The NYT thinks your a Moron (also).

Turns out they're right....

"So as the one-year anniversary arrives of our near financial collapse, it’s a good time to blow up a long-standing but underexamined maxim of real estate — that you should always stretch financially when buying your first home.

No one is quite sure who came up with this idea, though suspicions rest on real estate agents or kindly parents with the best of intentions who never expected that real estate prices could fall."

I want to say "who the f believed this", but unfortunately, I know the answer.... America.

" Whatever its origin, the economists and financial planners I spoke with this week are almost unanimous in their rejection of it."

A little late to the party....

pretty basic I agree, but with the number of people who are drowning or have drowned already in RE mistakes I'd say there must've been a traffic jam of short busses during generation x.

A good argument for mandatory money management courses in H.S./college. You shouldn't need to read the primer *after* the exam.

I actually like this article a lot, except for the gratuitous attack on bankers and brokers supposedly lying about loan terms. I think very few people were actually lied to. Most understood the risks and simply decided to roll the dice, thinking they'd be able to kick the can down the road again later by refinancing.

The advice is good. There's nothing wrong with a concise statement of the obvious. I agree, though, that it would have been nice if someone had published this article in 2002 instead of 2009 . . .

howz about spending based on you "income"... i don't know, but it makes me want to laugh/snort thru my nose when I read... "Americans will now have to live based on their income....."

When did everyone get the memo, your dick is as big as your leveraged "profit" in your "home?" Well, I see serious shrinkage, kinda like having a boner and turning around to find your entire office mates, family and your wife turning on the lights to a "surprise b-day party."

Enjoy the shrinkage RE bullz/RE brokers (that can't hang - i am modifying it... Burhkartgroup is okay by me)...

herez another realtwhore maxim gone up in flaming unicorn poop... Beach front, "They ain't making anymore of it, it'll always go UP UP UP!!!!"

How about ( I heard this from EVERY F'n RE GROUP/BANKER at ALL THE TRADE CONFERENCES) "THE US HAS NEVER HAD A SYNCHRONIZED YOY NATIONAL DECREASE IN RE PRICES, EVER" so our MODEL reflects 0% probability of this... and here is the BLACK BOX formula for it done up by our PHd geek whose never had a blow job in his life... but he can make that HP SING!!!!!

"I think very few people were actually lied to"

I know several people who were egregiously lied to by Indymac, in addition to being the victims of a number of other unsavory lending practices. If you search on the internet, you will find many hearbreaking stories of people who were outright screwed by that bank. Indymac is being sued by borrowers, shareholders and the attorneys general of several states.

Countrywide was similar. I know a couple whose mortgage payment was somehow "lost". When they offered to send a new check, their offer was refused. They were told they could only communicate with the bank by fax, but the fax machine was always busy. The bank kept refusing to take money from them for another three months. It turned out that the name of the game was getting them to refinance with Countrywide's subprime unit at 10% interest after they were reported to the credit bureaus. A lawyer had to straighten it out for them.

I feel sorry for those who were naive, hopeful, gullible, unsophisticated,and were sold a bill of goods by predatory lenders. There were many of them. I think they deserve kindness from their fellow humans who may enjoy superior fortune, knowledge, education and brains.

Generalogoun is absolutely right about the systematic misrepresentations and outright fraud that were practiced by some real estate agents, mortgage brokers and bankers. I have a friend in California whose real estate agent insisted that she finance through a friend who would give her great rates. Although she had already been preapproved (at my suggestion) by another bank, the broker proposed a ridiculously complex mortgage scheme with different terms and rates. Had she been more gullible, my friend would have bought the "Don't worry, we're saving you money & there's no need to read the fine print" line of the agent.

Doggie, continued good job on Group A in your postings - words ending in a z seem to be your preferred choice within that group, followed as a close second by a reference to a penis.

However, lately you haven't been posting about what really matters.

Please remember always to include at least one item from Group B.

Group B
1 - Reference to Porsche, Rolex or Yacht
2 - Bragging about your children's trust fund
3 - Insulting the real estate industry and in the same breath saying you are a commercial landlord
4 - A nasty Robin Hood type class argument against people who aren't a Horatio Algier hero like you claim to be
5 - Reference to how much you benched and squatted
6 - Reference to your GPA and percentile on your standardized exams
7 - Reference to wife being a medical doctor

time for a cookout asshole.

shrimpy...you got a crush on W67?

I think shrimpie lovez W67...

falcogold1, thank you for your attention.

I'm here for you!

throw another shrimp on the barbie for me CC.

pigs thru a snake... I'm here, there, everywhere for you SHRIMPIE? Do you dream of me while at your open houses?, do you dream of me on the bank line? Does my name pop up when driving past w67thstreet? do you think of me when the set of keys jingles in your "open house" best black skirt? When that long ago human desire for the flesh pops up, does your Victorian sensibilities squash that emotion as surely does the thought of your home equity and cat food future? You've got no children, no spouse, just a cat ready to scratch your pig eyes out when your time comes...... oh shrimpie... why so much haterade? why, oh why is your life so full of open houses? so so FULL of yourself?

Seriously doggie, "haterade"?