[quote=sdrealtor]I think its a very good article. He’s not looking for sympathy, he’s just telling his story. It shows less sophisticated distressed homeowners that they are not alone. That people of all education and income levels fell prey to the same thing. Its a story about risk taking and herd mentalities which are endemic in our society. Its not about fingerpointing anymore. Its about cleaning up the mess and we still have much work ahead of us.[/quote]
I agree with you: He’s not looking for sympathy. He’s actually looking to justify his actions. And he’s looking to sell his book. I’ll buy a copy if he gives ALL of the gross profits to people who have lost their retirement funds due to bad advice from financial “experts” and to homeowners who have lost their rightfully owned properties due to robosigning “errors”.
The entire article was filled with excuses. And incredibly lousy excuses that, in reality, don’t qualify as excuses at all. It is a tale of incompetence, of greed, of immaturity, and of stupidity. He spent 6 years living on nothing more than wishful thinking. But the article talks about “everybody doing it”, and real estate agents who took them to more expensive neighborhoods, and acquaintances who were buying bigger houses and boats and other toys. Even the statement, “We had Chevys and Volkwagens” was self-serving: after all, many of the models made by Chevy and Volkswagen are $40,000 and up, and I’d place money on a bet that the Chevy was a fully-loaded luxury model $50,000+ Tahoe.
But, hey! Lots of people decided that they, too, were in a position to star on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” during that time, courtesy of the generous lending policies of their friendly bankers and mortgage companies. It’s not that I’m implying that the Richards should be condemned for what they did. What makes me sick is that this guy really hasn’t accepted that he’s done anything wrong, and that, in reality, he *did* have other choices. He offers bullshit excuses for everything they did.
He even tries to make it sound like law schools are now endorsing his actions as the only truly responsible way to handle your legally-contracted financial responsibilities. In truth, his source of inspiration for this delusion is an academic paper written by a University of Arizona Law School associate professor who was examining the motivations for and effects of strategic default. I know: I read that paper, and others by the same professor.
I’m sorry. You can’t purport to be selling a book that you hope will help people learn from your mistakes when you don’t really believe that you made any mistakes. Aside from that, exactly how will reading his miserable little story help anyone? I haven’t heard any advertisements from banks or mortgage companies trying to lure homeowners into debt-consolidation (or toy-buying) refinancing since 2008. Handy tip: Homeowners who are losing their homes (for WHATEVER reason) don’t want to hear all about your underwater mortgage/short sale/foreclosure. Hearing that someone else may have made stupid mistakes won’t make them feel better about their own, and more sad stories will likely just increase their desire to end it all.
So instead of making more money off susceptible, trusting people, Mr. Russell should stick his book where it will do everyone else the most good: down his throat so he won’t be able to peddle his valuable financial advice and bullshit stories to people who are actually trying to survive and move on.
