August 06, 2007

CNBC's Diana Olick spells it out. "American homeowners got greedy, bottom line"

Here's Diana on why the Fed shouldn't lower interest rates to bail out greedy flippers and the corrupt REIC. Also check out this full thread as it deals with Cramer's meltdown from Friday.

Since Diana is an HP reader, if you want her to dig deeper on something, or have any kudos or criticisms, use this tread...

"American homeowners got greedy, bottom line. They saw these low rates, they saw these "exotic" mortgage products, and they bought themselves homes they should never have owned in the first place. Now they're in trouble, and many of them should be."

"Yes, there was plenty of predatory lending and plenty of illegal and immoral practices going on in brokers' offices in every state of the U.S., but the bulk of the boom was driven by straight-up brokers with straight-up documents that just happened to offer very cheap money for a short time. People didn't read their papers, didn't take the time to understand their investments and now they're getting burned."

79 comments:

Anonymous said...

that just about sums it up!

Anonymous said...

Damn that was a good riff

ROCK ON DIANA

Anonymous said...

ho
ho
ho
hum...

ANOTHER INVENTED USATODAY/GALLUP POLL, that must have come down directly from the CFR / bushco propaganda department:

USA TODAY (a loser McD type of paper)
"Latest poll shows growing support for Iraq war policy

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/08/latest-poll-sho.html

Anonymous said...

DOW UP 150

IDIOTS

Anonymous said...

I love diana.Shes is a total hotty that I want to have sexy time with.

At least she is telling the truth.Kudos to her for be brave enough to stand up to the coporate crooks. She is an excellent reporter.

Diana, will you marry me?

Anonymous said...

The debate over "personal responsibility" is raging in this country in many ways. Is smoking a personal issue, or should it be controlled? Obesity? Health care? Poverty?

In my mind, capitalism only works properly when the government protects its citizens from business gone awry. As everyone can see, the citizenry is suffering from a serious lack of financial literacy.

I don't blame people for that. It's up to the government to include financial literacy in the school curriculum, teach literacy to citizens, and prevent companies from offering dangerous/risky financial products.

Some people here may enjoy the scheudenfrade, laughing as homeowners go bankrupt, but the reality is that bankruptcies and foreclosures are not good for our country overall, and the only way to prevent future catastrophe is through proper financial education.

Anonymous said...

What came first, greedy homebuyers or outrageous prices?

Many of the homes purchased in the past two or so years COULD have been afforded by the "greedy" folks who bought them IF they were available at PRE BUBBLE PRICES.

Greedy homebuyers DID not do this - EASY CREDIT and LAX leanding did this. The greed came later.

Anonymous said...

Uh... I thought the thrust of the article was Diana placing much of the blame where it squarely should reside, on the doorsteps of soon to be foreclosed loanowners!?

-Not- corporate crooks (although there are plenty to go around!)

The only exception I have to what Diana shared is that the cheap money flowed for a long, long time! I can remember being on bubble blogs as early as 2003 debating would the Fed please start raising rates before this thing gets completely out of control!

I suppose in the fullnes of time and the age of the country, it was a fairly short period? (But it sure seemed to drag on forver?)

DinOR

Anonymous said...

greedy ? the profits and appreciation on 10 times cash holdings cortesy of your "friend: the banker, not remembering the property losews of the 1930s all taken by the bank, then and that rather than accept cash returns of less than one percent a year on cash and driving up the bids and property tax on the neighbors, all on somebody elses money as borrowed money

Anonymous said...

but NBC will call for new socialist bailouts to "help" with the problem...

Marky Mark

Anonymous said...

I agree - Fed isn't going to bail out greedy homeowners. . .it is better for the country if a guy earning 50K can buy a house for 150K, not 500K!!!. . .on the postive side, the country survived 9/11 and the internet meltdown, so it will survive the housing panic. . .just won't see as many SUV's anymore . . .another good result of all of this. . . out to Kayak on the Bay - really nicer than normal day here in SD, and THAT is saying something.

Unknown said...

Well said Diana. Bravo.

Anonymous said...

Say, sweet thing, can I buy you a fish sandwich?

Leon

Unknown said...

I don't think there should be any kind of bailout. When I was looking at buying a home, there was an APR offer, and I did my homework. Many of these people just didn't - they didn't stop to think. I was smart enough to not make a mistake, I don't want to pay for theirs. It won't help us, and it won't help them in the long run.

Bottom line, help educate americans on finances, don't keep them in the dark.

Anonymous said...

She is jumping on the bandwagon of poor innocent mortgage companies and poor CDO investors.
Bullshit. Ok, maybe 5-10% were stupid Casey Serin type flippers. Many were/are suckered by dishonest brokers/reps.
I refi'ed (at 6.25 30 yr fixed, thank you very much) in 2000 and I was amazed at the blatant dishonesty of the Country Wide rep. I had high fico scores and told him fixed only; he submitted for my signature an adjustable rate mortgage, higher interest rate than quoted,etc at least 3 squirrelly loans, which I caught each time..
Even tried to pass me to a subprime lender.
I kicked him to the curb - but he was very charming and if I had'nt known better.....
These reps said ANYTHING to get the loan; afterwards it was tough shit, you signed the loan. Strangely enough, they could never put in a written offer what the monthly would be or if it would change or if there was a pre-pay.

Unknown said...

Many of these people just didn't - they didn't stop to think. I was smart enough to not make a mistake, I don't want to pay for theirs. It won't help us, and it won't help them in the long run.

I believe that is called "Darwinism".

Frank R said...

DOW UP 150

IDIOTS


Yep, that definitely means housing is going up and mortgage companies aren't going bust. Oh yeah and the iPhone is selling well too - another indicator that housing is strong.

IDIOT.

Anonymous said...

The housing boom may seem a distant memory, but experts say the real-estate speculation and ‘creative’ financing it generated are now driving many investors and homeowners into bankruptcy, especially in Central Florida.”

“Personal bankruptcies in the Orlando area were up 80 percent during the first half of 2007, the biggest rate increase in the federal court system’s Middle District of Florida,. Orlando’s jump in bankruptcies also far outstripped the national rate, which was up 43 percent compared with the first six months of 2006.”

“Orlando bankruptcy lawyer Richard Heller is seeing a lot of people these days who thought they had placed a sure bet during the recent housing boom.”

Anonymous said...

It was the predators - The Bill O'Reilly wannabees - that created the environment by making the money available. If it wasn't for the predatory lenders, the people couldn't have bought the homes.

Anonymous said...

Did IDIOTS replace DOPES? Too bad, I'm jonesin' for a fix! We need a DOPES-BOT to fire off a message whenever the PPT fluffs up the market temporarily.

(Bzzt gzzt)

"the market is UP 150 you are all dumb!!!"

(click pop)

"DOPES!!!"

There, that's better. Not the real thing, but in these times, one takes what one can get.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
What came first, greedy homebuyers or outrageous prices?


Great post! Am I greedy to expect my 100K salary to have purchasing power? Will I be greedy when I move to Ohio (if prices don't fall) to get away from the greedy sellers and landowners and builders? Was it greedy for Bush/Greenspan to not allow the normal busting of the tech bubble? You know, nothing that business or the investor class establishment does is ever wrong.

Anonymous said...

The Iphone index says all is well.

Anonymous said...

Diane Is also the cutest women on CNBC

Anonymous said...

Ask D.O. to dig into the corrupt SEC and why FNM is still listed on the NYA. Also check up on secret bailouts and creative accounting by the SEC itself. That Chris Cox is one crooked S.O.B., IMO.

Unknown said...

It was the predators - The Bill O'Reilly wannabees - that created the environment by making the money available. If it wasn't for the predatory lenders, the people couldn't have bought the homes.

By that logic, every act of gun violence is the fault of the gun manufacturers. And every DUI is the fault of the liquor companies.

Come on folks. When did the notion of accountability disappear in this nation? When are we, as a society, going to take responsibility for our actions and stop divert blame everytime something doesn't go our way?

edd browne said...

There is a common bait-n-switch
perpetrated on American kids.

"you can do anything you set
your mind to"
"our representative governments
are reliable"
"this is a great, safe, kind, and
responsible nation"

.... hawwwsheeet.

Anonymous said...

The reason the market was up today wasn't any underlying belief that all is well---it is people covering shorts because they believe that the FED will cut rates to prop them up. Merrill today says that they expect a 25 bp cut in October and cuts totalling 150 bps by mid-2008.

Weimar days ladies and gents--Weimar days....

Anonymous said...

Let's watch the FED lie to their teeth tomorrow to fool the sheeple. No surprise here, PPT TO THE RESCUE, ONCE AGAIN, ON MONDAY.

Thank god all the long term bad crap was forgotten over the weekend. Poof! Fixed, gone in a couple of days. Sure, Bernanke and banking mafia, we, the few with a brain, believe you!

Anonymous said...

WAIT.
.
.
SEE THAT?
.
.
IS IT?
.
.
YES!!!!
.
.
Stocks Surge: Dow Jumps Over 280 Pts!!!!!
.
.
.
DOPES!

Anonymous said...

Everyone used to know you could not get a loan for a large amount of money to buy a property if you had not proven yourself as an adult who has a stable income and control of your finances and the discipline to pay your bills.

Everyone knows you can't drink alcohol until you are an adult of the age of 21.

This credit/housing bubble is akin to turning a nation full of teenagers loose with as much alcohol as they wanted. Sure some were responsible, but the those who were drunk on credit ruined it for everyone else.

Unfortunately, everyone is not smart. Everyone is not responsible. People need to be treated like children, and regulations need to be in place to protect those adults who would treat credit like a teenager would treat alcohol.

Both have very bad endings.

The time to pay the piper is overdue.

Anonymous said...

My friend DOPES! Like clockwork. You gotta love it.

Anonymous said...

There has been so much cheap money sloshing around looking for return at any risk level. The greedy Wall street bankers and hedge fund manangers making billions on each deal couldnt and didnt want to see the fruit of thier labors.
They just couldnt contain there lust for return. They are the onces responsible for this mess.
Lets let them reap their reward when the fund become pennies on the dollar.

No BAIL OUT !!

Anonymous said...

"When are we, as a society, going to take responsibility for our actions and stop divert blame everytime something doesn't go our way?"

I don't know. Ask Bush, Cheney, Scudder Libby, Powell at UN, Rush Limbaugh with his drug dealer Hispanic maid, the 8 billion dollars from taxpayer money which is unaccounted for in Iraq, the WMDs that never existed, the fourth building on Trade Center that wasn't hit and had minuscule fire but collapsed anyway, the total support of corrupt MSM to go to war, the 40 million Americans without health insurance while the GOP is spending 1 trillion dollars to "rebuild" Iraq, the push for eavesdropping on American citizens while refusing to close the borders that lets millions of strangers in annually, and the list goes on and on ad infinitum. Hey sheeple, vote for Giuliana or Mitt for more of the same con games.

Anonymous said...

Maria "Lend me your corporate jet" Bartoramo got the latest fax from the White House and crook bankers. The new catchy phrases to beat to death, every five seconds on CNBC, are: "It's a correction", "The sub-prime is self-contained" and "The Multinationals will make everything pink, just like my dream private jet interior!"

Anonymous said...

Could the corrupt MSM stop calling it "CHEAP MONEY", already?

There never was anything cheap about this money!

Anonymous said...

All is well dow up 300, time to go buy a house today. Forget about the subprime mess, credit debacle, corrupt bush administration, bogus rating system for CDO's, liar loans, debt ridden consumer, an economy based on consumer spending on sh@t from china, lack of job creation other than flipping burgers or greeting the sheeple at walmart, etcetera.

Anonymous said...

wow now i've seen it allyou crackpots are blaming Bill O'Reilly for the fact you live in a 1 bedroom shithole.

Not dopes,that is insulting to dopes.

IDIOTS

Anonymous said...

Greenspan rate cuts ==> Cost of borrowing money lower than rate of real inflation ==> Inexhaustible appetite for leveraged investment ==> Risk premium approaches 0 ==> Worse and worse investments being offered ==> Worse and worse investments being purchased

Plenty of blame to go around, but it all ends up at the Fed. Easy money = stupid money.

Anonymous said...

Well put by Diana.
There should be no help from the gubmint for greedy borrowers or greedy banks. The Fed manipulated free market created this, the free market can absorb the results. If uncle Ben can sit on his hands for a while this may unwind slowly and orderly over the next five years. More Fed manipulation, either way, will be like dropping a bomb.

Anonymous said...

Couldn't disagree more. The people who got greedy were the ones creating these 'creative' mortgage products without a shred of remorse that the buyer would probably lose the home.
She SHOULD put the blame on them, but that would take REAL guts. They are as bad as the hideous 'payday' advance places. By the way, about the only local ads anymore are for pawnbrokers and payday advance. F__k them all.

Anonymous said...

>>>>Diana, will you marry me?<<<

too late , she got married last year.....besides are you a mensch?

Anonymous said...

The Fed won't lower. No way.

Watch the market sell off in disappointment later this week

Anonymous said...

Here's a tale that reinforces Diana's point (and HPers):

"Baby boom - Cash crunch

With one child, plans for a house, plenty of savings and a batch of real estate investments, the Albianis had their finances figured out. Enter triplets.


(Money Magazine) -- In the fall of 2003, Dennis and Beth Albiani had their future perfectly planned. They'd purchased 18 acres of rolling hills at the foot of California's Sierra Nevada near Sacramento, where they were preparing to build their 3,400-square-foot dream house.

It was to be a gentleman's farm with cows, pigs and sheep, plus plenty of space where their toddler son Nicolas could play with the other children they hoped to have.

Financially they seemed set too. With $175,000 in savings, several solid real estate investments and a $90,000-a-year salary from Dennis' job as an aide to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the family seemed well poised to achieve their bucolic dream.

"Then in early December, Beth found out that she was pregnant with triplets. The Albianis were stunned. True, Beth had been on fertility treatments for a couple of months, but her drug dosages were so low the doctor had assured them they had a less than 10 percent chance of having twins. "Are you sure you're not counting one of them twice?" Dennis asked."

SURE, WE BELIEVE THAT YOU GOT INTO TROUBLE ONLY BECAUSE OF THE TRIPLETS AND NOT BECAUSE YOUR OVERSPENDING AND GREEDY REAL ESTATE FLIPPING. THE AMERICAN LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY CONTINUES.

"The Albianis' next order of business was their dream house. They found a perfect plot of land in nearby Sloughhouse, which they bought for $180,000, raising the money by selling their first home and refinancing some of their rental properties. The pair also bought a small modular home for about $25,000 so they could live on the site while their five-bedroom house was being built."

"To make room for their vastly upsized family, the Albianis put the dream house on hold and bought an A-frame in nearby Elk Grove for $425,000. They added a fourth bedroom, a playroom and a dining room for about $230,000, borrowing $50,000 from Dennis' dad and tapping into the equity in some properties."

"In only a few months, however, the Albianis were on the financial brink. It wasn't just the cost of diapers, although the family went through more than 30 Huggies a day ($100 a week). Or the special preemie baby formula ($160 a week). Or even the three part-time caregivers (about $2,000 a month). Rents on their properties were falling short of their mortgage payments each month, once by as much as $800.

"Last fall Beth and Dennis finally sat down to take stock of their financial situation, and it wasn't pretty: Over the previous two years, they'd burned through $175,000 in savings, borrowed $50,000 from Dennis' dad, tapped $80,000 of their home equity, racked up $25,000 in credit-card debt and were spending $4,000 more a month than Dennis earned. It was time to make serious changes."

Read the entire saga of these genuine self-entitled American wannabes here:

http://tinyurl.com/34nsqz

Anonymous said...

Diana how about a story on bubble blogs?

Anonymous said...

Diana is a rare gem in the financial media reporting world.

Open, honest, direct ... no bull. Straight talk with common sense.

And very nice looking too. The real deal and the total package. God, I hope she's single and I get to meet her!

Unknown said...

Anonymous said...
wow now i've seen it allyou crackpots are blaming Bill O'Reilly for the fact you live in a 1 bedroom shithole.

Not dopes,that is insulting to dopes.

IDIOTS


_______

You wish. Gettin' tired o' Ramen, are ya?

Unknown said...

Anonymous said...
DOW UP 150

IDIOTS


_______

And the dollar is DOWN. Down, down, down. The Dow is priced in US dollars. Are you getting this?

You really think a little pop in the Dow means anything?

You probably have the finance/econ IQ of a squirrel...wait, squirrels are SMART, they save nuts.

You're much dumber than that.

Unknown said...

The Fed won't lower. No way.

______

I think you're probably right. Why should the entire US economy be destroyed just to pacify the Wall Street brokers and fund managers?

But who knows what kinds of deals are done in private? We are in for some strange times here.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
wow now i've seen it allyou crackpots are blaming Bill O'Reilly for the fact you live in a 1 bedroom shithole.

Not dopes,that is insulting to dopes.

IDIOTS

August 06, 2007 9:59 PM

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Any HPer that didn't lie on a loan,take an absurd interest rate,teaser,piggyback,and 3Xnormal home price is an Idiot?UH OK.You did say all.
Bill Who?
Any Bank/Lender/Broker who presented a contract and requested the borrower Lie,take a kickback,a teaser rate,release of liability,or 200% loan to value ratio in an overheated Market is ofcourse ethical,moral,upstanding,and your friend.Right? GENIUS,Brilliant,and shrewed among rejects.Go buy house.

Anonymous said...

OOOPS- Sorry .Thought is was my turn to kick Idiot in the nutz,My bad. NEXT!

Anonymous said...

Not only did they buy too much house, they took their profits up front with HELOC and now they are going to walk away.
No bailout save the dollar.

Anonymous said...

the king of the tinfoil hat gang said:

And the dollar is DOWN. Down, down, down. The Dow is priced in US dollars. Are you getting this?


Moron, the dollar was up today. Pay attention. And for crying out loud take that thing off your head, you;re scaring the children.

Anonymous said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/business/06home.html?em&ex=1186545600&en=a66dec11113c2686&ei=5087%0A

Diane, you're such a genius.
It's irresponsible spendthrifts like this woman here that deserve all the blame.

Anonymous said...

"People need to be treated like children, and regulations need to be in place to protect those adults who would treat credit like a teenager would treat alcohol."
People need to be treated like adults. End of story.
If you put your signature under a document without knowing what you're getting into, well you deserve what's coming.
Same goes for the lenders/investors. If you loan a gazillion $$ to a credit junkies don't expect to see your mmoney ever again. It's that simple.

Anonymous said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/business/06home.html?em&ex=1186545600&en=a66dec11113c2686&ei=5087%0A

Diane, you're such a genius.
It's irresponsible spendthrifts like this woman here that deserve all the blame.

______________________________

The fact that there is nor has been ANYONE to help these people, NO LEGAL RECOURSE.
Why don't you do a story on something NO ONE is talking about.
One of the biggest crimes of your time.
Wake up...or just stay asleep.
WTFever.

Anonymous said...

It's time to email Senate Banking Committee Chairman Dodd and house Banking Chairman Barney Frank and tell them NO to a banker/lender bailout. There's a conference going on right now and they're working on a taxpayer funded bailout of the Wall Street goons.

Anonymous said...

Diana, you want to be a real reporter, go out among the sheeple and find out how silly and greedy they were. There was absolutely no manipulation of the sheeple and now that they are broke and sucked dry let's see who cries. No it wouldn't be the credit card companies who played giant rolls in all this. Oh, and by the way, what lobbiest wrote the new bankruptcy laws during this housing boom? But it was all the borrowers' fault. Also, I'm sure the sheeple were all aware of their loan rider's had prepayment penalties, etc. But hey, it was mostly the borrower's fault. I take consolence in reality by knowing that the government and lender's and credit card companies were the wolves in all this and that the bigger they are hopefully the harder they will fall. By the way Diane, where were you during the build-up of this housing mess? I don't recall hearing your voice saying HEY People what are you doing!

Anonymous said...

I 'm sure Diane feels proud of herself tonight working for the ostrich network that has their heads up the butt's of BIG BUSINESS! You go Diane, tell it like it is since you are on higher ground. Oh give me a break.

Unknown said...

Moron, the dollar was up today. Pay attention. And for crying out loud take that thing off your head, you;re scaring the children.

The dollar was up today? You counter that previous posters assertion by bringing up a single day's worth of the dollars movement?

Take a gander at this chart, sparky:

http://www.capitalstool.com/us-dollar-chart.htm

And that's just recent activity, fuckshit. Might wanna ask yourself why Warren Buffett has transfered wealth to alternate currencies. (For the first time in his life) Doesn't sound to bullish on our currency to me.

So if you wanna play with the big boys, my little anonymous friend, work on your facts. I've seen better debate tactics from a 4 year old.

robert said...

Anonymous said...
“DOW UP 150

IDIOTS”

Does that mean AHM is up?

Anonymous said...

I hereby name this year Bankers' Panic II or Panic of 2007 (sort of like panic of 1837, 1847, 1857 and 1907):

The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic, was a financial crisis in the United States. The stock market fell nearly 50% from its peak in 1906, the economy was in recession, and there were numerous runs on banks and trust companies. Its primary cause was a retraction of loans by some banks that began in New York and soon spread across the nation, leading to the closings of banks and businesses.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Diana, you seem to be a nice enough person, I see people who are not greedy, who just want a place to live and have been conned.
A little black lady came into my store the other day, had a mortgage loan with Chase Manhatten, and she missed one payment. She had lived in the house 11 years. They foreclosed within a month and hit her with $4000 in attorney fees, which of course she couldn't afford. She's had to live with a friend ever since.

Everyone who wants a home isn't greedy. I guess you could compare it to a store selling you a Hermes bag for $1000, then sending you a bill fo $50,000 saying you must have misread your sales reciept...that it was all stated clearly on the back, which of course the sales person never showed you. AND, in this case, you could not return the bag, you HAD to pay the $50,000, and they would immidately sieze any assets to get their money.
Do you think you were 'greedy' for accepting a 'great deal' on a very expensive bag?
Would you be upset that they didn't explain the entire sale to you?
Would you be mad that you HAD to pay them $50,000?


Thanks to this blog and others like them, my life was saved. Almost took out a loan with Countrywide a few months ago.
The realtor lied, the mortgage comp. lied, did an ARM instead of fixed...the monthly payments kept increasin, and while my chest pains increased, and was praying for a way out, I googled complaints against counrywide mortgage.
There was page after page after page.
I got out of the thing, but it was such a trumatic experience, that I can't stay away from this blog and others like it.
It's sad, but I just STAY furious with the mortgage industry and everyone involved, because a lot of GOOD people have been totally F____D too.

Anonymous said...

ok Keith, I will shut-up now. Geesh.

Unknown said...

Luminent Mortgage Capital (LUM) just pulled an AHM today by halting stock trading all day and then announcing after hours that the dividend is cancelled which was supposed to be paid on Wednesday.

Looks like another one will crash and burn tommorrow.

Anonymous said...

glassizempty,

sure there was a reasonably large amount of fraud, though the bulk of it was accepted by the borrower as an active participant since they wanted the loan and figured prices would rise (they always do after all...)

If your stupid enough to believe someone telling you "rates will go down" when they are already so low, then hopefully you weren't so stupid as to sign legal documents without having a solicitor/trusted smarter friend look them over?

Anonymous said...

I am disappointed by the post 911 government manipulation of interest rates that promoted bad financial behavior.

Our government is inconsistent as it ignores the cause and effect when for profit but takes responsibility for issues that are none of its business like religion, abortion, and the right to die.

All this creates a society of controlled workers divided by a
hot topic smokescreen.

Anonymous said...

Anyone for economic nationalism?

Do we really need our fake global economy where everyone profits only until the sell-off and criminal investigations start?

Anonymous said...

A dog by any other name is a cat.

Anonymous said...

DOW UP 150

IDIOTS

--

I suppose the next thing we'll hear is like real estate, stocks only go up!

Like real estate, anyone who buys now (unless you're shorting) needs their head examined!

Anonymous said...

If I saw a bail out coming I would mail my keys to Countrywide. Oops forgot sold my McMansion last year I just rent one. Can I borrow your keys please??

Really though if they start to bail so should anyone whos been paying their mortgage. Fu@%em all. Realtwhores, Trolls, Lenders Borrowers and Greenspam. Can't bring myself to blame poor helecopter Ben he didn't have time to Fu$% up.

Anonymous said...

What are you taking about Diana? They are not making any more lands. RE prices always go up. What the f—k happened

stocksystm said...

Good thing the market went up 286 points today. It might keep Bernanke from doing something really stupid. Hint: lower interest rates to save the FB's, and crash the dollar below 80.

Anonymous said...

"Some people here may enjoy the scheudenfrade, laughing as homeowners go bankrupt, but the reality is that bankruptcies and foreclosures are not good for our country overall, and the only way to prevent future catastrophe is through proper financial education."

Wrong. The only way Americans are going to wake up to reality, is the hard way. We tried warning a friend not to buy in Blowmont, California showing him stats, articles etc. No good. He bought near the top and continued to take out what he called "Free Money" in home equity loans. Now he's screwed for 200k or more in his early 20s.

Here, listen to this. It says it much better.

http://tinyurl.com/cxox

I'm sorry but 30 years of coddling has turned most Americans into sheep ready for the slaughter.

Anonymous said...

Nothing like a good depression to wake people up I say.

edd browne said...

♫ This is the sunset of
the Aaaage of AquarrrriUS ....♫

Anonymous said...

Good thing the market went up 286 points today. It might keep Bernanke from doing something really stupid. Hint: lower interest rates to save the FB's, and crash the dollar below 80.

August 07, 2007 5:03 AM

=================================
The market didnt just "go up" 286 points. It was manipulated upward by the plunge protection team and the Fed.
The stock market has no relationship to reality what so ever.

Anonymous said...

idiots said...
glassizempty,

sure there was a reasonably large amount of fraud, though the bulk of it was accepted by the borrower as an active participant since they wanted the loan and figured prices would rise (they always do after all...)

If your stupid enough to believe someone telling you "rates will go down" when they are already so low, then hopefully you weren't so stupid as to sign legal documents without having a solicitor/trusted smarter friend look them over?


_____________________


I have a store to run that takes all my time and energy.
I was oblivious as to what was going on in the housing market up until 'it' happened to me.

I knew they were all lying,
no one would look me in the eye.
Would just shrug off my questions with I don't know what your talking about it or never heard anything like that.
In the meantime, everyone congradulating me for becoming a home owner. And this was, to top it off, my uncles house, who, when I questioned him, would say my thinking was incorrect.

Thanks to the internet, I didn't need a lawyer, just walked away and said no.

The whole thing turned me off to the point where I don't want a house, EVER...unless it's freaking FREE.

Anonymous said...

Gee...ya think?

Anonymous said...

Good call Diana!!!!!

While what she said is very true, it is also very unfortunate. As far as which came first the, the high prices, or greedy investors, the answer is the greedy investors. The majority of people that got into home investing and flipping did so after their horribly unbalanced stock portfolio feel apart (which was the fault of the investors, and not the financial institutions). With so much money surging into real estate, demand soared, supply fell, and prices jumped.

To accomidate so many investors, new mortgage products were created. From being in the business (on many sides), the option arms, neg-am loans, interest only options, no-doc loans, etc. etc. were great products when used correctly. For short term investing, and using the banks money to make money. Where people are in trouble is that they used these tools to finance a primary residence that they truly could not afford (ie: someone working at a gas station cannot afford a $300k home, I'm sorry).

True, there were/are many lenders out there that took advantage (which in many ways they were forced to,... but that is a different rant) but overall too many individuals wanted to ride the mortgage train (and the investment train a few years earlier) without having to buy a ticket, and now the time is coming for them to pay, and they are in trouble.