Real Estate Rant

Lately there has been a lot of traffic on the media about the rising foreclosure rate. It's because of the subprime lending in 2005-2006. I say... what idiots. The whole lot of them.

What is subprime lending? It's where financial institutions grant loans to unqualified individuals. Stupid, stupid, stupid. You're granting a loan to someone who has demonstrated that they can't pay for it. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

And what's worse is that now they're calling in the government to fix it. Why is it the government's problem? These people knew they couldn't afford these homes, and somehow they're shocked that they're getting foreclosed on when they haven't paid. And their expectation is that the government will come in and force the financial institutions to change the terms of their loan to make it affordable, and grant them amnesty against their past-due payments.

WTF???!!!!

I think I'm going to jump on this bandwagon. Basically they're saying if I don't pay my mortgage, it's not my fault. If I got in over my head, it's not my fault. Let's blame it on everyone except the people responsible. It's the media's fault for making us believe we have to keep up with the Joneses. It's the government's fault for not ensuring that these big, bad wolves called banks can't repossess something I'm not paying for. It's my parents' fault for working so hard for decades to get a nice house and then not providing me with one right out of college.

Now, I'm not justifying subprime lending by the banks. I, frankly, think it's a dumb idea. Yes, let's approve this person! Forget that they can't afford it! Surely they'll wave their magic wand and change their $700 into $1500 to meet their mortgage payment! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I just don't want my tax dollars to be spent bailing someone out that didn't qualify for the home they're in in the first place. How selfish of me, right? It just seems so obvious to me... you don't pay, you don't get to keep it. Don't get in over your head next time, and there are plenty of apartments you can stay in until you find one you can actually afford. Learn from your mistakes, don't expect others to fix them for you, because then you never learn anything. Gimme, gimme mentality! Sense of entitlement! It's almost as bad as the government providing new televisions to people who don't have a digital receiver because television is a necessity. You heard about that, right? Yep. I think it's ridiculous, too. God forbid someone miss Days of Our Lives.

I'm sorry, I'm just waiting for the lightning to rain down from the sky.

We have recently felt like we're in over our heads in our modest home. The upkeep and repairs are killing us. But have we ever missed a mortgage payment? No. We've actually been early on every single one. Have we ever missed any bill? No. Because they're a priority and when we get in over our heads financially we fix it... sacrifice for a while. I drive an old car that is trying to die on me because we're too concerned about paying our bills to run out and get ourselves into another car payment we can't afford. I've dealt with no master bathroom for five years. I haven't had landscaping the entire time we've lived here. We haven't installed a hot tub or a pool. We've prioritized and are making do. We don't expect anyone to bail us out of our mess.

Imagine that. Responsibility. Sense. Planning.

Too little of it these days.