I’ve said many times that I’ll be p*&sed off if the government bails out the morons who have gotten themselves into debt that’s way over their heads. It’s just not fair to those of us who’ve worked hard to save money and live within our means.
That being said… The Charlotte Observer did an excellent series on the high foreclosure rate there, which I read with interest, not only because I am a Piggington, but I am moving there in exactly one week.
In Charlotte, the majority of homes facing foreclosure, it appears, are the on the lower-end pricing wise – in the $100k range. My first thought was, how do you go into foreclosure on a $100k house? But reading on, I realized that a lot of these people worked close-to-minimum-wage jobs (minimum wage is much lower in NC, by the way), and had been convinced by realtors and mortgage brokers that they couldn’t afford not to buy into the “American Dream.” And that’s not really fair either.
But how do you decide who’s a moron who, as RottedOak said, “failed to do their own due diligence” and who are, as littlelady described, “less educated folks”? There’s probably a thin line, and therefore it’s tough to help the latter without helping the former.
I’m a strong believer in taking responsibility for one’s actions, pretty much a fiscal conservative, and never thought I would say something like this. But there is some social responsibility to those that have been flat-out wronged. And by that, I mean not a total bail out, as no one learns anything from that, but a six-month moratorium on foreclosures for home owners actually living in their homes and of a certain income level, would be reasonable. My guess is that a lot of these people would be willing to work to keep their homes, as opposed to investors willing to walk away from the loan and move on to the next get-rich-quick scheme.