perhaps the appraiser had hit the crack pipe before tallying the numbers. But no such luck.
Those neighbors of ours, now long moved out, had contributed to turning the American dream into the American nightmare.
Along came the federal government passing a mortgage bill over the summer. And then they passed the massive $700 billion bank bailout.
More bailouts and additional mortgage help for those struggling against foreclosure are on the way.
About those pending bailouts, Thomas Friedman wrote in the New York Times this week, 'No, it's not fair. But fairness is not on the menu anymore. We will deal with that later. Right now we need to throw everything we can at this problem to make sure this recession doesn't spiral down into a depression.'
I get how grave the situation is for all of us. But forget fairness? The irresponsible lenders and the irresponsible borrowers just have to sit tight while the Feds ride to the rescue with sacks full of our money to bail them out.
Meanwhile, people like you and me, people whose properties are worthless but who are still faithfully making mortgage payments have nothing coming.
The experts say the bailout helps everyone. And yes, stabilizing the housing market will help prices rise and help out people like me.
But are we supposed to just ignore the message this sends? Are we to pretend it didn't happen? Are we supposed to pretend that we're not rewarding and incentivizing irresponsible behavior?
I understand how massive a hole we're in as a nation.
But it's wrong and really sad that the fastest way for folks like me to get a little relief is to stop paying our mortgage. Peace.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
At the DR Blog, you will find my take on a local pastor who had trouble suppressing his indignation at Obama's election.
Comments