[quote=HLS]We aren’t dealing with too many people who think.
FHA is the new subprime. Without it, the houisng market would collapse.
We are dealing with a society that has an entitlement attitude and thinks that their civil rights are violated if they can’t get a mortgage.
Greed and foolishness is rampant. People think they are looked down upon if they are a renter.
The wise ones have been renters the last 5-6 years and have no money in the stock market. How UNAmerican is that ?
The recent move to “address risk” at FHA was if a credit score is below 580, you need 10% down. Above 580 3.50% down is still possible, and the seller can only contribute 3% of the sales price instead of 6%.
This is a very, very, sick situation.
HLS, I’ve noticed what you term as the “entitlement attitude” also, and it doesn’t appear as though the rocky financial shoals we’ve been experiencing recently have been a deterrent to borrowers or lenders. I kept hearing that the days of zero percent down were over, but that’s not what I’m seeing. What I’m especially struck by is the attitude of very young adults (20-22) who are living with their parents, and insisting that they have to buy a house before they can move out (sheltering that $25K annual salary from income taxes can be challenging). I admit to spitting up a little in my mouth when I watch “House Hunter”-type shows, and hear an appalled 21-year-old college dropout complain that the kitchen doesn’t have granite or stainless, and there’s only two bathrooms, and neither has double sinks!
Yes, I’m older than dirt, but I remember just wanting to get the hell out of my parents’ house at any cost. If an apartment had affordable rent and at least intermittent running water in its ONE 4′ x 3′ bathroom, I signed on the dotted line. Buying was something you saved for, and, when you bought, a substantial amount of your capital was in that property.
Just like Social Security and Medicare and some other entitlement programs have been expanded far beyond their original purposes and provisions, so has government funding of home ownership. I am alarmed by what appears to be the Feds filling the home financing void left by skittish financial institutions.
Do you know who it was in Congress that sponsored this recent initiative on the mortgage insurance increases? I never fail to be shocked by the appallingly low level of financial IQs among our elected officials. Is it possible that none of the large number that voted on this can comprehend what an increase of $450 and up will do to people’s ability to cover their monthly mortgage payment? And this is on top of the exorbitant hikes in property taxes in some areas where local governments are attempting to increase revenue.
