Say goodbye to instant gratification & easy credit

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

I am sitting here watching several episodes of a TV show called "My First Home". In the one I am watching now, there is a couple who "fall in love" with a house that is 27 miles from work and $12K over their maximum budget. They are in a hurry to make an offer and decide to pay the asking price and get an "Interest only" mortgage, suggested by their mortgage broker. I am getting sick watching this. Not sure how long ago it was filmed but I am guessing the house may already have gone down in value.

The housing crisis was primarily brought about by greedy bankers and Congressmen like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. But morgtage brokers and some real estate brokers, I think influenced this as well. And frankly, a lot of ordinary people - consumers - who want so much more than they can realistically afford - and must have it NOW - are partly at fault! It has been an age of instant gratification - with credit card limits that were totally unrealistic in many cases, and no-doc and interest-only loans - and people wanting to sell and make a quick and substantial profit on their homes...

It was inevitable - the bubble had to eventually burst!

And now we are going to pay the price for years to come, and our children will probably pay as well. I really fear that what may come is worse than people can understand. I hope we do not lose our freedom and democracy in this. It could be a lot worse.

[Stilltheone]

We are ones that have an interest only mortgage...for the first and the second. It was done with no documentation, per the advice of our "lender".

At the time, we lived in my parents' living room and dining room and were desperate to get out.

So, when we found a brand new home for $203,900, we jumped on it. At the time, my husband made $35K.

When Countrywide told us we could "afford" the payments, we trusted them. Our fault? Yes, but we desperately wanted to buy a house.

Yes, we are at fault for what you call "wanting NOW what we can't afford", but we trusted the lender. When they said "Yes, you can afford it. Here's your payment", we TRUSTED that.

Since buying our home, we have refinanced it twice and have since added on $60K. Now, our home isn't worth $260K...it's worth maybe the original price that we paid for it.

Our lender, Countrywide, has a program that starts Dec '08 for people that are upside down in their homes. They are willing to refinance you and lower your principal. Right now, it's in 11 states. I'm hoping it will expand into our state.

I understand what you're saying about people wanting instant gratification, but I don't think it's just the homebuyers' fault. It's all around..the lenders, the realtors, the buyers.

It was only a matter of time before the bubble burst. Now, it's correcting itself.