April 20, 2008

Thank you Alan Greenspan, Angelo Mozilo and the realtors of America for ruining families. Hope it was worth it.


Hope it was worth it, you know, all those profits. All those commissions. All those bonuses. Meanwhile, watch for the divorce rate in the US to soar. Along with the crime rate, the domestic violence rate, the foreclosure rate, the murder rate, the unemployment rate, the inflation rate, the bankruptcy rate, ..........

Home Mortgage Crisis May Boost Divorces in U.S., Experts Say

The home mortgage crisis in the United States has spawned problems in the mortgage, real estate and banking industries, and many consumers are now facing mortgage payment increases in the coming months that could cause the number of home foreclosures to climb even higher. And all of those financial woes may be spawning another problem as well -- an increase in divorces, experts say.

Scott Daniels, an Ocala, Fla. Realtor, doesn’t need a study to tell him what he already knows -- the mortgage industry crisis is causing an increase in the number of couples who are getting divorced.

"In the last three months, we have accepted five listings which are divorce sales. In each instance, it’s due to the obligation of meeting their mortgage payments,” he wrote in a blog he posts regularly on the Internet. “Faced with pressure, these couples are blaming one another! Rather than attempt to work together to resolve the problem, they find it easier to separate. They each have in common the same exact problem: No one is able to make a decision on what price to sell for! "

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Call me an 'old fool'...but getting through the tough times is what makes a marriage/ family/friendship stronger.
"You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" by Glady Knight and The Pips...listen to the words...my wish is that every marriage is such.

Anonymous said...

SUZANNE!!!

Anonymous said...

You should see the number of FOR SALE signs in SoCal Keith. It's really a sight to behold. And this is only the beginning.

But then again. Maybe I'm just hallucinating because John McCain says the economic problems are mostly psychological. I'm glad we have courageous, in-touch, highly intelligent "leaders" like John McCain to correctly point out how strong the economy really is.

America - say hello to your brilliant next President

Anonymous said...

anyone getting a divorce over a bad marriage would just gotten a divorce over something else down the road.

Anonymous said...

I don't think too many people that are underwater are going to be fighting over who gets to keep the house.

Anonymous said...

'Keyser Soze said...
Call me an 'old fool'...but getting through the tough times is what makes a marriage/ family/friendship stronger."
===========================
Like the old saying goes "If only it took two years to get a marriage license, and three days to get a divorce......"

Modern generations have a huge problem with the change from "me" to we."
Too much individual ego in the marriage mix. Maybe the modern marriage ceremony should get away from two individual "I do's" to a single "We Do."

Mom and dad were together 63 yrs; the wife and I celebrate our 33rd this year. Our grand-generations are lucky if they are lasting 5 yrs per marriage.

The prevailing attitude is that when times get tough, walk away from the house and mortgage, walk away from the credit card payment, walk away from all obligations. After all, everybody's doing it, and it's not YOUR fault, not one little bit!

Why should marriage be any different?

So sad!

Anonymous said...

Home is where the heart is.
Jeez, everything's falling apart. What about the kids?

Anonymous said...

Two things housingpanic has taught me:

1) Do not buy a house in todays market.

2) Do not get married to a money grubbing whore.

THANKS HOUSINGPANIC!!! :)

Anonymous said...

Mr. Potter's minions.
Now we have the real 'Pottersville', used to be called the United States.
But where is George Baily?
Does he exist anywhere in real life?

Who is going to be the first to mark to market, starting a domino effect?

Mr. Potter would wants see all of those houses rot, rather then make them affordable.

Where is George Baily?

Keith???????????????

Anonymous said...

You old fool! It's not about the "it only makes us stronger idealists..." or the mortgage payments causing internal strife... it's about the money-grubbing ho who married because her homedebtor husband was seemingly rich and now broke! Sorry honey... now you get half of nothing!

From a happily married man... in Florida.

Anonymous said...

Realwhores probably have the highest divorce rates now.

Lost Cause said...

Seriously, people only have themselves to blame. They could save the money to buy a house outright, in a lot less that 30 years. For example, if you start out with $27,000 today, you will have close to $200,000 after four years if you save $2500 a month @10%.

Anonymous said...

Housing gambling took down Casey Serins marriage

Anonymous said...

When I was a young, ignorant lad, I thought that if you had gotten married and had a family that you had won at the great game of society.

The "housing bubble" helped me to realize that men and women mostly get together in order to combine incomes to finance the purchase of more plastic crap than they could afford on their own in order to impress the people they went to highschool with, should they ever run into them.

That couples are driven to divorce by the speculative loss of some stucco and pressboard is both pathetic and entirely in keeping with the above.

Anonymous said...

Ah, the Divorcing couple is the best house to buy- ;)
Always a deal - as they both wnt the hell out of it PRONTO

got my last house 100K under list cause they were divorcing - and this was in 2001, way before any bubble pop in NoVa.

Anonymous said...

Anon Wrote:

"Housing gambling took down Casey Serins marriage"

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

Yea...Him & Elton John split shortly after Casey when on the run.

Anonymous said...

Why do you have a picture of the cast of LA Law?

Anonymous said...

Where do you get 10%, other than in risky investments?

Heatsheet said...

The only rule or law that is stronger than Gravity is:

"no Doe no Ho"

Anonymous said...

nomarriage(dot)com

check it out.

Anonymous said...

SUZANNE!!! OOPS LOOKS LIKE SHE DID NOT RESEARCH IT!!!

Anonymous said...

If that's the case, what caused all the millions of divorces during the bubble? Too much "equity" for a HELOC?

There are too many people getting married who only think about the wedding day. Ever seen a bridal magazine? They are thicker than phone books in most places, I sh*t you not. Toss in those stupid shows on the chick networks, too, that make it seem like if every detail on your wedding day isn't perfect you may as well kill yourself since this is the "best day of your life".

Problem is....you are going to actually have to live with that person after that huge party is over with. They forget that part.

It's much easier to find the perfect wedding favor satin bag in teal than to take a good look at who it is you are actually marrying and determine if you should be doing this in the first place.

/end of rant....

Anonymous said...

"The "housing bubble" helped me to realize that men and women mostly get together in order to combine incomes to finance the purchase of more plastic crap than they could afford on their own in order to impress the people they went to highschool with, should they ever run into them."

Thinking Marriage Guys?
Nomarriage.com. A must read.

Anonymous said...

You need a picture of Boston Law with Captain Kirk and James Spader. Get with the times.

Anonymous said...

come on folks , this is another tax sham like the many before. If the mortgage is in the name of one spouse, they get divorced, the one with the mortgage goes into foreclosure and then the couple moves into the newly mortgaged next house under the divorced spouse's good credit, all is well. These sc@#$%gs will profit from the new house's lowball price. Again at the expense of the rest of us.

I hope the IRS and the banks catch on and these people get caught.

Another reason to get rid the current tax system and go to a flat sales tax. Too many loopholes. Just like the Social Security scams with poeple over 65 getting divorces. At least SS installed some checks.. I don't expect the banking/mortgage industry to do anything. They'll look for a bailout.

Anonymous said...

lost cause,

10%???

You subscribe to the Casey Serin school of safe investing I take it?

Anonymous said...

So...people's marriage problems are a crisis? Why should I care if some couple doesn't get along with each other? Husbands and wives beat each other like drums back in the good old days. This is nothing new.

Anonymous said...

It is frightening here in Orange County watching all the newly divorced wives and ex girlfriends of bankrupt realtors and mortgage brokers that are on the prowl.

They are looking for the next sugar daddy, and an opportunity to make a play for your well compensated husband (and father of 3.)

So sad.

PatFriedl said...

While the mortgage mess can be blamed for some of the divorces, most people these days aren't anywhere close to as resposnsible as their former generation.

Everything is relative, nobody's wrong, and nothing is EVER your fault. It's all about the religion of ME. No wonder divorce rates are over 50% before the mortgage meltdown.

The mortgage debacle has only amplified it.

Anonymous said...

A guy I see at quarterly user group meetings said his wife "made" him stretch for a house by threatening to leave. Now she is beating him up to "be a man" and work another job or two to make the payments and "support his family".

The guy isn't as pudgy as in the Suzanne commercial, but he's pretty soft. IMO she will leave him anyway.

My wife? I told her what I was going to spend on a house. She wanted more. I told her she could feel free to kick in something by subtracting from the recreation/entertainment/kids' education/kids' clothes part of the budget she covers. She refused but still wanted more. I gently reminded her to not attempt to spend my money. End of discussion.

It's years later now and my wife is happy - we have a decent place to live and money left over to have some fun.

The only person a henpecked husband has to blame is himself. The worst thing a woman can do to a man who stands up for himself is leave, and ironically that is the best thing that can happen to the guy in such a case.

Anonymous said...

pkk grandma here--

The illness rate and the death rate and child abuse rate and domestic violence rate and suicide rate...

What makes marriages stronger..works if you have some real idea of what you did wrong in your choice thinking and have the means to correct your mistake, more commonly known as a job. But if you are young, or not insightful, well, you just get stressed...and act out.

If we elect someone who has no clue re economics then we are as stupid as I fear we are, collectively. Our brains went out the window years ago. Raise a thoughtful question and it is all too common to get this response: that's too deep for me. I wonder if the sh--hole we are going to be mired in will be too deep for people to think then.
We have reveled in ignorance and relied on cheap credit to solve our problems...

Anonymous said...

lost cause--pkk, (g'ma) here...who the heck can save $2500 and pay rent at the same time. Maybe you. Not me.
Not anyone I know.

Anonymous said...

Any man who is dumb/lonely enough to marry a chick that is only there while the money is good... deserves his losses. Any chick who actually thinks it's possible to find a guy to freeload off of.. deserves her unhappiness.

Hard work and persistence are what keep marriages together, not Friday dinners at Ruth's Chris.

All of these marriages that blew up were never marriages in the first place.. they're stupid arrogant people who are in love with the concept of being in love. Yes, the divorce rate is high - because the people who are doing the divorcing have no concept of humility.