Given the reality of the market, I guess the negative stories on Real Estate were true! Of course, you wouldn't know this from reading the Pleasanton Weekly's regurgitation of dribble from local and national realtors groups as "stories."

One realtor has stepped up though. Did you see Tim McGiure's ad in last week's PW discussing how sellers haven't acknowledged reality? Wow - spot on.

So true!

Which reminds me... what is always failed to mention with this so called "mortgage crisis" is that a great deal of the people who now can not make their payments flat-out lied on their application! Specifically, they lied about how much they make. At the time people were applying for these mortgages, it was quite rare for people to prove they were actually making the amount they put down. That means the majority of these people would have naturally not received these mortgages. It is not right for the government (aka: my money and your money) to bail out these people. Whatever happened to people taking responsibility for their actions?

With that said, even if people did not falsify their mortgage applications, I find it inappropriate to bail them out in the capitalistic system we have. Politicians are crying that people are being kicked out of their homes. Well guess what, those homes are not their homes. Part of capitalism is being at the will of the "invisible hand" of the economy. The greater the risk, the greater potential for a larger reward - or greater demise.

The problem with bailing people out is it goes directly against what America stands for. We aren't communists thankfully(yet).

*Correction:

I meant "So untrue!" in reference to the post by homeowner.

I agree with Bob that the government shouldn't be bailing people out, but I disagree with the idea that the reason behind the problem is that folks lied on their applications. We just don't have any data that backs up that claim. I had read an article earlier this year or late last year that talked about a strawberry picker in the Central Valley being given a mortgage for a house he could never end up affording, but it looked good on paper initially (the first few years' payments that is, before the rate adjusted). If you want to find blame for the "mortgage crisis" we should look at BOTH the lenders (with their loose lending practices) and the borrowers (who took the money).

When my husband and I purchased our first home, we asked the broker for a 30-year fixed jumbo. When we all sat down at the title company to sign papers, this broker came with a 5-year ARM to try to strong-arm us into getting. It was incredible. We (and our real estate agent) stood our ground and demanded the product we asked for and got it (it wasn't like we weren't qualified for it). Now you can imagine someone with less resolve than us would fall into that tactic during such a stressful time and sign for the 5-year ARM.

Hopefully the lesson to folks in all of this is to stick to conservative principles when it comes to money!

Stacey,

True there are no exact numbers, and we will probably never know the exact numbers - but check out this article: Web Link

Pretty interesting. Also it sounds like some of the brokers are also part of the fraud. Shame on them. I do agree with you now that the blame goes both ways (but I am still against bailing people out).

As for your situation, good work on sticking to your guns. That is what more people need to do. This is probably one of the biggest transactions people will ever make in their life. People can't allow themselves to be taken advantage of. Especially in this day and age, people should take the time to research all their options - and read the fine print. Kudos to your family for doing that.

Just wanted to correct my initial post, it was realtor Doug Buenz who placed the ad in the PW regarding sellers not acknowledging reality (Friday, September 28, 2007 edition). Worth a read.

Kudos to the PW for finally printing a relatively negative article regarding home sales. However, it would be great if the PW used a source other than the National Association of Realtors. The NAR is a trade group solely focused on the interests of realtors. The NAR spins trends, news, and events to meet the needs of realtors, not necessarily the public. How about some independent views and analysis, outside of the NAR or local realtors or mortgage brokers?

Bob and Stacey - great points all around. Stacey I'm impressed with your financial resolve. So many folks in this town have succumbed to the pressure of keeping up with everyone else, taking out loans they can't afford or interest only loans which looked good on the way up but now look like a boat anchor as housing prices come down to reality.

In last week's Pleasanton Weekly there was a Letter attempting to convince us that there are no problems in the economy or real estate. Well, today's report from the National Association of Realtors has some interesting data

-Total home sales fell 8% from August

-Home sales fell over 19% year over year

-Prices nationally were down over 4% year over year

All this from a group that would rather hide the drops than admit to them.

Why is it so hard for folks to understand that real estate has accelerated ahead of historical norms the last few years and that there will ineveitably be an adjustment back to those norms?

Due to repeated violations of our Terms of Use, comments from this poster are automatically removed. Why?