Fred W

What REALLY Caused the Mortgage Crisis - And What to Do Now

Been renting since early 2005--perhaps a little early but the writing was on the wall and my "greed" had been squeezed out by "fear" by then--just saw too many people previously working in "fast food" (if they had a job at all) move into the mortgage and real estate investment "industries" (flipping).
Current policies seem to be efforts that will only return us to this madness.


On Jul 06 01:40 AM OptimizedPrime wrote:

> "Since you’re going to prefer living inside to living on the streets,
> it’s likely you’ll do the analysis and realize that renting isn’t
> exactly free, that real estate prices will come back at some point,
> and that every mortgage payment you make builds equity."
>
> Not quite. The smart walk-aways realize that:
>
> 1. Renting IS way cheaper than owning your own house. Unless you
> disagree with #2.
>
> 2. Prices will NOT "come back at some point"--certainly not to Bubble
> prices in your lifetime. Prices will fall for another year or two
> then be flat for a long, long time.
>
> 3. Every mortgage payment WASTES money as you pay interest to the
> bank. Renting and saving is the way to save money.
>
> 4. In many areas, the rent-to-sales-price ratio is out of whack by
> upwards of 50%. Renting is an absolute STEAL in these areas if the
> prices are to be believed (and they aren't--rent is the corrected
> "price floor" for housing). However, in the short run, rents are
> a steal.
>
>
> OP