Owners Stop Paying Mortgages, and Stop Fretting

[nebris]

From The NYTMay 31, 2010

Comments

[sophiaserpentia]

I don't subscribe to the notion that if you're struggling financially you don't deserve to have recreation, but that strikes me as ridiculous, which I think is the point of leading the article with that.

This strikes me as the 2010 equivalent of the 'welfare queen' driving a Cadillac: an image more helpful for the advancement of a certain political agenda than one grounded in reality.

I don't have any sympathy for someone who would choose to keep a luxury rather than selling it to either help pay the mortgage or putting the money toward more affordable and stable accommodations and I imagine that most people who have been struggling the past few years feel similarly.

OTOH if their mortgage is in bad enough shape, selling the airboat to try to cover the mortgage might be like pissing in the ocean. They could likely sell every luxury item they own and still only buy themselves a few months, which in the long run isn't going to make a bit of difference. They'll still be underwater in a home they can't afford, only they will have lost all the nice things they spent a lifetime acquiring. So if the house it an utterly lost cause, they might as well enjoy what else they have.

[jsl32]

the families profiled used their homes as ATMs to buy the consumer goods they can't be bothered to sell now.

I have no sympathy for the people in this article or the banks.

[sophiaserpentia]

Well, if it's any consolation, here's what will probably happen: the bank will sue and the court will put a lien on the airboats and other luxury items those families bought, and eventually the sheriff will come and take them away.

The bankers, however, will get away scot-free with over-leveraging themselves to kingdom come and will even pocket nice bonuses for themselves in the process.

[darksumomo]

Rick something

Rick Santelli. I was watching CNBC when he gave that rant.