Living After Foreclosure

JLP of All Financial Matters had a six-question interview on the housing crisis with reality TV host, speaker, and author Larry Winget. Mr. Winget hosts the A&E show Big Spender and has written several books on personal finance, the latest of which is You’re Broke Because You Want to Be.

Mr. Winget maintains that the blame for the massive foreclosure flood rests on the borrowers:

I think the primary cause of the crisis is that people were irresponsible and bought more house than they could afford. Money was easy to get and they took it and didn’t give much thought to the FACTS. And the facts were that their mortgage was going to go up at some point. “But no one told me that!” Bull. It was in the paperwork. If you didn’t read it or understand it, that is your own fault.

Here he’s referring to adjustable-rate mortgages. Harsh words, but that’s his style, and I think he’s largely right. (This isn’t the story you’ll hear from prominent political leaders, because it’s just about guaranteed to turn off voters. It’s much more palatable to believe that it’s someone else’s fault.) Buying a house is definitely something where the timing can be controlled. The prospective buyer can sign the contract or not. The buyer can look for affordable houses with a low, fixed-rate payment or an unaffordable house with payments that are low now, but which rise far beyond their ability to pay later.

Check out the rest of the interview over at All Financial Matters.

• Will your lender work with you? This article from the Chicago Tribune made a point about lenders that's an unfortunate reality: The more equity you have in your home, the less eager your lender may be to work with you. It's an ironic fallout of the foreclosure crisis that those who have been the most diligent......
• Steps to take if you’re facing foreclosure, Part 2 Liz Pulliam Weston wrote recently on steps to take if you’re facing foreclosure.  There are smart ways to go about it, and not-so-smart ways.  Here are three more of her suggestions with some of my comments: Be realistic.  A house is just a house.  It may have a lot of......
• Modern-day ghost towns Some new developments in California are mostly, or just about entirely, vacant. The housing industry had been stepping on the accelerator for a few years at the beginning of the decade.  As big as it is, it gained momentum over those years.  But now that it's been barreling along so......
• Upside down? Prepare now to keep your mortgage current Plonkee Money is going upside-down a little bit on her mortgage, and is getting a little worried.  She can afford the payments, but she's concerned that if she were to be laid off she might lose everything. This is a valid concern, and she's wise to consider how to allocate......

• Jim Furyk Wins Chevron World Challenge After a low-speed car accident that's prompted tabloid-esque speculation about Tiger Woods' private life, he cancelled his participation in the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, California, the golf tournament that he sponsors and usually wins. His departure from the tournament led to a lucky invitation to Graeme McDowell, who......
• Review Coco Perfume by Chanel The Coco Perfume by Chanel was the first perfume that was released by the Chanel house after Coco Chanel passed away. The Coco Perfume by Chanel was designed by Jacques Polge and was designed to capture the style and the image of this truly important legend. The result was a......
• The Mortgage Crisis and Investments in Real Estate According to regional and state real estate analysts, the factors which previously fueled the housing boom of the last few years are easy to explain. The factors that fueled this boom in the real instate industry ranged significantly, including: - Interest rates that were historically low. - Flight-Risk Safety Investments......
• Declutter to Sell Your Home Quickly and Easily for Top Dollar CLUTTER: "Disordered mass of objects" (Collins Dictionary)If you are selling your home as you read this article, there is not much you can do about 'location, location, location' but there is always something you can do about 'presentation, presentation, presentation', and presentation is the single most important thing for......