“This is our house now:” ACORN mob begins breaking into homes - Page 5 - Big Big Forums

SurferGirl · 02-25-2009, 02:56 PM

You might be really surprised by the price of houses right now.
You can pick up an average type house for probably less per month than renting a comparable house. Sometimes you can get in with closing costs and a super low down that would be less than the deposits on renting a house. If you are willing to do a little work on a foreclosed house you probably would be paying far less than rent.

***ahippiechic*** · 02-25-2009, 03:08 PM

I like the convenience of where I'm at right now. I sold my house before and ATM, I don't want that far in debt again.

SurferGirl · 02-25-2009, 03:41 PM

One of my former neighbors got laid off from his construction job almost a year ago and has rented out the house that they own. He had fixed up a few foreclosures at the beginning of this crisis and has a few rented out and sold a few so I guess the bank considers what he has made on all of that enough income so he can keep buying foreclosures and fixing them up to sell or rent.
The thing is that he knows what he is doing and can tell if a house needs major work or a little bit of TLC. Some of the places he has resold in about a month with little more than fixing up the yard and a little bit of paint and shampooing the carpets. One house he was going to replace the carpet and pulled it up and there was beautiful hard wood floors underneath that only required a little bit of polishing.

pepperpot · 02-25-2009, 03:44 PM

On the news, perhaps it was in Arizona (can't recall)....the house originally sold for $326, he bought it for $84 @ forclosure, will add $20 in repairs and relist at $140.

So apparently there still is money in it for flipping (for those with enough capital)....

anothersta · 02-25-2009, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahippiechic

She shouldn't be helped at all. There is a reason we don't have a house right now....we couldn't afford it!

Hell, maybe we should have bought a huge expensive house anyway and then I could cry and whine that I couldn't pay for it so someone would help me.

And that's why we shouldn't be bailing out the housing market. it's not fair to the one who were responsible borrowers.

SurferGirl · 02-25-2009, 08:21 PM

Some of this whole mess can be solved the American way with people using their skills to get these houses ready for other buyers who might not have been able to afford a house a few years ago. I know there is some real honest hard work involved but there is a nice living to be made and the person that I know lives in the house while he and his wife work on it and when it sells they move into their next project. He probably makes about the same as when he had his regular job and is making the best of a situation that some might have just given up on.

gmyers · 02-25-2009, 08:48 PM

They showed on the news that rich Chinese people are coming here to buy foreclosed homes. They want the deals on the homes.

anothersta · 02-25-2009, 09:26 PM

I just saw an ad (will pay more attention next time) that was a lender saying the gov had just given them a whole bunch of money and you should refinance now if you're in foreclosure.

They advertised that you could get more money than your house is worth and use it for anything you want

pepperpot · 02-25-2009, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SurferGirl

Some of this whole mess can be solved the American way with people using their skills to get these houses ready for other buyers who might not have been able to afford a house a few years ago. I know there is some real honest hard work involved but there is a nice living to be made and the person that I know lives in the house while he and his wife work on it and when it sells they move into their next project. He probably makes about the same as when he had his regular job and is making the best of a situation that some might have just given up on.

Every one of the homes we purchased.....was a fixer-upper......

SurferGirl · 02-25-2009, 10:34 PM

We did that twice and I'm not sure if I'm up to working with my hubby on another project like that. The results were really worth it but I don't work well with my hubby on things like that. For one thing I need to take frequent breaks when I'm doing something that hard and he just doesn't seem to understand that hard physical work tires me out faster than him.

Jolie Rouge · 02-26-2009, 04:00 PM

Oprah has jumped aboard the foreclosure prevention bandwagon — channeling ACORN’s propaganda campaign to support President Obama’s massive mortgage entitlement expansion.

She’s in Sacramento playing the world’s smallest violin for families who bought more home than they could afford and are now paying the consequences.

I am not shedding tears: http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1650616.html

Quote:

Homeless families in Sacramento to be featured on 'Oprah'
chubert@sacbee.com
Published Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009

“I think it’s wonderful that Oprah and her crew are giving a voice to this crisis,” Steeb said. “The crisis is much bigger than Sacramento, and the bottom line is we need help to serve the huge number of people that we are now seeing.”

Burke said Winfrey’s producers contacted Loaves & Fishes earlier this month, and said they singled out Sacramento because of its high number of home foreclosures and its growing homeless population. “I told them that we had a system of care that was overwhelmed even before the recession hit, and that we now are seeing more newly homeless people than ever before.”

Soon, a crew was on the way.

Among the “newly homeless” featured in the show will be Favor Whitesides, who is 36 years old and has three children ages 9 to 13.

Whitesides and her husband, Ryan, lost their home last year after they got in over their heads on an adjustable mortgage, she said. She now lives at the Family Promise shelter at Loaves & Fishes. Her children attend Mustard Seed School. Her husband is bunking with friends. After living in hotels, run-down apartments and at the Cal Expo winter shelter for a time, Whitesides said, she is grateful to have found Family Promise.

But she never thought she would need such a program. “Not long ago, we had a Lincoln Navigator and a beautiful home. We had it all,” said Whitesides. “It’s really shocking for my kids to be living this way. But they’re resilient. They’ll be OK.”

Whitesides is hardly proud of her situation but said she thought it was important to tell her story. “People need to know that this can happen, and about programs like this,” she said of Loaves & Fishes.

This” doesn’t just “happen.”

Falling into debt isn’t like bad weather.

You make choices.

You put your family and your children in this position.

You bought a Lincoln Navigator instead of saving up to pay your mortgage bills.

You made it happen.

Fire Oprah. We need a Dave Ramsey intervention here ASAP.

A standard adjustable mortgage does not just spike up in the present market. This is likely an interest only product with a loaded back end that hit the calendar trigger to conversion to an amortized mortgage. In other words, a no document loan or a bridge mortgage. This homeowner knew the day was coming from the get-go and speculated that the house could be sold at a profit before the trigger was pulled.

Let’s see… A Lincoln Navigator starts at over $50,000. On a 6 year loan, that gives you payments of nearly $900.

I’ll bet they weren’t even making enough money to pay for that.

Do I blame the money lenders? Yes! For being that stupid.

In the case of the car dealer who went along with financing the Navigator for people who clearly wouldn’t be able to make the payments, yes. In the case of the banks, we can thank ACORN and people in our own government for pressuring them to make “sub-prime”loans (in other words, home mortgages to people who can’t really afford them). But, yes, they DID cave under that pressure.