BROCKTON — Donald and Stacey Dobbins fought for seven years to save their modest four-bedroom Colonial from foreclosure, unable to keep up with ballooning debt on the house they bought in 2005 for $297,000 without any money down.
In December, however, the family’s housing nightmare ended with a proposal that at first seemed unreal. The Dobbinses’ lender, GMAC Mortgage, offered to erase a whopping $190,000 from their debilitating debt and cut the interest rate to 4.4 percent. That reduced the monthly mortgage payment to $1,400, almost half of what they were paying.
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So these folks will become one of Mr. Obama's favorite people: for at least a year they will be making $250 k and get to pay extra taxes.
To paraphase Margaret Thatcher on socialist governments; 'The problem with socialism is that eventaully you run out of other people's money.........they're progressively reducing the choice available to ordinary people.'
The problem started long ago, and should have been flagged as inflated housing prices became the anchor for many. The very "valuable" house that was once an average home became the anchor for credit line increases and municipal tax increases, thus creating this false pretense of value. It was an economy ready to teeter and collapse. A $150K house was being valued at $300K and taxed as such, and homeowners subject to compensation reductions became trapped. The winners became loan providers who without qualification could provide mortgages solely based on the home's inflated value. The inflated home/anchor became the only sustaining value. The mortgage writers took the money and ran, likely needing to stay above the same waters themselves. Bless the government folks and the banks for allowing reductions, and making them. After all, the banks were bailed out by tax funds, us, and the country needs to let that trickle down and get home prices where they should be. (I can't picture a $3000 mortgage needing to be paid for a middle class house...waaaay too much. Glad the story subject's home was reduced to what it STILL an outrageous value/rate.) Municipalities need to also even things out as assessments need to be lowered, too, reducing municipal funds. It's not over yet. This effects all of us as salaries are reduced, municipal taxes are reduced, companies have to pare down, and we all suffer. How far down does it have to go before it's back to a workable level? We're still seeing that. We may not have not bottom yet, and the indicator is the lowering of home prices, STILL, and the continuing evening out of what was an outrageous situation.
Hmm. I have always worked. Paper route in 7th grade and ever since. I buy cars I can afford (vs what I *really* like). My wife and I bought a house we can afford even if one of us loses our job. I make all my payments. I pay my taxes. Where's my break? I would like some of the "gimme" money......particularly as the money being given out came from the taxes and interest i PAID....
These people took cash out of their home, because a $100k mortgage at 4.4% interest is not $1400 a month. I think they should reduce everyone's rate. I will pay what I owe (because I agreed to that) but let's spread those low rates around...at least pretend to be fair. I should have borrowed extra and added on to my house or vacationed or bought a car. Scrimping and paying left me with a high interest rate.
I just don't understand. If they "bought" the house with no money down what would they lose in foreclosure. Seems they would lose nothing. This just makes those of us who pay and pay ontime seem like suckers.
Bingo! Blame: Democrats
All you are doing is dragging this out while robbing those who did it right from moving up! The people who made sacrifices to do it right should be moving up into the nicer homes of those who did it wrong! You are rewarding the wrong people Democrats!!! AGAIN!!!!!
After working for 40 years and following the rules where's my six figure relief. There was nothing here about the Dobbins family ( whom I'm sure are nice people) bn unemployed or ill yet the bank writes off a fortune.
Where do I go for my mortgage reduction?
My fiance and I, wanting to make sure that we were being fiscally sound, bought our home about 20 miles farther from our jobs than we would have liked solely because we wanted to make sure that we could afford our payments even if one of us got laid off. It's called being an adult and a responsible consumer. And I am sure I am going to be slammed on this, but yes - there is no information as to why they fell behind...no illness, no unemployment. Yet he stands there with a large gold cross hanging from his neck in a Patriots jersey (we all know those go for over $100), she is manicured and jeweled with a mini-van in the driveway and their home appears that they spend money on plants. Really? A relatively new car (based on the photo), jewelry, and landscaping, yet they can't make a mortgage payment. If you can't afford the down payment, so that you have an vested financial interest in your home, why should the tax paying hard working responsible citizenry be expected to be burden by the expense of your financial errors. I don't buy that they were swindled into a high rate and that they were unaware that the broker "inflated their incomes". Really? Did they really just sign a legal mortgage application and not look it over? Naive is not what they are! And WE should not have to pay for their mess.