Posted by
Jennifer Waite on Monday, September 22, 2008 7:23:58 PM
So despite all the warnings we’ve heard about our doomed economy the last few years, only this last week is it officially in crisis. I’m no economist. I manage my family’s finances, but I don’t know from hedge funds and short selling. Every so often I flip on the Fox Business Network hoping some kind of financial savvy osmosis will occur. It hasn’t.
What I do know is shortly after we bought our first home in 2003 I started hearing buzzwords like, sub-prime, housing bubble and foreclosure crisis. As state above, I’m an economic idiot. My husband is too. When we got our mortgage in 2003 the lender laid out all our options before us. She explained the difference between adjustable and fixed rates. We made the mental note that she worked for commission. The more money she lent us the more money she would make. Our American dream and financial security were not her top priority and that was okay. We figured out how much we could realistically afford for a monthly payment, then found out how much house we could afford.
Rates were low. We could barely get an appointment with lenders because everyone and their gerbil was refinancing. The monthly payment with the A.R.M. loan was lower, but it would inevitably fluctuate depending on the market. The fixed rate payment was quite a bit higher, but it was just that… fixed. So common and sense had a conference call and we went with the latter. And honestly, I wish were a little more conservative with what we could afford. Between the new marriage, new baby, new job and single income factors it got stressful at times. Throw in variable property taxes and insurance rates and we definitely pulled some hair out. (I put mine in a heart shaped box and mailed it to Brit Hume. I really like Brit Hume)
Home ownership is a goal I highly recommend. When we decided to relocate a little over a year ago (thank God we’re not trying to do that now) we were pleasantly surprised with our home’s appreciation. (Our home was worth more, it didn’t literally appreciate us) But home ownership is a huge responsibility and the maintenance itself can be a huge source of stress.
Now the country is in the middle of a huge economic crisis cause in great part by the type of risky loan we passed up. And apparently it’s my problem (and yours… and yours… and yours). In my observation there are two types of people suffering from the mortgage crisis. There’s the hardworking, well intentioned people that just wanted a piece of the American dream. They were taken advantage of by predatory lenders and got in over their heads. I do feel sorry for them.
On the other hand, I think there was an epidemic of entitlementitis. I hear stories and see video of whole subdivisions of brand new homes that sit empty. The homeowners just walked away and often sabotaged the homes by drilling holes in the roof etc. There are communities in California that have to worry about West Nile virus now because they didn’t so much as drain the swimming pools before they left which cause a mosquito problem. That kind of behavior says a lot about those people. They show no accountability. I do not feel sorry for them. I kind of think they need to be taught a lesson.
Thankfully we know that this is all that baby eating, hurricane making, evil, war mongering George Bush’s fault. All we have to do is elect Barack Obama. He will wave his magic wand and a tornado of bureaucracies will whisk all our problems away. Can we stick our heads in the sand until November? Yes we can!