Sunday, March 15, 2009

this guy cracks me up. so, i thought i'd share.



6 comments:

Carolina said...

I always distrust anyone who has to rant that much and that loudly to get his point across. I listened to about 1 min. before I started to get a headache.

I see part of the problem is that people who know little about the housing market were convinced to buy homes they could not afford. And part of that is because we don't teach practical personal finance in schools. I have a BS and an MS degree, but when I purchased my first house in 1978, I had no idea I could offer less than the asking price. Luckily my first house cost only $25,000 so I probably could have saved only a few thousand, but still, my parents never talked about money, I never learned about it in school, and, of course, the real estate agent wasn't going to inform me of that possibility. I have since taught myself a lot. The next time I bought a house (1987) the bank told me I could afford twice what I thought I could. Luckily we didn't listen to them because my new husband was laid off a year later.

In some respects I think that people who purchased houses they couldn't afford should lose them and the rest of us who have paid our bills shouldn't be paying to bail them out. That sounds logical. BUT when there are lots of foreclosed houses in my neighborhood, the value of my home goes down, and because there are so many empty homes that need to be sold, the price goes down even more, and vacant homes are often magnets for vandals or drug users, unkempt yards attract vermin & become an eyesore, vacant homes don't pay real estate taxes so everyone else's taxes might be raised or government services reduced, so I will be "paying" for those foreclosed homes one way or the other. I would prefer we work out a way for people to re-negotiate their loans and have a home to live in when at all possible. It's a win-win-win-win, for the homeowner, the lender, the neighbors, and the country.

I could have said all of that out loud without ranting or raising my voice.

fuBarrio said...

hahahaha,

Carolina, all good points.

I think the *point* of the format the guy is using is to be somewhat obnoxious and ranty.

He does a series on you tube where each starts out, "what's next?...i'll tell you what's next..."

there has to be over 100 of them. it's *entertainment*. his schtick. that's all.

now....in regards to your solution. ok....as long as my tax money doesnt go to pay one red cent of the renegotiation.

because, otherwise, my tax money is going to prop up the value of your house -- the one that you don't want to fall in value because the neighbors defaulted.

again, you've created a false market.

when you prop up values it makes it more unlikely that my salary can afford to naturally buy that property and afford the maintenance and taxes on it.

see the problem?

your house MUST fall to the value that is supported by like rents and the salaries of your 'hood....even if those are falling.

AND that needs to take into account possible rising taxes in those areas because of a smaller base.

i know it sounds like i'm picking on your post, but i've been saying the same thing since 2005, and i've been saying it here on this blog since 2006.

Anonymous said...

Long time ago I learned you pay no more for your house than 3 years salary,Economics101.
In my paper(Daily Yomuri)today April,7-Worried about dollar,China to do more business in Yuan.Also read last week that China did a currency swap with Argentina of 10Billion $.
China is everywhere!
Ola Boot.

fuBarrio said...

good point, salty dog...

in a falling market/pre depression 2.5x is probably as far as you really want to go....and that is only if you are certain you are going to have that gross income for the duration of the term of the loan.

trying times.
semper fi!

Anonymous said...

You may find this an interesting read.Bloomberg:Worried about dollar,China to do more business in Yuan,by Bob Chen+Judy chen.
It is not good news for my check!
Sayonara

emperor-for-life said...

Hey, FuBarrio: Well, I think that the rant I just saw is right on the money. Yes Yes Yes. I just stumbled across your blog by accident. Looking through your posts I have to say good for you. If ever I get to Uruguay I will look you up and buy you a coffee. Regards, Norden M. Kelly (emperor-for-life).