bostonbubble.com

[Guest]

People who took out interest only or other exotic loans to afford a home in a wildly overpriced market should be very angry. Lenders wanted us to buy houses and didn't really care whether we might foreclose and end up in the street a few years later.

Countrywide approved me for a mortgage which was way out of range for my income. I would have had to pay $1300 per month including taxes and condo fee for a small condo in Dorchester. Wait a minute, I take home a little over $400 per month unless I do lots of overtime. That leaves me $500 for everything else. Then they offered me a seven year arm.

I took a homebuyer class and got approved for a smaller amount by a respectable bank. I would have a 30 year fixed which is the right way to go. I still haven't found anything but I didn't get stuck either.

[Guest]

Just realized that I had said that I took home $400 per mo. without overtime. I meant $400 per week!

[Rush]

I think poeple who went to accredited 4-year colleges and that are so easily duped should be mad about the lack of consumer education and mad at the newspapers for not more clearly warning of the dangers. I wish everyone who over-extended themselves had read this recent MSN Money article http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=OBR&Date=20060614&ID=5796933

Of course we didn't see this kind of hard-hitting reality in an article years ago. It is only now that it is too late the newspapers have caught up. I guess I can't blame the journalists since they were also under educated about economics.

I am also sad every time I talk with an elderly person being taken advantage of by "money managers" like American Express. Consumers are simply not prepared for the huge economic decisions they must make in the post-pension era.

Rush

[backto91]

The bankers started blowing the housing bubble once the internet fizz melted away. In the late nineties they were handing out money to shady internet startups. Things were great till the punch bowl got taken away. Starting in 00, it was the housing sector. We are going to see similar events in slow motion. Real estate prices are sticky.