The Obama administration is taking money from taxpaying renters and giving it to unemployed loan owners so they can give it to banksters. Unemployed renters get to sleep in the street.
Irvine Home Address … 9 STARDUST #5 Irvine, CA 92603
Resale Home Price …… $499,000
Oh it's not fair,
And it's really not OK,
It's really not OK,
It's really not OK,
Oh, you're supposed to care,
But all you do is take,
Yeah, all you do is take.
Lily Allen — Not Fair
Has fairness been a casualty of the housing bubble? At times it looks that way. The government keeps implementing policies to benefit one group over another not because it is the right thing to do but because it buys them votes. Last year, I wrote about The Policy of Screwing Prudent Renters to Benefit Loan Owners.
One housing bubble phenomenon was that the right ones — prudent people who knew what they could afford — were kept out, and the wrong ones — kool aid intoxicated fools — were let in. That mistake was bad enough, but now our own government is frantically working to repeat this mistake. Rather than doing something corrective, like letting house prices fall, our government is going to extreme lengths to keep the right ones out and keep the wrong ones in.
Since the previous failed policies of screwing renters did not succeed, the Obama administration is looking for ways of expanding the failed policies to really screw prudent renters.
Obama administration boosts aid for unemployed homeowners
Unemployed homeowners with government-insured mortgages will be allowed to miss a year of payments while they try to find a job.
While unemployed loan owners get to benefit from government largess, unemployed renters get to sleep in their cars or on the street.
By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times
July 7, 2011
Reporting from Washington — Still scrambling to stabilize the struggling housing market, the Obama administration will allow some unemployed homeowners to miss a year of mortgage payments without threat of foreclosure while they try to find a new job.
Why do loan owners get such a dramatic increase in unemployment benefits while renters get nothing? Free housing is far more valuable than the paltry unemployment checks people receive. If lawmakers wanted to increase unemployment benefits, why don't they just do that? Because the real policy is to give money to the banks. The unfairness of this policy is unconscionable.
The expanded assistance — triple the current limit of four months for those with government-insured mortgages — could help “tens of thousands” of people keep their homes, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said.
Why should working renters care if loan owners are allowed to continue to occupy real estate they are not paying for? And why should working renters subsidize loan owners? Either give all unemployed increased benefits or let loan owners lose their houses. Why isn't anyone upset about renters getting kicked out of their homes?
“Helping struggling borrowers avoid default is not only good for those borrowers, it is good for the economy,” he said.
Bullshit. It is good for the banks and only the banks. Giving money to lenders to keep people in properties they cannot afford does not benefit the economy. However, it does displace a wouldbe buyer who would have purchased the property currently being occupied by an unemployed delinquent mortgage squatter. Further it provides false hope to the borrower and fosters the borrower's sense of entitlement to occupy real estate they aren't paying for.
But hoping to avoid high expectations that have accompanied other administration foreclosure efforts, Donovan cautioned Thursday that the move wasn't a “silver bullet.”
The new requirement for so-called forbearance comes on top of several initiatives the White House has launched since 2009 to try to stem the tide of foreclosures, which continue to drive down real estate prices.
President Obama admitted this week that those efforts — such as the much-maligned Home Affordable Modification Program, which offered incentives to banks to lower monthly payments for troubled borrowers — haven't tamed the problem.
“We've had to revamp our housing program several times to try to help people stay in their homes and try to start lifting home values up,” Obama said. “That's probably been the area that's been most stubborn to us trying to solve the problem.”
Attention all renters and prospective home buyers: Obama is screwing you. He is taking your money and giving it to loan owners in an effort to make prices unaffordable so you can never own a home. Obama is placing the financial interests of lenders and loan owners over the interests of renters.
Falling home prices are not a problem that needs to be solved. It is a healthy correction from an unsustainable bubble. Efforts to prevent this correction are what has been hurting the economy over the last few years.
Housing advocates and some lawmakers have pushed the administration to increase the amount of time unemployed homeowners would be allowed to skip payments. The White House agreed partly because 60% of people without jobs have been unemployed for more than three months, Donovan said.
If house prices had been allowed to crash and bottom, the economy would be improving now because homebuilders would have the elusive price stability they need to go back to work. With high unemployment in construction, the economy continues to suffer, and it will as long as government policy prevents a natural bottom from forming in the housing market.
Separately, the Federal Reserve told Congress on Thursday that it wanted uniform standards for how mortgage servicers handle modifications, foreclosures and other issues. The Fed, along with HUD and other federal regulators, is working on such standards.
In addition, regulators are working with attorneys general from all 50 states on a broad settlement with major banks of investigations into botched foreclosure paperwork.
The administration's latest plan, unveiled Thursday, affects a small group of homeowners — about 3,500 borrowers a month who default on loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration and a total of about 1 million people eligible for HAMP aid.
The only solace I find for this misguided effort is how few it actually impacts. 
But Donovan said he hoped that the new requirements would be adopted voluntarily throughout the broader mortgage industry.
Under the plan, mortgage servicers for FHA-insured loans will be required to allow qualified homeowners to miss up to 12 months of payments as unemployed borrowers look for new jobs.
The administration also is making it easier for unemployed homeowners to qualify for the assistance, removing what it called some “upfront hurdles” involving screening for employment and payment history.
In addition, mortgage servicers participating in the administration's mortgage modification program will be required “whenever possible” to extend the minimum period that eligible unemployed homeowners can miss payments to 12 months.
The missed payments would be added to the mortgage balance and made up by the homeowner, though in some cases those debts could be forgiven by the lender, Donovan said.
Lenders get to pocket this free money and get the balance added to the borrowers debt. It truly is a win-win for them.
Under what circumstances would the lender forgive this debt? Why would they?
But like the other government attempts to aid homeowners, the new effort has limitations. Only about 10% of some 50 million mortgage loans outstanding nationwide are backed by the FHA. And less than a quarter of the approximately 4.6 million homeowners who are behind on their mortgages qualify for the HAMP program.
Bert Ely, an independent banking consultant, said allowing unemployed homeowners to skip payments sounds good in theory but has problems that would make it difficult for the industry to adopt a 12-month standard.
“Unfortunately, a lot of times forbearance just postpones the problem,” he said. “So you extend from four months to 12 months and things don't work out. Who eats the loss?“
The government, of course. Who else would you expect to eat the loss?
Forbearance is at the heart of the shadow inventory problem. Lenders have been kicking the can down the road endlessly with hopes the problem will somehow work itself out. As they accumulate deadbeats, lenders run into cashflow problems, so now they are looking to the government to pick up the tab.
But the People Improving Communities Through Organizing National Network, a coalition of faith-based community groups, said the administration's announcement Thursday was “yet another step toward breaking the link in America between losing your job and losing your home.”
Yes, this is another step toward breaking the link between losing your job and losing your home. Is that a good thing? People borrowed a great deal of money on the premise that they would work to pay off the debt. Shouldn't they lose their homes if they stop working? If borrowers can break that link, I will see how much I can borrow, then I will quit work and just keep the house. Wouldn't you? 
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) also cheered the move, saying many of his colleagues believed that the previous minimum “was not nearly enough time.”
“I think the 12-month extension will help very much,” he said.
I think Barney Frank is a tool, and if there is one thing I cheered with the Democrats lost the House of Representatives, it was Barney Frank losing power.
Last year, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which funded the administration's mortgage modification initiative, urged that the minimum period for skipped payments be increased.
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, one of the nation's largest mortgage servicers, said it already offered homeowners the ability to skip up to 12 months of payments “in some cases.” From January 2009 to last April, the company has offered assistance to 173,000 customers who have lost their jobs, spokesman Tom Goyda said.
It's called amend-extend-pretend, and all the lenders are doing it. Whether the program is formalized or not, lenders have been accumulating delinquent borrowers in shadow inventory for years, and they will continue to do so as long as the resale market is too weak to absorb the inventory.
Because the administration hasn't released details of the changes in its programs, Wells Fargo would not comment specifically on them, he said.
jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com
Obama and the Democrats in power are not the only ones endorsing bad policy ideas. Bill Clinton, the master triangulator, has decided pandering to loan owners is good politics.
Bill Clinton Says BofA Deal May Lead to Principal Reductions
June 30, 2011, 7:11 PM EDT 
July 1 (Bloomberg) — Former President Bill Clinton said Bank of America Corp.’s accord with mortgage-bond investors may give more “underwater” borrowers a chance to cut the amount owed on their home loans.
“You’d relieve the anxiety of countless Americans who would know they could hold onto their homes,” Clinton, 64, said in an interview yesterday with Bloomberg Television’s Al Hunt.
If giving away free money is considered a treatment to relieve anxiety, I will attest to being very stressed lately. Can I have some free money too? Oh, wait… I am not a loan owner, so I don't qualify.
Bank of America, the largest U.S. lender by assets, agreed this week to pay $8.5 billion to bondholders who said they were duped into investing in defective mortgages. The deal calls for specialized servicers to manage some of the highest-risk loans, an arrangement that Clinton said could lead to debt reductions and avert foreclosures.
So-called sub-servicers “are often very effective at effecting principal-reduction modifications,” said Laurie Goodman, an analyst at Amherst Securities Group LP, which specializes in fixed-income assets such as mortgage bonds, in a note yesterday. Bank of America, which was blamed by regulators for mishandling foreclosures and modifications, may hand over loans in groups of less than 30,000 to the smaller firms.
What does it take to be very effective at giving away free money? I suspect it really isn't that hard.
Dan Frahm, a spokesman for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, declined to comment. Kevin Heine of Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the debt’s trustee, also declined to comment. Kathy Patrick, a lawyer for the bondholder group, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Leaders at some of the biggest mortgage lenders have opposed cutting homeowner debts. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon has said principal reductions may be unfair and difficult to implement.
‘Hard to See’
Brian T. Moynihan, 51, CEO of Bank of America, said in April that “we do not see broad-based principal reduction as a sound policy decision” for the country.
“It’s hard to see how we could justify reducing principal for many delinquent customers who represent a small portion of borrowers, but not for the vast majority of our customers who have stayed current on their loans,” he said in the prepared text of a speech.
Exactly. How can banks reward the least prudent borrowers in their portfolio at the expense of everyone else?
There is “enormous potential” to reduce the drag of U.S. housing on the economy if aspects of the Bank of America settlement are applied to the entire industry, Clinton said. The government could give an incentive to have that happen, he said.
Bill Clinton is right. If we give away billions of dollars of free money, it will certainly stimulate the economy. Of course, it is the dumbest policy idea I can think of, but if the Democrats pull it off, they might buy the loan owner vote.
“What I would like to see happen is some system set up to have the same thing done that they did because of this lawsuit, voluntarily, that encompasses everybody else,” Clinton said.
What i would like to see happen is for loan owners to get foreclosed on. Foreclosure is a superior form of principal reduction, and only through foreclosure will the mortgage mess get cleaned up and the economy will prosper.
Should banks forgive the debts of HELOC abusers?
- The owners of todays featured property paid $419,000 on 4/15/2003. They used a $322,700 first mortgage and a $96,300 down payment.
- On 2/27/2004 they obtained a $50,000 HELOC.
- On 11/16/2004 they got a $100,000 HELOC.
- On 12/29/2005 they refinanced with a $512,000 one-year ARM.
- On 3/31/2006 they obtained a $112,000 HELOC they apparently did not use.
- On 12/12/2006 they refinanced with a $517,500 first mortgage with a 10-year fixed rate.
- They stopped making payments late last year, and the NOD was filled in April of 2011.
Foreclosure Record
Recording Date: 04/22/2011
Document Type: Notice of Default
These borrowers added $200,000 to their mortgage in a three-year span. They likely spent some of it on upgrades to the property, but I think it's fair to say they blew the rest. Is there any potential benefit to the country that makes forgiving their debts a good idea?
I don't think so.
If we forgive the debts of borrowers like these, we implicitly say this behavior is okay. If we do that, everyone will Ponzi borrow until the entire system collapses, then they will expect principal forgiveness to fix it. Home ownership truly does become a path to free money. All one has to do is sign some loan papers, and free money flows like ambrosia conferring endless wealth upon all who own a loan.
This is exactly what Bill Clinton is endorsing above, and many on the left who have been pandering to loan owners for the last few years would be happy to go along.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
This property is available for sale via the MLS.
Please contact Shevy Akason, #01836707
949.769.1599
sales@idealhomebrokers.com
Irvine House Address … 9 STARDUST #5 Irvine, CA 92603
Resale House Price …… $499,000
Beds: 2
Baths: 2
Sq. Ft.: 1747
$286/SF
Property Type: Residential, Condominium
Style: 3+ Levels, Other
View: Hills, Park/Green Belt, Pool
Year Built: 1982
Community: Turtle Rock
County: Orange
MLS#: S665311
Source: SoCalMLS
Status: Active
——————————————————————————
Beautifully remodeled, wonderful location, and great views. You will fall in love with this upgraded townhome offering 2 master suites, 2.5 baths, formal living and dining rooms, fantastic French country kitchen with granite counters and beautiful cabinetry. Enjoy the private patio, the pools and spas, the walking trails and the park across the way with tennis courts. Award winning schools and just a few minutes drive to Newport beaches, Fashion Island, and South Coast Plaza.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Proprietary IHB commentary and analysis 
Resale Home Price …… $499,000
House Purchase Price … $419,000
House Purchase Date …. 4/15/2003
Net Gain (Loss) ………. $50,060
Percent Change ………. 11.9%
Annual Appreciation … 2.1%
Cost of Home Ownership
————————————————-
$499,000 ………. Asking Price
$17,465 ………. 3.5% Down FHA Financing
4.59% …………… Mortgage Interest Rate
$481,535 ………. 30-Year Mortgage
$105,672 ………. Income Requirement
$2,466 ………. Monthly Mortgage Payment
$432 ………. Property Tax (@1.04%)
$0 ………. Special Taxes and Levies (Mello Roos)
$104 ………. Homeowners Insurance (@ 0.25%)
$554 ………. Private Mortgage Insurance
$260 ………. Homeowners Association Fees
============================================
$3,816 ………. Monthly Cash Outlays
-$398 ………. Tax Savings (% of Interest and Property Tax)
-$624 ………. Equity Hidden in Payment (Amortization)
$30 ………. Lost Income to Down Payment (net of taxes)
$82 ………. Maintenance and Replacement Reserves
============================================
$2,906 ………. Monthly Cost of Ownership
Cash Acquisition Demands
——————————————————————————
$4,990 ………. Furnishing and Move In @1%
$4,990 ………. Closing Costs @1%
$4,815 ………… Interest Points @1% of Loan
$17,465 ………. Down Payment
============================================
$32,260 ………. Total Cash Costs
$44,500 ………… Emergency Cash Reserves
============================================
$76,760 ………. Total Savings Needed
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
yup
Wow. Incidentally, I just love how politicians endorsing programs like this one talk suggest that those who are in danger of “losing their home” have been paying their mortgages for 28/30 years and simply had bad luck befall them at that point. They never mention that most who are losing “their home” don’t actually own ONE SPECK of it, “bought” something they couldn’t actually afford from day 1, and already raped the lender/taxpayer via excess HELOC and general payment deadbeatism. Quite staggering.
So you’re upset over generalizations you say?
Yes! Yes!
And what about renters? We have homes too! No Government assistance for us when we have bad luck!
Unemployed renter? Just go crash on your friend’s couch you putz, get out of my face I cannot even stand to look at you.
Unemployed house debtor? Well sir, right this way – how can I help you sir? We have some great programs available to assist you in servicing your debt! Right this way! Can I get you something sir? Bottled water? Coke?
Steal from renters? Whoa, what garbage. Don’t you know what forbearance is? This doesn’t involve you Larry.
Yeah, Larry! You just don’t know what forebearance is and how the government, (you), will not end up paying anything for this.
Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Bill, the phone is ringing…this might be one of those double up 6% commisions. Don’t waste too much time here!!!
Is Bill a “r”ealtor or a random FB?
I think all articles like this should begin and end with:
“Principal reduction achieved through foreclosure is superior to all other forms of principal reduction.”
There is no truer statement, yet somehow this fact is lost on homedebtors and the media.
Housedebtors do not care about their fellow man one bit. You would not hear one word from them if the foreclosed house did not effectively lower the fantasy prices of all the neighboring houses around it.
Oh, the foreclosed house next door means that my house is not worth less to a prospective buyer?! Holy F**K, the Government must do something immediately! For the children of these poor souls!
Here’s a private company starting a principal forgiveness program. It’s the new normal:
http://www.housingwire.com/2011/07/11/pmi-to-pay-underwater-borrowers-to-stay-put
The “money” quote:
“Participation in RH Reward is voluntary and there is no cost to the homeowner, according to PMI. The cash will come after a lengthy period of keeping the mortgage current, generally from 36 to 60 months. According to PMI, the reward will be between 10 to 30% of the unpaid principal balance.”
It appears to be more expensive to pay a claim on a foreclosure than it is to pay a persons principal down.
My .02c
Soylent Green Is People
On the contrary Bill, it involves everyone. This administration is continually ignoring responsible people and making them pay for the selfish and idiotic actions of the masses. I for one, don’t feel the need to pay for people like you who peddled overpriced homes to people who had no ability to pay for it. The lack of financial conservatives in the past few years has been astounding; as are the things that homeowners believe they are entitled to, merely because they own a home. It’s a joke, as are the majority of your troll comments. So thank you Larry for continuing to provide information and call out the current b.s. that is being peddled on us–regardless of all of the OCAR and its pundits whining.
Thanks for the article IR.
But this policy is bullshit. How the heck is it fair that a loanowner can squat while I have to pay rent and get srewed by the IRS fleecing my opportunity to buy. I have been waiting for years for this to hit bottom…. now I will have to wait more years… I should just buy a house and never pay a single mortgage payment… squat for 3+ years like a bunch of loanowners here in Sacramento. Who do we contact about this BS?
Aren’t renters now able to take out an FHA loan and obtain this unemployment insurance? Not saying this is good policy, however it appears to be available to anyone who wants it.
FHA is irrelevant to Irvine.
Aren’t renters now able to take out an FHA
No, PR. Renters are not allowed to use FHA loans to pay rent. It doesn’t work that way. Thanks for the astute observation though – it changed my life.
All you have to do is buy a house with an FHA loan.
You then have this one year unemployment insurance to have no monthly rent payment. This is accomplished with a 3.5% down payment.
This is available to anyone wants it. It has no bias. Play the game or not, your choice.
Too funny again. Not one of them will “play the game” as much as they whine and b1tch about how the homeowner is making out so well.
Well, there it is, PR calls out the huge band of hypocrites….C’MON, buy the house and DEFAULT!!!
It’s the best thing since sliced bread, and by Gawd, I’m willing to bet you can get 5 years of free rent by the time all this blows over right?
…..crickets. The Ponzi winners sold in 2004-2006, but they didn’t do anything wrong, that profit is all good. It was FRAUD from top to bottom, when you point fingers, point them at everyone who benefited from the raping of american home value stability, no wait, point them at the victims who will lose their only home, yes, that’s much easier, AND they have no money or political ties.
No, I’m not saying that.
This is unemployment insurance. Similar to auto
companies saying you will have no monthly payment while you are unemployed.
Again, not saying this is good policy. Just calling it out for what it is. It’s a government incentive to buy a house with an FHA loan. If you became unemployed not only would you receive unemployment, you would also have no monthly payment thanks to the government.
This is taking away some uncertainty for a current buyer. You can whine or you can understand what this does.
Alright, here it goes……
I concur with PR. There, I said it. I have been struggling with this idea for quite some time. My motivation for buying a home relatively soon has almost nothing to do with whether or not I think it is a good time to buy. Rather, my decision would primarily be based on buying some “unemployment” insurance. If I don’t pay my rent, I get evicted in 30 days. If I don’t pay my mortgage, I could have a year before I get evicted. If I do FHA financing and only put down the minimum 3.5%, then not only do I preserve my cash, but the bank, errrrrr….I mean the Gubbamint will take it’s sweet time repossessing my rather average starter home. The biggest roadblock that is keeping me from pulling the trigger is the PMI. For 400k, I think it is slightly above $400/mo. for a minimum of 5 years. And let’s not forget the HOA’s dues. Yowza!!!! I would rather put that money into a Roth-IRA.
It’s a logical conclusion if you are buying at rental parity.
You are combatting curent rental inflation while obtaining unemployment insurance.
*You* might not be saying that PR, but I am. Let all the whiners go buy a home if it’s so freaking good to “get over” on society. But they won’t, because they know losing your home sucks a$$ and there most definitly ARE downsides.
I understand your premise, but the majoirty homeowner mentality hasn’t quite grasped what you are pointing too. After generations and generations of stable housing increases, now you have to re-train the wheel running hamsters to HEDGE their purchase with a low down and government backed unemployment insurance.
Did anyone see THIS trick to keep housing prices inflated? I didn’t.
It should be correctly viewed as a way to motivate purchases on the low end and also increase unemployment benefits
to low end home owners.
Lower end areas are screwed anyway so I doubt this will help. This has no impact in premium areas.
The inland desert areas have no future as summers go to 120 degrees and energy and water cost hyper inflate.
Forbearance is lame, no consideration for prudent renters who chose not to buy at high prices like some sheeple. Now us renters are going to pay for them to stay in their houses at inflated mortgage balances, pretty lame policy.
Part of me thinks that banks must be in way more trouble then they are letting on since policies like this only help them .
Only other thought is Oboma is trying to buy votes. His goal is to get reelected so it make sense for him (but not for me!!!!!!)
Part of me thinks that banks must be in way more trouble then they are letting on since policies like this only help them .
Bingo! And we have a winner. That’s how we are going delaying the next great depression. We gave banks billions of dollars and changed the rules on mark-to-market so that they can appear solvent.
As for Obama buying votes. All politician buy votes in one form or another.
no consideration for prudent renters who chose not to buy at high prices
Of course not. Do you think that the Government is owned by the Rental lobby?
How can I get an FHA mortgage with 3.5% down + 3.5% HomePath + 2 year fee home warranty + not pay my mortgage for 3+ years + renegotiate for principal reduction + not pay mortgage for another 3+ years + continue squatting for another 3+ years + renegotiate another principal reduction + ….
This definitely makes homeownership sound attractive!
where do I sign-up?
Call Bill. He has all the info!
You are on to something. Better start filming the infomercial while it is still original.
And just remember that we pay U.S. senators and representatives a premium salary plus excellent benefits to keep kicking this can down the road….to the next unfortunate and incompetent elected official who, because he/she is “all about change”, will never rectify either.
All this new policy will succeed in doing is unnecessarily prolonging the suffering and inevitable. These people will lose their homes.
I’m not sure who will win the 2012 election, but I get the sense that compassion for the “poor”, “downtrodden” and “foreclosed upon” will be in ever dwindling supply. This is unfortunate, because there are a lot of people who went into foreclosure over the last several years by not “spending the house” and through no fault of their own: sudden unemployment or serious family medical issues and insufficient insurance coverage.
SoCal rent hikes trail U.S. average
http://lansner.ocregister.com/2011/07/11/socal-rent-hikes-trail-u-s-average/116347/
Economy Faces a Jolt as Benefit Checks Run Out
“Close to $2 of every $10 that went into Americans’ wallets last year were payments like jobless benefits, food stamps, Social Security and disability, according to an analysis by Moody’s Analytics”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/11/business/economy/as-government-aid-fades-so-may-the-recovery.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=Expiration of federal aid may be drag on spending, recovery&st=cse&scp=1
Exactly how many are due to 1. overspending (Ponzing on a house expending to appreaciate to pay off the prior loan) regardless on changing employment status, 2. true unemployment (not unemployment on top of #1), 3. Medical reasons that if a non-occurance would of been able to pay the loan. How much is truely downtrodden and how much is pure foolishness while claiming downtroddeness?
My old work place had the option of using opting out of the health insurance and taking cash (for those covered under the spouse’s plan). There were those collecting donation when they had a medical problems and not insurance (i.e., lied to take the cash instead of medical insurance).
Robin Hood took money from the govt and gave it back to the righfull owners. The govt did it by excess taxes and seizures in Robin Hood’s day. Not much different from today, excess there’s no Robin Hood. Just the taking and giving to those in power the banksters.
I know of no body every bying a home. They bought a house. The wife and kids were not included in the sale.
Man, bummer to all the single people who live alone in their HOUSES, no way to have a home without a wife and kids.
The sickness spreads. Do it for the children.
And renters are paying more rent lately in my area, because there seems to be some sort of shortage of rentals developing due to newly-minted renters from the ex-homeowner pool and current renters determined not to purchase anywhere near the current are-they-on-crack asking prices.
One would think that renters would become a force to be reckoned with at some point, but much of the renting class does not vote much, and, thanks to a slew of new voter ID initiatives in many states, will be voting less in future.
The only thing I can see ending the power of the homedebtor class is a large bloc of elderly renters, as they vote religiously. It is not in the interest of the banks to have anyone with a paycheck or social security check become a renter.
Rents have definitely been shooting up. I have been living & working in Mountain View (Palo Alto’s overpriced neighbor to the south) for 3 years now as a renter. Each year I have been able to keep or reduce my rent & presently pay $2312 monthly on a 3BR unit in a nice complex (with 2 roomies). Well, THIS year, if we stayed rent goes up ~$250, no negotiations. My fiancee & I are moving to a 1BR anyway, and the cheapest one in the complex is $2200. A month ago it was $1800, and a year ago it was ~$1500. Goodbye, nice complex!
Rents all over this area have shot up. It is highly desirable, and the median price of a fixer-upper junkbox in MV is still over $900k. Since relatively few people can responsibly afford that, renting has gotten hot. Even the sketchy places where your car is certain to be broken into are no less than $1000 monthly.
As a middle class couple, I can certainly say that it feels like a war is being waged against us. We have been saving prudently for years & COULD put 10-20% down in Mountain View, but that seems like pissing money away. Prices are going to drop, someday, and I won’t buy into a losing investment, particularly when they all need $50k+ in repairs & updates. The longer we wait though, the less that saved money is worth. Pretty soon, rent will match a mortgage on an overpriced house I’m afraid.
Frankly, you should probably find a different job and relocate instead of just making your landlord richer. Imagine how much money you could save in a different location, assuming you would be able to get a similar job
If this is the “Robin Hood” story all over again, then who is King Richard and when does he return from foreign wars to put his foot through Prince John’s head?
Defacrats are evil, but when you worship mammon, repugnantcans are elite.
Both parties sold out the american people and your title tries to blame the defacrats…sad. The mentality hasn’t cleared up yet, hurry up and vote 100% republicans and see what happens…I will laugh my a$$ off as social services disappear, and you are a debt slave sold into bondage with no forgiveness. The Cans support “free market” LMFAO!
The title of today’s blog bespeaks much about the originator. No worries though, OC is primarily repugnantcans. How about that for a nice elephant monikor “Repugnant Can – same old ideas to screw the little guy”.
I hope they drop the corporate tax rate to ZERO, and when there isn’t a pot to piss in, THEN see the repugnant members spin that. Broadcoms Tax Rate in California with billions of profit….1.7%. OH MY GAWD how can they operate in California? It’s repugnant.
Swiller, wipe the froth from your mouth.
The title is meant to convey the irony of the Democrats, who often market themselves as the party of the little guy, selling out to bankers.
It’s no secret that Republicans are the party of the wealthy, in general. In other words, we all know that Republicans love bankers.
The Democrats are supposed to be better than the evil bankers. As it turns out though, they are no better than the Republicans.
Get yourself together for God’s sake man.
The Republicrat GWB or Jorge has a 1 trillion bailout for the banksters and friends.
The Democrat BHO wanted change so he increase the bailout to 3 trillion. That was the change.
Just more smoke and mirrors. Best to have a third party or dead gridlock. But we just can’t get deal gridlock when it comes to bailing out the banksters.
Aye, that’s one thing we agree on, both parties selling us out. D’s with handouts and special interests, R’s with corporate handouts and special interests….both support Endless War.
I’m not in dire straits by any means David, I saw this coming years ago and have been planning accordingly. I firmly believe the biggest jolt to americans will be simply learning to live without most of the luxuries. I do believe I’ve saved almost $600 since January by canceling cable.
Life is better when you aren’t chained to debt. Bring back 10% interest rates and drop our homes to 3x the area income please.
“If borrowers can break that link, I will see how much I can borrow, then I will quit work and just keep the house. Wouldn’t you?”
Right on. I’ll buy an uber expensive house and then tell the boss what’s on my mind. It’s a beauty that only a faith-based group of fucking degenerates could justify.
IR, the world is going to Hell, about what it deserves. Most Americans are morally bankrupt spineless twits. It’s hardly a surprise that scum-scraped fucking parasites maintain their jobs by whoring out their governmental authority.
God Bless America, Land of the Degenerates and their Circuses.