Lenders, bankers and investors made millions during the housing boom with little regard to the consequences that are now abundantly clear. And they are HALF to blame for this mess. Here’s a great video that simplifies the entire overly complicated process and explains the financial crisis:
http://vimeo.com/3261363
But I dispute the notion that foreclosed or underwater homeowners are somehow “innocent victims.” That’s a pile of crap. Have some personal fucking accountability! You have to sign on the dotted line in about a hundred different places that tell you how much your monthly payment is going to be on your house. That’s your payment REGARDLESS of what happens to the value!! You borrow $300,000, you have to pay back $300,000. Even if the value of your home drops to $90,000. That’s irrelevant. You signed on the dotted line a hundred times saying you would pay back $300,000.
Foolish homeowners got greedy and bought more house than they could afford with mortgages that had a low rate to start and then turned into a high rate later. Even KNOWING they could NOT pay the high rate, they bought the home and just figured they’d sell it at a higher price later. Wrongly assuming the price would always go up.
I did NOT do that. Even with everyone around me making money buying houses, I still RENTED through the entire upside of the now “crisis”. Because I thought, “Well what if the price does NOT go up? Then I’ll be stuck with a house I can’t sell and a payment I can’t make and I’ll go bankrupt.” I’m not some genius, it’s a pretty EASY thing to see. But the GREEDY, idiots who did buy homes FULL WELL KNOWING THEY COULDN’T MAKE THE HIGHER PAYMENT when the interest rate resets, didn’t think about that or didn’t care. They are JUST AS MUCH TOO BLAME as brokers, lenders and bankers. They are NOT innocent victims. They’re in trouble because of greed.
If anything we’re letting them off too easy. They shouldn’t be able to just “walk away.” You take out a $300,000 loan motivated by greed and you can easily just NOT pay it back, simply by defaulting. And the only punishment is you lose the home and your credit is crap for a few years. If you owed a bookie $300,000 and didn’t pay, they would break your legs, or KILL you. I’m so sick of hearing people bitch about losing their home. Guess what? I lost my home too! Because I RENT! I was never able to buy one because this whole system caused prices in Orange county to TRIPLE in 10 years. That means a $200,000 home became a $600,000 home. If anyone is a victim it’s the renters who had to watch real estate prices RUN AWAY for 10 years straight.
What do you think happens to these “poor, innocent victim homeowners” after they lose their home. THEY HAVE TO RENT! Just like you and me. Boo freakin Hoo! And many of them took out $100,000 + home equity loans and blew all that money on expensive things, cars, vacations, trips to Vegas, etc during the boom time. That we are now ALL paying for as taxpayers via the multi-billion dollar bailout. We ALL have to pay higher taxes for the rest of our lives, because greedy homeowners bought homes they could not afford, spent thousands of dollars of home-equity loan money and now never have to pay it back!! Because we let them just “walk away” from their mortgage!!! It’s criminal. So excuse me if I don’t feel sorry for these idiots. 
The system AND Homeowners. Both equally to blame. Anyone that tells you differently IS one of those idiots and just can’t admit that they were WRONG. Typical American, entitlement “victim” mentality. Boo-hoooooo, the evil bankers used me. No. YOU used ME and every fiscally responsible American that did not buy a house in the boom. Your welcome that I’ll be paying the mortgate off that you walked away from, with higher taxes for the rest of my life.
