11-12-2008, 07:10 PM
hotzester Wrote:Quote:Sorry dude, I don't know why I thought you were from GR. I will take pics and post them. I have been here since 1990, and have yet to find anywhere else where the haves/have nots are so obviously defined. It gives true meaning to the phrase," the other side of the tracks."
You must've sensed my West Michigan lineage. lol
My deal is (and this is something I touched on in another thread, for those of you keeping score), there ARE haves and have nots. No one can deny that. But if you're in the have nots, and you want to be one of the haves...go do it. Go work another job, live in a s-hole of an apartment to keep your costs down while you're saving.
My wife and I started out living with her parents for a year, then in an apartment for three, then we spent two years in a fixer-upper of a house that we literally put blood, sweat and tears into while we renovated it, then sold it, and now live in the neighborhood we want to live in. It's not impossible. Hell if I can do it, ANYONE can figure it out. lol
The only problem I have with this statement is still the "ignorant". You are obviously an intelligent guy. Whether you've had higher education or not, you are knowledgeable and wordly. There are many people in the nation that don't know that they don't know certain things. They heard, "buy for less than you can rent", and they ran with that. Predatory lenders fed off of those people. Yes, they are VERY responsible for their actions, but when you signed up for your mortgage, did you read and understand the entire 400 page document? (YOU probably did, but you get my drift I bet) Most people just sign the dotted line and trust that people are honest and wouldn't decieve them when allowing them to sign up for a large, tricky, in depth contract. There were a lot of lenders that sold ARMs like a mortgage that COULD possibly go down but PROBABLY wouldn't. At the time, the Fed was cutting rates at every turn, and it looked (to the average non economic minded Joe) that rates would (maybe) never go down because the housing market was so wonderful. I truly believe that this is a double edged sword that you can't pin on one side or the other, and I don't know how anyone could EVER say that it was ONLY the idiots' who signed up for the things faults.
PS - ARMs were also developed as a short term financial instrument for banks to grab a quick buck while allowing a consumer to either A. transition into homeownership or B. own a home/ property long enough to resell it. It wasn't only developed to get people who normally couldn't afford a house into one.
OK I gotta go. Can't wait to see what you guys say. I wrote this quickly and didn't proofread, so don't judge my grammar or misspoken concepts if there are any.... I'm sure there are.