Good News on the Housing Front!

[ultrarunner]

When I bought my first home... the bank required the following:

20% down payment

6 months of living expenses in the bank

3 years in the same line of work and 2 years working for the same company

Home had to have a termite clearance and appraise.

Now... we would be getting somewhere if property taxes were tied to income...

It now takes 3 months of my take home pay to pay my property tax...

 

[beenthere]

But isn't it the duty of the goverment to provide for those who have not?
.....................................

In no way should it be, nor should it be expected. That twisting of the Gov't role is what is leading us by the nose to socialism. Thowing out the Constitution is a poor direction these Progressives are aiming to do. Time to wake up, and get people to stand on their own two feet again.
The "why work" because the Gov't will take care of us is becoming the motto of our young people (not all, but for many who will allow themselves to be carried by others).

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

When I bought my first home... the bank required the following:

20% down payment

6 months of living expenses in the bank

3 years in the same line of work and 2 years working for the same company

Home had to have a termite clearance and appraise.

Now... we would be getting somewhere if property taxes were tied to income...

It now takes 3 months of my take home pay to pay my property tax...

That's all? You didn't have to have a proctology exam?

 

[ultrarunner]

That's all? You didn't have to have a proctology exam?

I forgot to list the income to expense ratio... I think it varied from 28 to 31% for Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance...

I knew things were getting bad when the receptionist at work bought two homes within 6 months and a friend from High School working at Safeway bought 5 homes in 18 months... both walked away and are now renting....

 

[2manyrocks]

I knew things were getting bad when the receptionist at work bought two homes within 6 months and a friend from High School working at Safeway bought 5 homes in 18 months... both walked away and are now renting....

That's not finance--that's speculation. Easier to speculate on other people's money than on what you had to earn for yourself. If these loan officers were lending their personal money, they'd have been more careful, but when they're lending somebody's else's money, I suppose the loan officers just walk away too leaving someone else to foot the bill for their carelessness.

 

[ultrarunner]

That's not finance--that's speculation. Easier to speculate on other people's money than on what you had to earn for yourself. If these loan officers were lending their personal money, they'd have been more careful, but when they're lending somebody's else's money, I suppose the loan officers just walk away too leaving someone else to foot the bill for their carelessness.

The problem is we are the ones with the mess!

I better keep quiet before I get carried away... the same thing happened around here with SUV's when gas spiked... lots of people walked away.

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

The problem is we are the ones with the mess!

I better keep quiet before I get carried away... the same thing happened around here with SUV's when gas spiked... lots of people walked away.

The question to ask is "why do we have this mess"
Perhaps the answer is that the government(politicians) have decided that YOU should pay for someone else's mistake.

 

[dcyrilc]

When we bought our house 5-1/2 years ago, I almost had a fight with the real estate agent over what value of house to buy. I didn't want to spent over $200K, and she kept insisting that I could qualify for a $500-700K house and didn't want to show me anything under $500K. My wife had to keep me from throwing her out the door. We ended up buying a house we found ourselves for $226K. I was mad that she still got a commission.

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

When we bought our house 5-1/2 years ago, I almost had a fight with the real estate agent over what value of house to buy. I didn't want to spent over $200K, and she kept insisting that I could qualify for a $500-700K house and didn't want to show me anything under $500K. My wife had to keep me from throwing her out the door. We ended up buying a house we found ourselves for $226K. I was pissed that she still got a commission.

If you want to know how to motivate RE agents, read FreakaNomics, very entertaining book, will answer other burning questions you may have, Like Why do most drug dealers live with their Mothers.
It really is a hoot, who says econ is a dry subject?

 

[riptides]

I did a re-fi a few months ago. The government is not the problem. As a matter of fact we went out of our way to get into a g-backed loan.

I had to deal with three different banks. It was a fr****** disaster from the start.

All we wanted to do was consolidate loans, no money out, get a fixed rate, AND we were prepared to throw 10's of thousands of dollars at the loan and hundreds to thousands of dollars MORE a month to qualify.

The banks would not deal with us.

After four months we found a local broker who brought forth three different options. Our only sticking part then was getting the proper appraisal. That too turned into a nightmare. HUGE differences in price points. Once the THREE appraisals got their crap together, the g-backed process was the LEAST of the troubles.

It's not the government that is shafting the current mortgage market. If anything they are the ones that need to put people in jail over the current mortgage market woes.