Blues Gal

The Assault on Ethical Home Appraisals

Whether the writer of the column believes it or not, I have seen appraisals being used to sell foreclosures in our area, that were done by someone who was employed by the mortgage holder, but who never even set foot in our STATE, nevermind our town. So, say what you will, it's been happening. The big, bad realtors (mercy me, the wolves ), were not the only ones who caused the economic debacle. It was human greed, plain and simple. And guess what? Bankers and wall street manipulators were in it WAY more than the real estate brokers. No, I was not a real estate broker.

Personal Responsibility and the Housing Bubble

Yes, Americans are always looking for someone else to blame for all their troubles. Then they want to have the government (us taxpayers) bail them out of their mess. We've built a culture of irresponsibility and now we must pay the consequences. It sucks, because I'm of the "only buy what you can afford" culture. So, I'm paying for others stupidity and greed.
That said, I agree that HGTV did contribute to the bubble, it didn't cause it.
With shows like "Flip This House" and "The Property Ladder" on TLC, a person was led to believe that he could make a quick buck with a bit of labor and luck. Very unrealistic, but made for good entertaiment. Then greed comes in and guess what? Lots of folks who are totally lacking in knowledge of this task, jump in to try it. Oops......harder than they thought, well, lets just let the bank have it back.