Get out your hankies

[firni]

Careers vanish after subprime 'free fall'

Kent and Mysti Cope were well-paid executives at subprime lenders who never thought the industry could disappear overnight. Now they're just trying to get by.

Comments

[sclerotic_rings]

That's like the story on the front cover of the Wall Street Journal this morning about the douchebags who can't afford to retire at 59 because they can't sell their $400,000 homes for what they paid for them. My little nanobot violin has been working overtime for their terrible, terrible plight, because they just can't afford to take a loss on their McMansions if they're going to dump the old manse and move to Arizona.

[firni]

That home equity line of credit was a great move, too. I'm wondering if the couple in this story got THEMSELVES one of those subprime loans to buy their "dream home with a view of the Pacific".

[llachglin]

Well, $400K isn't that much for a house these days. The median house price in King County is barely under $400K right now. The average (mean) is even higher, at just under $480K. My house, a modest 1959 single-story rambler in what I'd call a lower middle-class neighborhood, is valued between $300 and $400k.

McMansions are more likely to be in the $700-800K range, and up. Or maybe you meant those houses should only be worth $400K, in which case you might have a point.

[firni]

He's in Texas, and $400K buys a lot of house down there.

[txtriffidranch]

I certainly won't disagree with you on either level: I'm just repeating what I read. Apparently Mr. "Plan to Retire At 59 1/2" had only $250k saved up for retirement savings and was counting on the $400k sale of his house to achieve his dream of spending the rest of his life watching television, and between losing 20 percent of the 401(k) value in the last year and being unable to sell his house, he's whining about how he's going to have to work for another year or two. Poor baby.