Saturday: Claycord Community Foreclosure Prevention Resource Fair in Concord

@Always Wrong ~
You appear to be bitter because you are probably stuck in an underwater house but are so consumed by the “morality” of walking away/strategic defaulting that you lash out against those who are wise enough to recognize that it is just a business decision. You pay your mortgage, you live in your house. You don’t pay, the bank gets the house.

I never pulled any money out of my house to buy toys. Unfortunately I purchased just before the market collapsed because I was afraid of being priced out of the market forever. Wanted someplace secure to raise my children.

Perhaps you were lucky enough to purchase long ago. If so, just be grateful and don’t lash out at the less fortunate.

Am I “giving up and milking the system” if I have the same income and can afford my house payments but need to relocate but am so underwater that I can’t sell? Say I need to move so I can care for an elderly parent who develops medical issues or need more space because my family has grown. There are many scenarios in which people may be forced to surrender their houses.

@WaWa – I was very specific in my criticism of those who fight foreclosure in order to milk the system – and there are many of those people believe me.

I am not talking about people who give up their home of necessity in order to take a job out of the area or even people who got hit with large increases in payments they could no longer afford. If they walk away in those circumstances and leave the property in good condition, God bless them.

I am talking about the many thousands of FREELOADERS who paid nothing down, have stopped making their payments, continue to live rent free and have the audacity to claim to be victims.

Wawa, you seem to have a sense of entitlement. Why should who ever holds the note on your house be responsible for situations in your life? . If you made a bad decision, that’s on you and no-one else. People have had to relocate for decades and change their life styles to care for family members. That’s what families do. Why should the bank be responsible for your elderly parents? I’m no fan of the banks or companies taking advantage with predatory loans. Much of this comes down to personal resposibilty. I grew up in the day when you were taught not to take what doesnt belong to you.

@kingsvtsis ~
You are incorrect, no sense of entitlement here. I’ve worked hard my entire life for everything I have accomplished and own. Run my own successful business, did not have wealthy parents and have never taken a government handout.

The note holder on my house is not responsible for situations in my life. I “did not take what doesn’t belong to me.” LOL! Spare me your wonky BS morality shtick.

California mortgages are contracts with set terms for what happens if a buyer doesn’t pay. There is nothing in there that says “Borrower agrees to pay this mortgage forever despite anything else that may happen.” What it says is “Borrower agrees to pay this mortgage to gain full ownership of the house that is security for the loan. If borrower defaults, bank gets the house.” That’s what the *contract* says.

I am taking “personal responsibility” for the welfare of my family. There are terms for non-payment. So the bank gets stuck with a house worth less than the mortgage. As long as the borrower didn’t refinance, the bank cannot go after the borrower for the difference. There’s nothing immoral about following the terms of a contract and I don’t understand why you’re dragging in charges of moral turpitude.

If it makes financial sense to walk away, many people don’t because of emotional constraints, including the desire to avoid shame and guilt as well as an exaggerated fear of the consequences of foreclosure. Those emotions are encouraged by groups including the government and the media.

When Donald Trump, GM, Chrsyler, AIG, or any other number of business entities declares bankruptcy (walking away from millions in debt), you probably declare them shrewd businessmen. When the lowly first time homebuyer and others try to salvage their American Dream, you declare that they are morally lost.

If a person was hit hard because of the economy and the government set up pans to help then the banks should help. The banks would not be out anything. Very few people that are really in need are getting that help, the ones that know how to work the system may. If a person purchased their home the correct way, had the job to afford the home, did not take money out for boats, trips or “fun” expenses and then the economy came and they are now underpaid however doing everything they can to pay what they can, cutting cost like cable, lower food bill and they still can not make it, tried to refinance however their home is upside down, yes they need help, Love thy neighbor as thyself. The opportunist is what is making the plan a bust, that and with Greed. Good to know help is there to give options. I am not sure if it will be free after the initial meeting, Be careful to everyone that goes. Greed is alive and well in America.

Will the Oakley City Manager be attending to find opportunities to make some jingle flipping homes?

@WaWa
That is what my contract said too. However, it is so much easier to say it then live it. I used to believe the morality foolishness and made myself ill from constantly thinking bad of myself. I can count on one hand the moments in time where if I had zigged rather then zagged I would still own my own home and be gladly making payments. I will play those moments over and over again in my head forever. But it was business. Cold hearted business so I left behind the home I loved because it was the least worse choice. It was perfectly legal and part of the contract I signed. I lost a major amount of my own cash that was the downpayment that I will never get back even if the house gains back all the lost value but that is business also. It is true that you might be able to stay in the house for a year or two without paying if most of your other choices are used up. But it is not fun at all to live in a reminder or your worst failure day after day. I am sure I could have just moved and let the house sit their for two years and degrade but instead I kept the place up. None of my neighbors knew anything was different until move day and by that time it was bank property so let them cut the damn lawn now. I do believe that this bubble created a uncertain market that most of us never had seen before. When you buy a home you depend on certain market conditions that for the most part had never changed in a lifetime. To one degree or another we have all became victims to the uncertain times since. There also is plenty of blame to go arround for this bubble so I do understand the anger but I am glad others have a place to go to get help.

PAY YOUR MORTGAGE AND YA WON’T GET FORECLOSED.

All this “evil banks” stuff is nonsense. Maybe if people were educated enough that they would have understood the legal and binding contract that they signed. Or were they “speculators”?? Ooooh… another evil word.

Caveat emptor.

My house is upside down too, and is a losing investment. Money is tighter than it used to be, but I’m going to live up to my end of the deal and keep paying my mortgage. It was my decision to pay more than a house like this should have been worth and I will face the consequences. I want to move out of the area, but I will wait until I can afford to pay off the difference. There have been a couple people in my neighborhood that had the same income they had when they bought the house, yet they decided to leave. I know of at least one that moved into a larger house in a nicer area. The bank-owned home then further devalued all of the houses around it, occupied by people like me trying to do the right thing. Generally, scummy people then moved into their old houses and further lowered the quality of the neighborhood. They just passed on their loss to the rest of us and started over in a better position. That’s not just strategic, its also selfish.

While you are all looking things up , make sure you look up how many, and how often BANKS walk away from investments and real estate THEY themselves own and call it “strategic.” This is too complicated a problem to blame it on banks alone, the government alone, bad loans alone, bad people alone, or just “the economy.” There is no one size fits all for who is in default and why. Do not judge, until you walk a mile in their shoes. The banks had the power however to not let this get so bad. Just imagine, if instead of selling the 800k house to a perfect stranger for 300k, they worked with the current homeowner to set a market rate fixed rate, or did a plan to offset principle or a plan to defer interest or a plan to extend the loan. There are MANY people I know who would’ve given up A LOT to just keep their homes. Now we have people in impossible situations; what about job transfers, what about family changes, death, marriage, kids, disease. Anyone who bought in our area (Concord specifically) in the last 10 years is PROBABLY upside down and unless they put down 30-50%, they’re upside down. So what if you get your job transferred? Do you turn it down, lose your job just to stick it out with your house?

Anyway, a million and one reasons people are in default, walking away and giving up. Sure, some are just plain “business decisions,” and call that what you want. But ask a banker if they’d hang on to property that was worth 70% of what they owe on it w/ no promise of a turn around and return to equity for 10 years or more. Where will you be in 10 years?

AND, right now there are protections in place for foreclosure and short sale people. Ends the end of this year. Think we’ll see more this year? I think so. IT’s a great incentive to “get ‘er done.”

Always Right, paying my mortgage, etc

It’s different times! Most of us will never see our values rise to where we can sell our homes. The mortgage debt protection laws expire at the end of 2012, so if people don’t short sell or walk this year, they will either be stuck with their losing investment or suffer catastrophic tax consequences. Lemme know how your decision to stay put works out for ya. Meanwhile, don’t criticize others for making a responsible and strategic business decision

not sure why people dont just rent out if they think they cant sell. property will always be a good business decision and things will turn around, eventually.

If you paid $600,000 for a house that is worth $260,000 today, follow the example of your Government, wall street and the banks – Get a bailout aka Walk away.
You are not going to receive some kind of Heavenly reward for being a fool and paying on a house worth less than half of what you paid.
And for those that would try to quote “buy bull” scriptures, I’ll give you some scripture too, USURY. You are not to be in any contract for 30 years!

I feel sorry for the folks that played by the rules, put 10,20, or a larger percentage down, and bought at the top of the bubble.

California is a “no recourse” state, so someone who walks away from a purchase money loan (no second and no refinance) has NO further liability for the loan. I agree someone in that situation should not feel guilty about walking away. After all, they are losing a large downpayment too.

However, I have NO SYMPATHY for the thousands of people who bought with no money down only to discover that Real Estate is not a one way ticket to easy street. For every greedy mortgage broker there was a greedy home buyer looking for a quick buck and a short cut to the good life.

Also, thousands of people bought with no money down and provided false income information on their loan applications. These people and their mortgage brokers and real estate brokers should be spending time in jail.

Wow, glad to see the lively discussion from last night!

#13 & 27 ~ I agree that the economy is pitiful now and I also worry about my young children’s future prospects but I’m only 42 y/o.

#22 ~ Excellent point about the tax forgiveness acts that will expire 12.31.2012 – That is why I decided to default now.

If anyone is stressing about their house ownership, I highly recommend attending tomorrow’s meeting. I went to one a few months ago. You don’t have to sign up and they are not trying to sell any services. They are genuinely trying to help people by showing them what options are available.

I also recommend checking out this website, especially the forums section. Lots of good info from people who have been through modifications and foreclosures. http://www.loansafe.org/forum/

Be well…