And more foreclosures are looming. One-third of Washington homeowners who financed with adjustable-rate mortgages are still paying low, introductory rates. Those teaser rates, some as low as 1 percent, will jump in the coming year.
In most other states, those low initial rates have already expired, according to the Washington Budget & Policy Center.
“When they reset, it’s not going to be pretty,” said Glenn Crellin, director of the Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University.
Good, research-based article with human interest by the Seattle Times reporters. When one contemplates newspapers going away, it’s solid efforts like this that would be sorely missed.
The disaster that is real estate in Washington state seems likely to continue for some time. Plenty of blame to go around. Yes, some people bought houses they had no business buying, but in order to do so all they needed was a “heartbeat” and they got the loans, as the article puts it.
So all of us suckers who played by the rules get to help clean up this stinking mess, and if anyone needs to sell their house because of legitimate reasons like a transfer, an illness or something, the market is all messed up with REO’s and short sales. Luckily our household doesn’t need to move, I’m just sayin’.
So thanks a lot to the wieners who ran Countrywide! We’re likely going to re-finance not only because rates are so absurdly low, but because the thought of writing any more checks to Countrywide makes us want to vomit. I don’t really care who owns them now, B of A is being a bunch of jerks with their credit cards, so they can bite us too.
Strange business strategy if you ask me, hacking off the good customers who pay their bills on time. If B of A wants any money from us they’ll probably need to buy back our loan at a new, fabulously low interest rate. I kind of wish I had a B of A credit card so I could enjoy putting it through the shredder.
“I kind of wish I had a B of A credit card so I could enjoy putting it through the shredder.”
Here’s a better idea: Use your B of A credit card to pay for everything — gas, groceries, utility bills, etc. — to rack up as many reward points as possible. Then, pay it off in full every month, so you don’t pay B of A a fucking cent of interest. This strategy turns the tables on credit card issuers: Instead of letting them take money out of your pocket, you put their money in your pocket! I’ve been doing it for years. I haven’t paid a cent in credit card interest for as long as I can remember. Yet, the credit card is a great convenience: I don’t need to make trips to the bank or pay ATM fees to get cash; avoid the risk of carrying cash; can pump gas without going into the store to pay the cashier; get free merchandise for my reward points; and so on. And all of this is absolutely FREE!!! Instead of being a credit card sucker, be a credit card freeloader like me!! In short, I live like Republicans do — i.e., I get valuable services at other people’s expense.
I might also mention that my mortgage loan rate is 0%, and my monthly mortgage payment is $0, and my car loan rate also is 0%, and my monthly car payment also is $0. In other words, I don’t pay a fucking penny to creditors. This is called the Debt-Free Lifestyle and it automatically adds the 30% to 50% of the typically family’s income going to debt payments to your disposable income without increasing your taxes. It’s like getting a 30% to 50% raise at work, tax-free! Furthermore, it’s perfectly legal. There’s no law against getting out of debt and staying out of debt; and if everyone did that, the banks would go away, and if we had no banks then greedy bankers couldn’t fuck up our economy, there would be no bank failures, and no taxpayer-financed bailouts of troubled banks.
I’m in Roger’s shoes…we’ve lived in the same house for 33 years, re-fi’d to do a modest remodel 22 years ago, and long since paid that off. Therefore, since I’m not in this particular game any more, I really ought to shut up and let someone else figure it out.
How-some-ever…one thing I vividly recall from when we refinanced in ’87 is that we had to sign off on a bunch of Federally-mandated restrictions, like that we weren’t allowed to take the proceeds of refinancing the house at its current market value and put it into the stock market. Seems those restrictions long since disappeared. I don’t know that we’re better off without them.
@1
I’ve got something like a billion Amazon rewards points that way. I oopsed once and got nicked for about $4.00 in interest.
I’m pretty much with you on your assessment Jon.
However, let’s add a special thanks to Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn) who is now at about 6% popularity and sure to be ousted as well as Barney “if I scream & yell enough perhaps they won’t blame me” Frank.
What a couple of dipshits.
Have we seen Dodd’s Countrywide Loan File yet?
Seems like he promised it months ago.
@5
I was on the fence about Frank and Dodd when this all started, but yeah, we’ve seen enough to know it’s time for them to go.
Poor credit is not an obstacle when buying a new home. Stop Turning Away Buyers Just Because of Their Low Credit Score
http://www.masterbuildersinfo......n=05-01-09
7 Make the pie higher!!!!!
The NYSE builders listed that the builders could copy with lending have their own mortgage companies, appraisers, and in some cases title companies. Some have been fined by the FTC and HUD but a small amount to what they make and so it becomes a cost of doing business. The cow pie is sky high.
Folks, you can’t stay in business long as a lender if you loan money to people who can’t pay it back.
But if you sell the “loans” to some unsuspecting pension fund or charity, as a “collateralized debt obligation” or “collateralized mortgage obligation,” you can take the money and run like a bastard. That’s what a lot of lenders did, and now a lot of companies that thought they had good assets on their balance sheets now realize they’ve got dog turds instead.
One of the reasons the lenders got away with this shit is that they cajoled the rating agencies (Standard & Poor, Moody’s, Fitch) into putting “AAA” credit ratings on the dog turds. There are three groups to blame:
1. People borrowing money they couldn’t afford to pay back.
2. Lenders who just wanted to make loans so they could sell them to organizations looking for cash flow streams.
3. Rating agencies that failed to rate correctly.
It’ll take some time, but it’ll get straightened out. The people who took out the bad loans will realize they have to live within their means. The crooked lenders will disappear as the banking sector sober-up. The rating agencies will realize their asses are on the line and will revert to doing their job correctly.
I’d give it another 18 months to work its way out.
PI @ 10
There are three groups to blame
And I supposed that demand for all of those collateralized debt obligations just materialized out of thin air? If not, then your list of blameworthy folks is a little short.
See When Builders Build Bad Loans
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04......html?_r=2
A bill in the California Legislature would prohibit a practice of corporate home builders, doubling as lenders, issuing mortgages on the homes they build.
And not one banker has been prosecuted for the most open and shut cases of fraud the world has ever seen.
Maybe if the top 20 execs of Countrywide went to the slammer for 10 years apiece this wouldn’t happen again. Better yet WaMu. A bunch of crooks. Why is it only poor people get prosecuted?
@13 Kind of like 2004 King Co elections, the second most open and shut cases of fraud that the US has ever seen. Sims should be in jail.
@14: No the most open and shut case of stupidity is yours – a republican judge in a republican county threw out the republican “case” for fraud becuase there was none. A republican State AG also found there was no evidence. Only a republican fool would keep repeating the same old crap and pretending it is true. Is that all you have? The rehashed whining from 2004? Grow up!
Only an idiot keeps repeating the same stupid lies after they have been disproven. You, Mark, have proven yourself to be an idiot.
Marky is actually doing more to help elect Democrats than he ever did to elect Publicans.
The right wing turds have been spewing the same old crap ever since they handed the keys to Karl Rove. It cost them the mid-terms in 06. It cost them MORE Congressional seats in 08. It cost them 8 big city mayor seats and 9 Governor’s offices in 08. And oh yeah – it cost them the fucking White House. Keep it up Marky. Nothing like doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Poor people don’t donate as much to the democrats.
Paying off your credit card balance every month is not freeloading silly wabbit – it’s called being a responsible Republican!
No Facts – when will Franklin Raines be prosecuted? *tapping toes and fingers*
I’m surprised that Mr. Klynical hasn’t pointed out that, per his favorite measure of all things Obama, the Rasmussen Polls Presidential Approval Index, President Obama’s approval rating is soaring. Last week it was at +2, it’s now at +5!
-heh