Reply to What I don't get: When people complain that they are drowning because their house is underwater

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I do feel for all the families with extraordinary circumstances - job loss, divorce, death, illness. If homeowners like that are underwater and can't get out of the house by selling, they are in a terrible situation.

I do not have one iota of sympathy for my neighbors down the road who just WANT a bigger house and love to have a pity party about why they can't sell. They have no need for a bigger house. They moved into the house with kids, have had no job loss, and in fact, make more money than they did when they bought, so they can definitely pay their mortgage. I meet people like this all the time who think that the world is unfair because they want to move but can't when they live in a perfectly good house. [/quote]

Yes, I totally agree.  And I think that in the DC region, one of the reasons there's less sympathy/understanding about underwater houses is that there's a lot of people like this - educated, intelligent people who had good jobs in 2005, bought a house, still have good jobs today, but bitch and moan because they lost their equity, are underwater, and can't sell the place.  After all, now they have kids and  have to pay for daycare, or one of then wants to SAH, but they can't sell the place because they're underwater, and can't afford the mortgage payment on one salary, or daycare costs, or whatever.  You know what?  Tough.  I have all the sympathy in the world for people who were defrauded, [b]who were victims of unscrupulous mortgage brokers/real estate agents[/b], who suffered a job loss, or who have had medical problems - there should be programs in place to help them, and we should prosecute anyone who broke the law.  But there's not an inalienable right to have your property value increase, and sometimes it goes down.  What everyone forgets is that any time someone gets relief from a mortgage, those costs are passed on to the rest of us, either in the form of taxes or increased costs from lenders.  Let's help everyone who was wronged, or suffered some unforeseeable misfortune (and I do include job loss in there).  But bailing you out because you made a bad decision on a real estate purchase, and now want to move?  No freakin' way.  [/quote]

I think this was one of the best responses on this thread and I agree with everything you said except the bolded.  People who were "victimized" by unscrupulous mortgage loan officers or bankers are not in the same category.  You're talking about people who were talked into buying property beyond their means and were lead like a horse with a carrot.  I think that people who are going to be purchasing the largest purchase of their lives buying something that will take 30 YEARS to pay off have to take some responsibility for making the financial decision to do so.  They need to do some research and not just listen to the snake-oil man who comes telling you that  you can afford the elixir of life that will take 20 years off your appearance.  It's the same thing.  These people were conned, but they let themselves be conned.  There is a TON of material out there on the web, in libraries, and in resource books that you can buy at bookstores (if you can afford a house, you can afford a book) about how to purchase, how to evaluate your worth and how much you should spend.  Why anyone would get an interest-only mortgage, or get an ARM without being able to afford the interest adjustment or without planning what to do if they could not refinance is NOT in the same class as someone who has lost a job, suffered a family disaster or illness, or been defrauded.  That person gambled and lost.  Just like Las Vegas, there is no guarantee that your home value will increase.  There is no guarantee that you'll be able to refinance to a better rate.  There is no guarantee that you'll get a raise and be able to afford the home you should not have bought.   These people need to just take responsibility and stay in the house until they can afford to get out of it.  I agree with mortgage bailouts for people with exceptional circumstances including family illness, job loss, military deployment, etc.  But people who don't have an exceptional circumstance, but just no longer want the house they're in, no, I don't support bailing those people out.[/quote]

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