The thing that sickens me is there are generally probably two scenarios, and both involve lying:
1. Uninformed people were led to believe they could refinance with an IO or ARM, and just sell it in 3 years when their payment doubles and equity has tripled again.
2. Deceptive people mis-state their incomes and equity to afford more house than they could pay for.
I really don’t feel that sorry for these people. They should take the time to learn what they are getting into. Our society has this growing “it’s not my fault attitude” and assumes less and less responsibilty for their actions. Sure, there are some people who legitimately just lost it, but most saw their equity as a “free” ride into high society where yellow hummers abound.