Remember my Wells Fargo problems. . .

"Lesley" wrote in message
...
On May 5, 7:32 am, "tanadashoes" wrote:
.. The attorney for the sellers informed us that we were the first
people he'd seen read their mortgage contract in a long long time.

I am amazed!!!!
Okay I rent but if I was taking out the biggest loan of my entire life
would I read the small print?...

Of course I would!

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

We had a fairly easy time of it finding a house that met our criteria. It
also sailed through the inspection process, the VA loan process, the bidding
war (we only bid $2000 below asking price) and so forth. It was less than a
month from start to finish. I've bumped into people who claim to have spent
months on end finding a place that suited them, going through the finance
blues (we had excellent credit going in, circumstances since have changed
it), bidding wars from hell, and so forth. I can understand being shell
shocked after that and not reading the contract through. However, I was
taught by parents who'd been stomped on enough, being stomped on enough, and
marrying into a financially conservative family that refused to get stomped
on. I read all contracts, service statements, and so forth. Clerks hate
me, lawyers shun me, and I'm considered a prime candidate for death by ink
poisoning. Actually I'm a marshmallow who panics when things aren't written
on paper as they are represented by mouth. Don't ask me about the infamous
transmission problem. Ok, do, but it still gripes my cookies.

Pam S. tongue in cheek.

wrote in message
...
The city of New Orleans is cooperating with large
corporations to take land away from homeowners and sell it to the
corporations so they can build "yuppie condos" and make a killing. What
they've been doing is, when owners can't fix their homes (most are still
without jobs since businesses in the area are still recovering), the city
will bulldoze the house and then charge the homeowner for it. If the
homeowner can't pay for the bulldozing, the city confiscates the home/land
and then sells it.

It's heartbreaking what's happening to our once productive and robust
country. The American dream has turned into a nightmare!

That is absolutely *UNBELIVABLE* and completely outrageous!!!

Helen M

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

I really believe the US is in crisis - our government has catered to big
businesses for so long now that the "middle class" is becoming extinct. The
top 1% of our population makes about 90% of the money here. More and more
people are losing their homes (OB people are turning in cats and other pets
to shelters in record numbers because they no longer have any place to
live), small businesses are going bankrupt, it's really, really scary to
live here right now.

Hugs,

CatNipped

Those people that this happens to about knocking down their homes, need to
contact every news agency on the planet.

I know three people who lost their homes because they couldn't pay the
mortgage. However, and this will make me no friends here, all of them
bought way over their heads. The banks should have not given the loan but,
if even I, who am math impaired, knew they were biting off more than they
should have been able to chew, each also had a new car payment and kids,
they should have known this too. I know crap happens and a lot of the time
it is unintended. But, bottom line to me is WHY do so many people have to
start out a marriage, life or whatever, at the point it took their parents
40 years to get to? My kids are included in this question.
"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
...
The city of New Orleans is cooperating with large
corporations to take land away from homeowners and sell it to the
corporations so they can build "yuppie condos" and make a killing. What
they've been doing is, when owners can't fix their homes (most are still
without jobs since businesses in the area are still recovering), the city
will bulldoze the house and then charge the homeowner for it. If the
homeowner can't pay for the bulldozing, the city confiscates the
home/land
and then sells it.

It's heartbreaking what's happening to our once productive and robust
country. The American dream has turned into a nightmare!

That is absolutely *UNBELIVABLE* and completely outrageous!!!

Helen M

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

I really believe the US is in crisis - our government has catered to big
businesses for so long now that the "middle class" is becoming extinct.
The top 1% of our population makes about 90% of the money here. More and
more people are losing their homes (OB people are turning in cats and
other pets to shelters in record numbers because they no longer have any
place to live), small businesses are going bankrupt, it's really, really
scary to live here right now.

Hugs,

CatNipped

Granby wrote:
Those people that this happens to about knocking down their homes,
need to contact every news agency on the planet.

But lots of people take advantage of "disasters". I don't automaticall lay
all that at the feet of the government. My ex-, Ray, was a carpenter. He
used to go help rebuild in the wake of hurricanes. (In fact, he may well be
dead because when he heard about Katrina the first thing he would have done
was charge down there to be with his remaining family members in Bay St.
Louis, MS, which was wiped off the map.) He told me outrageous stories of
price gouging by everyone. Need lumber? The price just went up 50%. Need
an electrician? Sure, but our rates are now $200/hr. rather than $75. And
we're talking *years* before GW was in office, so you can't blame the
sitting President. THE GOVERNMENT DOESN'T HAVE A MONOPOLY ON GREED.

I know three people who lost their homes because they couldn't pay the
mortgage. However, and this will make me no friends here, all of them
bought way over their heads. The banks should have not given the
loan but, if even I, who am math impaired, knew they were biting off
more than they should have been able to chew, each also had a new car
payment and kids, they should have known this too. I know crap
happens and a lot of the time it is unintended. But, bottom line to
me is WHY do so many people have to start out a marriage, life or
whatever, at the point it took their parents 40 years to get to? My
kids are included in this question

As I mentioned in reply to Sherry's post, my single brother sold a very nice
3 br/2ba house in a good neighborhood and built a 5 br/4 ba house.
Question: Why does a single person with no kids need 2 more bedrooms and 2
more bathrooms to clean? Answer: Keeping up with the Joneses.

He's a good cook but he's not a profession chef. He paid a lot of money for
his new kitchen. It doesn't turn out any better-tasting meals than the old
one did He doesn't need a formal dining room; it's been used once in 2
years. Could be another 2 years before it's used again. He didn't need to
get rid of all of his furniture (except for his bedroom set, which he's
planning to replace) and buy all new, either. But he figured, new house,
get all new stuff. He even gave away a perfectly good television rather
than just put it in one of the unused bedrooms. And if he loses his job,
he's going to need hip waders to get through the resulting ****. At least
he didn't buy a new car to coordinate with the shade of the bricks!

Jill

wrote in message
...
wrote in message
...
The city of New Orleans is cooperating with large
corporations to take land away from homeowners and sell it to the
corporations so they can build "yuppie condos" and make a killing.
What they've been doing is, when owners can't fix their homes (most
are still without jobs since businesses in the area are still
recovering), the city will bulldoze the house and then charge the
homeowner for it. If the homeowner can't pay for the bulldozing,
the city confiscates the home/land
and then sells it.

It's heartbreaking what's happening to our once productive and
robust country. The American dream has turned into a nightmare!

That is absolutely *UNBELIVABLE* and completely outrageous!!!

Helen M

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

I really believe the US is in crisis - our government has catered to
big businesses for so long now that the "middle class" is becoming
extinct. The top 1% of our population makes about 90% of the money
here. More and more people are losing their homes (OB people are
turning in cats and other pets to shelters in record numbers because
they no longer have any place to live), small businesses are going
bankrupt, it's really, really scary to live here right now.

Hugs,

CatNipped

kilikini wrote:
Granby wrote:

I know three people who lost their homes because they couldn't pay
the mortgage. However, and this will make me no friends here, all
of them bought way over their heads. The banks should have not
given the loan but, if even I, who am math impaired, knew they were
biting off more than they should have been able to chew, each also
had a new car payment and kids, they should have known this too.

In our case, my husband is basically unemployed because the housing
industry here in Florida has completely stopped. 36% of EXISTING
houses are up for sale due to rising property taxes and lack of home
insurance - who wants to build? (My husband is a framer/trim
carpenter, by the way.) There is a state-funded home insurance
company called Citizen's that pretty much has the market because most
other insurance companies pulled out. They're at least triple what
former home owner's insurance policies were just a couple of years
ago. Our property tax has more than doubled. To put it simply, we
paid $700 a year for insurance 2 years ago and we're now paying
$2200. Our property tax was about $900 a year and now it's about
$1800 AND our mortgage went from $456 to $700. All in the past
couple of years! We live in an 800 square foot house on a really
small lot in the center of crackville. My husband has worked, maybe,
5 days in the past month and a half and I'm on disability.

We're really scared, to be honest. When work was strong, we could
barely afford what we had, but now that there's no work, and since I
got sick, we're hurting - and we live cheaply!

I hate to say this, because my husband is a strong-minded man, but
he's cried on my shoulder wondering what in the heck we're going to
do. We can't sell, because nobody's buying and where would we go
that we could live as "cheaply" as we do here? Rent anywhere, these
days, is about $1000 a month. Plus we've got our 3 cats and two rats
to think of. If we go out-of-state, I lose my Medicaid, which I need
for my cancer check-ups. We're kind of stuck.

We really don't live beyond our means. We don't buy clothes. We
have one vehicle. We spend our money on food, gas, the animals,
toiletries, and bills. I think this is the sign that America is
going down. Recession my butt; we're in a depression.

kili -------sorry for the rant

No problem about the rant but you guys shoulda got out years ago. It was
going from bad to worse when you got there, sweetie. The writing was
already on the wall but the housing situation wasn't nearly in the shape
it's in now. I know, shoulda/woulda/coulda and all that. Doesn't help you
now. I wish I could make things better but I can't.

All I can say is, I'm sure glad I didn't give into my urge to buy a house
back in 2002. I was on top of the world at the time. But I'm cynical
enough to realize things never stay that way for very long

Jill

On May 5, 9:14*am, "Granby" wrote:

I know three people who lost their homes because they couldn't pay the
mortgage.

And over here in London I know people who have had to buy even through
they were taking out a big mortgage but even so the cost of renting is
such that they couldn't afford to rent- they're tied oin for 25 years
because their monthly payments are less than the rent but they are at
the mercy of their building societies, the job market and negative
equity

Every time I hear about this I want to send my landlord flowers- not
that they'd be happy we moved in back when housing associations were
charities and the aim was affordable housing for local people then a
certain Mrs Thatcher stripped them of their charitable status so they
charge market rents....apart from tenants already in who remained
protected under the fair rent acts like us....I pay less than some
friends pay for bedsitters/studio flats and if I ever had to leave
here then to pay anything as low as this I would have to move miles
away


Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

Lesley wrote:

Every time I hear about this I want to send my landlord flowers- not
that they'd be happy we moved in back when housing associations were
charities and the aim was affordable housing for local people then a
certain Mrs Thatcher stripped them of their charitable status so they
charge market rents....

Wow, you *have* been there a long time! How long?

--
Joyce

To email me, remove the triple-X from my user name. ^..^

Sherry wrote:


Well, yeah, it's opportunistic, it's predatory lending. But, don't you
think *some* accountability rests with the borrower? I'm not talking
about people like Pam, or the many others whose world gets turned
upside down from health issues, or job loss, etc.
There are a whole lot of people out there having homes reposessed
simply because they bought homes more expensive than what they could
afford.

Probably true, but there is an astonishing number of people out there
who are quite ignorant about what they can and cannot afford. All it
takes is a slick realtor more concerned with his commissions than his
client's needs, and a not terribly scrupulous loan officer, and they're
quickly in debt way over their heads.

Lesley wrote:
On May 5, 7:32 am, "tanadashoes" wrote:
. The attorney for the sellers informed us that we were the first
people he'd seen read their mortgage contract in a long long time.

I am amazed!!!!
Okay I rent but if I was taking out the biggest loan of my entire life
would I read the small print?...

Of course I would!

The problem is, a lot of people don't understand what they're reading,
and hate to admit their ignorance. Consequently, rather than spend the
money to hire an attorney to look it over and advise them, they let
themselves be suckered into a loan they can't afford. (And find
themselves losing their entire investment later, because they were too
cheap to pay attorney fees when it was in their best interest to do so.)

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


Sherry wrote:


Well, yeah, it's opportunistic, it's predatory lending. But, don't you
think *some* accountability rests with the borrower? I'm not talking
about people like Pam, or the many others whose world gets turned
upside down from health issues, or job loss, etc.
There are a whole lot of people out there having homes reposessed
simply because they bought homes more expensive than what they could
afford.

Probably true, but there is an astonishing number of people out there who
are quite ignorant about what they can and cannot afford. All it takes is
a slick realtor more concerned with his commissions than his client's
needs, and a not terribly scrupulous loan officer, and they're quickly in
debt way over their heads.

We did a "credit score zone" test for how much house we could afford (and
actually made a loan for considerably less than we were approved for).
However, 2 weeks after closing, I lost my job (Ben was working as house
husband back then and didn't have a paying job). I had to take a job for
half what I was making - so there went the "credit score zone" results right
out of the window. Thank goodness we had been conservative about the loan
we made or we probably would have lost the house almost as soon as we'd
moved in (as it is, we're still living in a dilapidated "fixer-upper" that
we've never been able to fix). As it is, the FIRST thing we pay each month
is our house note (even before doing groceries) - every other bill collector
can wait their turn, but we need a roof over our heads.

I guess what I'm saying is that, even if you don't buy too much house for
your pocketbook, situations can change drastically overnight - and in this
society where most people live paycheck to paycheck, you can be out on the
street in a heartbeat.

Hugs,

CatNipped