Folks who overmortgaged, again IMHO, are half at fault and the banks are the other half. We have friends who have complained that when they went for a mortgage (maybe two years ago) and the banks tried to "give" them waaaaay too much money. Our friend wanted to mortgage 150,000 and the bank was like - we'll give you $500,000 and you can use it any way you want. He took the 150. He was smart. Tons of other people took the 500 and are now broke or bankrupt. The banks are getting the money anyway, why not use it to make good on what is half their fault.
I feel for the mortgage situation people.
But, when we applied for our $200,000 mortage 10 years ago, even then the bank tried to get us to only put down 10% with a low 2 year locked in subprime mortgage payment, to balloon after that. We said no, and stuck to it. We put down 30%, and have a comfortable $1600 monthly mortage on a house that's now worth $450,000.
My neighbor, who bought last year and couldn't afford the going $400,000s got one of those low interest, low down payment loans, and now the bank is calling in the prime payments. He is desperate. He may lose his house, but it was his choice.
I taught my kids DONT BUY IT IF YOU CANT AFFORD IT, and I'm a good example of how to let credit cards can get maxed, so I don't want them to be like me. But I'm not $400,000 in debt as my neighbors are with their house. It's very sad.
Tig, you have a good idea, and I'll pass it on to Chad, but it is discouraging for those who have sacrificed and bought what they could afford.
I mentioned on another post that Mel's company is sweating an Obama administration, because they make over $2.5 million a year with 19 employees, all with excellent salaries and benefits. This man worked himself to the bone to make this business succeed, and is rewarding his workers accordingly. Now he may be taxed because of his company's gross income. The rich to give to the needy. Well, Mel's salary may go down, we may lose benefits, and/ot some employees may have to be laid off. NOT a good thing when these people work hard, even on weekends, to make this small business a success.
Obama made a comment today "Next John McCain will criticize me for sharing my toys in kindergarten." There's no sharing going on. It's taking away from some to give to others. What lesson is this to our kids? I tell them if you want to be wealthy, make your own wealth. Don't depend on the govt to hand it to you at the expense of others. There is oppportunity for everyone here in America. It may involve relocating, schooling, networking, working your way up, taking two jobs, going into another field, mopping floors for a while, whatever, but its there.
I say this because I'm afraid that what most of my friends/family have worked so hard for will be unfairly taxed. These aren't millionnaires, but they're over the $250,000 cutoff, so they will be hurt. This isn't all profit, it's payroll and business-running expenses.
Even my auto mechanic wh0se business makes $300,000 a year says he'll either have to let one employee go, or move to a smaller home. Why should he have to move to a smaller home when he worked 7 days a week to afford the large one he has?
I'm worried, and I'll re-read your idea, Tig, because I'm hoping to see some brightness in our personal financial futures. Thank you sincerely for posting your ideas.
all by myself...could be a cool day...never done that before.....
She suggested someone check the Magic. Who wants to be my antenna topper hunter?
