April 25, 2008

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day


"One of the reasons that millions of families face foreclosure and/or the loss of their life savings is that the ideologues of homeownership continued to promote homeownership even when it was clear that buying a home would be financially detrimental."

- Dean Baker, April 2008

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ownership Society

Greeted as Liberators

Compassionate Conservative

Anonymous said...

As a loan officer am I suppose to tell the borrower they are making a big mistake? In the past I have often made hints and sometimes have told propestive borrowers they should wait.... Only to hear the client went with another lender.

Anonymous said...

"The fundamentals are sound"

-George Bush

"I am not a crook"

-Richard Nixon

"Orange Jaundice"

-Angelo Mozilo

Jail the two of them left standing Immediately.

Anonymous said...

And that these people let greed blind them to what they could afford...

Anonymous said...

The left was (and is) promoting it as much. The reason lenders started lending to anyone with a pulse was because the likes of ACORN were demanding lenders give minorities loans. Jesse Jackson was demonstrating in front of banks demanding it as well. Lenders said fine we'll lend to anyone.

Worked out really well.

Anonymous said...

Sorry

My bad

-George Bush

Anonymous said...

And they all slept soundly while Rome burned----

http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6327&ref=patrick.net

PAY ATTENTION Peeps...Your govt. is lying to you in the extreme!!!

Anonymous said...

Exactly!!

Not EVERYONE is meant to own a home!!!!! These people aren't owning anyway--they are merely renting from the bank!!

Anonymous said...

Crossing April the 24th off my calender now.

Anonymous said...

Home ownership is a great thing - when it is exactly that : OWNERSHIP (bought and paid for)

Anonymous said...

Laura Bush- our next president.

Anonymous said...

Do you want to blame Bush for the housing crash in the UK also??

The Community Reinvestment Act had more to do with this crash than Bush. What the hell is wrong with an ownership society...If you can afford it, it's better to own it.

Anonymous said...

The USA has devolved into a pathetic greedy mob of moochers checking their mailboxes everyday for that gubmint
"stimulus" welfare check.
The disgraced idiot of a President goes on national TV this morning to tell the unwashed masses that the checks are going out a week earlier than planned, giving the vulgar hoi polloi a false hope of prosperity.
Yeah, you desperate pieces of shit, call you creditors and hold them off for another week.
In short time, you'll realize that this measly sum has no impact as you slowly slide into the underclass, the new American majority.

Anonymous said...

Ownership society?

Talk about Republican propaganda by the truckload.

Kendufelsniffenspotzen

Anonymous said...

Who is this Dean Baker ?

Looks like there are a lot of people who are still not listening to him.

Anonymous said...

I know I've been harsh to Glenn Beck from time to time, but I think that he's found nirvana and deserves to be on HP's hall of fame.

That guy is punching every one and everything out there in a daily basis. It doesn't matter if it's GOP or DNC, Chinese or Arabs, Bush or Obama, he's taking no prisoners. Got hooked on his show.

Bravo Glenn, you finally saw the light and I know you read HP.

Meanwhile, Keith Olbermann has shifted to the hall of shame. K. Olbermann and Anderson Cooper are Obama's bitches now. Shame on you!

The only two I watch now are Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck; the rest stinks.

Anonymous said...

Noticed lately that on Swann's site there are several articles (and comments) where they show their total contempt for the people who's lives they have helped destroy.

They are actually laughing at people for being so stupid that they are angry when they find out their house price dropped.

Anonymous said...

"The left was (and is) promoting it as much. The reason lenders started lending to anyone with a pulse was because the likes of ACORN were demanding lenders give minorities loans. Jesse Jackson was demonstrating in front of banks demanding it as well. Lenders said fine we'll lend to anyone."

Yep. As much as I despise the big financial players (and I do), the truth is that they operate in a world where people have announced that they will hate banks no matter what they do.

In this sort of social environment, naked self interest makes a lot of sense. You end up as hated as you would have been anyway, but with significantly more money than if you had been honest.

Anonymous said...

"The left was (and is) promoting it as much. The reason lenders started lending to anyone with a pulse was because the likes of ACORN were demanding lenders give minorities loans. Jesse Jackson was demonstrating in front of banks demanding it as well. Lenders said fine we'll lend to anyone.

Worked out really well."

Agreed. The banking industry figured out a way to give the people what they wanted - good and hard - they love it rough. I'm not condoning same because in reality, this is a business where sometimes you are supposed to tell the customer "no" and "you are not right" but instead of telling these yokels to go "f" themselves, they gave them what they demanded and now both groups are getting what they deserve.

Smug Bastard

Anonymous said...

This is like when Sherlock Holmes steps in and says "Elementary my Dear Watson".

Anonymous said...

"As a loan officer am I suppose to tell the borrower they are making a big mistake?"

If you want to sleep at night, I'd say apply the golden rule. My brother makes car loans and flat-out refuses people all of the time. Making a little less, or getting a new job with an ethical firm is a lot easier than hating yourself.

Unfortunately, business ethics have vanished in our current climate of mass-produced commerce. It used to be your kids and your loan officer's kids played little league together. As anyone watching the housing run-up collapse can tell you, it's tough not to say anything when someone you know is screwing themselves over.

Anonymous said...

It is only better to own a house if the renting of the house would cover all potential costs of ownership over time. Otherwise, you are just paying for some bankers swimming pool at the cost of a millstone tied to your neck and the potential for economic calamity for your family. If you cannot buy it with cash, what are you thinking? Certainly you are not thinking of anything financially sound for yourself.

Anonymous said...

> What the hell is wrong with an ownership society.

Nothing. Owning property makes people more responsible and cautious, because they have something to loose. The mistake was, however, focusing on "homeownership" as if ownership of savings or other assets was less worth somehow.

> If you can afford it, it's better to own it.

Not always true - renting gives flexibility and is seldom more expensive over a short time. Right now, renting a home is even cheaper.

Anonymous said...

it's not the home ownership concept that is the issue, it's the taking on debt of 5-12x times your annual income that is the issue.

there would be no problem with encouraging home ownership if homes cost 2x median incomes

Anonymous said...

As a loan officer am I suppose to tell the borrower they are making a big mistake? In the past I have often made hints and sometimes have told propestive borrowers they should wait.... Only to hear the client went with another lender.

-----------------------------------

Yes you should. One of the best ideas I heard recently was that everyone in the mortgage industry, all the way down to the brokers, should have to keep a randomly selected percentage of the loans they are involved with on their books. The idea being that this would force banks and their representatives to ensure that every loan is one that they would be willing to keep on their balance sheet.

Anonymous said...

to anonymous, re the 'left' and minorities. Well you may have a point there from your point of view but since when have banks done anything except for profit? Certainly not for the good of their souls. And minorities haven't had clout for years, but business sure has. Our entire world is designed to make business 'at home' in any country, and to encourage the success of corporations, no matter how much they flim flam the public.

Mark my word, when this whole thing comes tumbling down and the investors of the world realize the US Financial structure has collectively taken everbody for a ride, they won't be blaming Jesse Jackson, because it was a much larger scheme than that.
To wit: Royal Bank of Scotland had to borrow 12 Billion pounds this week because of their writedowns.
But the RBS was also heavily involved in the ENRON hot air balloon both as investor and promoter....so think there might be something crooked in their basic outlook...and their ilk?

If it were all about mortgages we would not have had securitization of car loans, credit cards, commercial loans, pensions, municipal bonds, etc. The credit excess may have been pushed over the edge by the housing bubble, but my guess is the real problem is securitization of credit, and the rapid ballooning of housing prices.
If housing prices had remained stable and not inflated via fraudulent appraisals which were largely forced on appraisers by a collusion between realtors and lenders(oh yes), many minorities would be stretched, but still able make their loans. The poor have been overcharged on houses and interest on loans for as long as I can remember, but often managed to pay off their houses anyway, as long as prices weren't too far off the mark.

To the person who is a loan officer: when did your company stop having strict guidelines and instead let the borrower decide if they qualified. It should be as clear as day. The answer is no.
Because lenders used to set the limits, most people assume if they are told they can afford a loan, the lender knows best because they used to say no if it was clear you weren't going to be able to pay.

I am dumbfounded by the utter stupidity that saturates this country. The Emperor himself has no clothes and a brain the size of a pea. People have absolutely refused to think.

One think I think we need to think about is this. There is one percent of the world which basically makes all the decisions that matter: ie are acted on. They have made some very serious mistakes in their reasoning, planning, and view of reality. The world they created is crumbling as we grouse. What view of the world is real, will not fold, can be counted on. Because that is what we will be rebuilding with: the real reality. Attitude and entitlement, and God's favorite
as coping skills will not hold up.

grandma

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 2:17 PM said:

"The left was (and is) promoting it as much. The reason lenders started lending to anyone with a p"ulse was because the likes of ACORN were demanding lenders give minorities loans. Jesse Jackson was demonstrating in front of banks demanding it as well. Lenders said fine we'll lend to anyone."


========================

You are so exactly on the mark with your comment. The left wing groups like ACORN, and hundreds of others like it, demanded for years and years and years that banks make loans to risky borrowers. They put out reports every year about how poor people were being discriminated against by banks, especially minorities.

So, to get Jesse Jackson, ACORN, and the other miserable leftists groups off their backs, they came up with idiotic financing programs which relied on an ever increasing housing market. Too bad they didn't tell the borrowers what would happen to them when the market went South.

The root of this problem lies with the left-wing groups who shamed banks and politicians into lending hundreds of thousands of dollars to people making $40k a year.

And now we have the situation where these same groups are pleading with the govt. to bail out these people, and even to give the houses to them.

SHAME ON YOU LEFTISTS. YOU DID IT AGAIN...YOU HOSED AMERICA, JUST LIKE YOU USUALLY DO.

Anonymous said...

FHLB Chicago is about to collapse from buying toxic debt from banks:

NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - The regulator of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago has denied requests by shareholders that have terminated their memberships in the institution to redeem their stock, the FHLB said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

The Federal Housing Finance Board, which ensures the safety and soundness of the entire Federal Home Loan Bank system, in October reserved the right to approve stock redemptions based on capital adequacy, which has been under pressure. (Reporting by Al Yoon; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Anonymous said...

From AP


Campaigning in the heart of the Farm Belt, he paid the requisite nod to ethanol.

"I've been a strong supporter of ethanol," Obama said,

AndrewHac said...

OK... Joe6Pack & JaneZinfandel, let's get this simple, no brainer fact into that fried-burger brain one more time.

Owning a house is not for every one in the planet Earth, particularly in the land of the Americano AKA the land of the Snapper Turtle. If a lone person, a married couple or a family of chumps are poor, ignorant, uneducated, illiterate, buck-teeth, hare lip, obese, fat, diabetic, plain ugly or just looking like a piece of human crap, then that entity or organism is not entitled to own a house, or allowing to think of owning a house, or even dreaming of owning a house. Got it ? A very simple truthful fact to internalize based on Charles Darwin's famous theory: "You don't own jack if you ain't got jack to show you've got the jack to jack with..."

Furthermore, if that particular Americano had voted for "Little Boy + Fat Man" AKA "Dubya Shrub + Penis Shooter" in the last 8 years, then homeboy and homegirl HillBilly and Homer Simpson all alike out there should not consider a house as a place to live in. His and/or her adobe is to be in the horse ban, the chicken shack, the ass stall, or more fittingly, the Snapper Turtle lodge.

So, Hicks and CrackerNutheads out there, the 64 millions Americano-devalued dollars question is:
"Is the Americano roasted yet, and if not, how long before the Americano will be roasted slowly, nicely and juicely like a snapper turtle skewered on a green Chinese bamboo stick from mouth to ass sizzling, fat popping, succulent marinated chunk of turtle meat oozing with aromatic tallow on a bed of white hot charcoal ?"

Are we there yet ? Is Joe6Pack still alive, breathing and kicking ???

Anonymous said...

«> What the hell is wrong with an ownership society.

Nothing. Owning property makes people more responsible and cautious, because they have something to loose.»

More specifically, there are quite a few studies that show that home owners are far more likely to vote Republican than renters, and increasing percentages of home owners mean increasing conservatives majorities.

Especially when ever increasing home prices turn every new home owner in a self congratulating "f*ck you I am fully vested" proud tax-free speculator.

Anonymous said...

The Housing Bubble was caused by liberals. Riiiiiiiight.

Anonymous said...

As a loan officer am I suppose to tell the borrower they are making a big mistake? In the past I have often made hints and sometimes have told propestive borrowers they should wait.... Only to hear the client went with another lender.

Yes you should.. It's called fiduciary responsibility. Look it up, if you never heard the term. The problem was your bosses had none. It's time to turn them in to the FBI. You may even make money as a whistleblower. That's why, knucklehead, there should be government regulation of mortgage lending and appraisal of properties. Get some accountability out there. And have loan officers and appraisers get a vested interest in the results of their loan actions. End of problem. Teachers in some states are accountable for the performance of their student populations. It works.

Anonymous said...

Sad but True Dept.

YES, he is as dumb as he looks and YES he is mildly retarded, NOT smart after all...

War Criminal.

Guilty.

PUNISH THE GUILTY NOW

Anonymous said...

What the hell is wrong with an ownership society?

I guess it all depends on who owns you......

Anonymous said...

I REALLY hat the term "Buy" in reference to "buying" a home. So many self righteous assholes i know got my wife all jealous because they "bought" a house a few years ago.

I like to use the term "sign up to pay for"