Housing Crisis Solution #1

[SDML]

So I'm on the phone with my mortgage broker and I say something about the current so-called "housing crisis". He laughs and asks what I mean. I say that I wish I'd bought my house THIS year instead of a coupla years ago. We start shooting the shit and so I say basically that what everyone is lamenting is really, when you boil it all down, nothing more than (drum roll please):

Affordable Housing

I say that Clinton and Obama and McCain are nuts with their "solutions" because what they SHOULD be proposing is, well, nothing. It's no secret property values are & were artificially high, so in essence (ignoring the specific causes of irresponsibility on all sides of the equation) what we're seeing is the free market in action - self-correcting and in doing so we're seeing not just values fall (which we're lamenting) but the opposite side of the coin, which is the aforementioned affordability in housing.

He says "Yep. It's as simple as that. Anyone who rents should be trying to buy right now.".

So, can someone please call Obama & McCain and explain this simple situation to them? Or does someone have some better solution?

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

So I'm on the phone with my mortgage broker and I say something about the current so-called "housing crisis". He laughs and asks what I mean. I say that I wish I'd bought my house THIS year instead of a coupla years ago. We start shooting the shit and so I say basically that what everyone is lamenting is really, when you boil it all down, nothing more than (drum roll please):

Affordable Housing

I say that Clinton and Obama and McCain are nuts with their "solutions" because what they SHOULD be proposing is, well, nothing. It's no secret property values are & were artificially high, so in essence (ignoring the specific causes of irresponsibility on all sides of the equation) what we're seeing is the free market in action - self-correcting and in doing so we're seeing not just values fall (which we're lamenting) but the opposite side of the coin, which is the aforementioned affordability in housing.

He says "Yep. It's as simple as that. Anyone who rents should be trying to buy right now.".

So, can someone please call Obama & McCain and explain this simple situation to them? Or does someone have some better solution?

I will be a first time home owner soon. I am shooting for next Spring/early Summer. The "housing crisis" is truly a blessing for me. Frankly, I read that the market will not recover by next year and I am quite happy about it. Moreover, the bubble looks like it has burst.

[conley]

well free market is all well and good but you also have to consider there is some illegal activity on both sides of the housing boom and then bust...i have no problem w/ free market, but if laws are made then they should be enforced. flippers shouldn't have lied and claimed to be living in homes they were not, banks shouldn't have lied about their assets, and so on and so forth. things are going back to 'normal' but this should never have gone on for as long as it did...

[bored]

I've always thought it was unreasonable to call it a crisis. Perhaps on the individual who can no longer afford and must move, but these newly vacant houses will not be vacant for long. And for the people fortunate enough to buy now will do well in the long run. So will the housing market.

Isn't the government somewhat to blame also. Please correct me if i am wrong or missing a part of the equation. Wasn't it in part, the gov't who signed in laws that forced banks to provide loans to people with 2-4 years grace period on paying interest? So, when that period ended, people who were used to paying their mortgage at x, couldn't survive when y was added to the monthly costs?

[john_stewart6]

I’m not bothered by the “housing crisis” at all. I own an apartment. 

[Vermouth]

It's a crisis on many levels, but not one the government should bail out.

Yes, now is a good opportunity for renters, but most people who are moving have to buy a house and sell a house at the same time. Also, in areas that have really tanked, where the majority of available homes are foreclosures or short sales, you have to buy the house as is - no negotiation, no inspection, no guarantee on when the bank will hand over the keys. Many first-time homeowners don't want to take those risks.

Housing should not be speculative. Housing should not be something you need to time with the market. Whatever new regulations are drafted, the banks will find a way around them in their quest for short-term profits at the expense of long-term viability. If banks shouldered the risk instead of being bailed out by the Fed, they wouldn't approve as many mortgages, and the bubble and the bust wouldn't have been as extreme.

Bored, I'm not sure what law you're referring to, but it sounds like the same concept as an adjustable-rate mortgage, where the rate goes up after a certain number of years - a very risky proposition. Bush did propose that the down-payment requirement for Federal Housing Administration loans be eliminated. This extended no-money-down mortgages to people with bad credit. Before that, only private loans were available with nothing down and you had to have perfect credit.

The greed of the banks is matched only by our society's desire for immediate gratification - to live in a big house before you have saved enough money to truly afford it.

[they call me MR. GRUMPY god damn it!]

crisis: housing
solution: tents
i say stimulate the camping market

[bored]

Vermouth, thanks for the explanation. We probably are talking of the same thing. I am going off something I heard or read a while ago.

[spunkloaf]

I’m not bothered by the “housing crisis” at all. I own an apartment. 

I live with my parents.  So, me neither!

[they call me MR. GRUMPY god damn it!]

I’m not bothered by the “housing crisis” at all. I own an apartment. 

I live with my parents.  So, me neither!

wonder if your parent share this sentiment??

[spunkloaf]

No, they don't.

My dad is kicking himself in the ass for buying property where he did (in urban as opposed to rural, where we used to live) and for the bad timing in his buying and selling when he moved here four years ago.

He'd have about $55 thousand extra if he'd have waited.

And the land value here has dropped enormously since Wal-Mart came to town.

[Gunit Hussein Sangh]

Vermouth ... you are obviously an islamofacist loving commie </snark>

The real problem here is not the millions of folks being kicked out of their homes ... NNNNOOOOOOO ... they don't matter.

What matters is that the have mores are losing money on their investments. Huge investment firms are in danger of folding. They are the ones that are being bailed out of the mess they created because the economy would collapse if they couldn't rip off the average consumer.
 

[they call me MR. GRUMPY god damn it!]

Vermouth ... you are obviously an islamofacist loving commie </snark>

The real problem here is not the millions of folks being kicked out of their homes ... NNNNOOOOOOO ... they don't matter.

What matters is that the have mores are losing money on their investments. Huge investment firms are in danger of folding. They are the ones that are being bailed out of the mess they created because the economy would collapse if they couldn't rip off the average consumer.
 

and the children, what about the children, don't any of you care about the children....   gunnit you cry and whine to such a degree that maybe admin should post warning signs and distribute pfds for those responding to your river of tears...

[SDML]

The real problem here is not the millions of folks being kicked out of their homes ... NNNNOOOOOOO ... they don't matter.

What matters is that the have mores are losing money on their investments. Huge investment firms are in danger of folding. They are the ones that are being bailed out of the mess they created because the economy would collapse if they couldn't rip off the average consumer.

1) How many millions lost their homes?

2) How many millions can afford housing that is now a tad less artificially inflated?

3) How many more would be able to afford homes if gov got out of the way of the market and allowed it to self-correct (read: further devalue) to it's proper worth instead of it's current artificially high worth?

[they call me MR. GRUMPY god damn it!]

and what about the boost to the apartment market