When my wife became disabled and unable to work the mortgage we could comfortably afford became a burden as interest rates began to climb. We refinanced into a fixed mortgage, started cutting out the extras we enjoyed, and made the payments. Our income has improved a bit - even though gas prices are negating a good chunk of that - and the first of the month is a little less nerve-wracking.

We are not quite out of the woods but we can see the edge of the forest.

I have a lot of difficulty mustering up sympathy for anyone who refuses to do what it takes and whines for a bail-out from taxpayers.

The guy lied to you, he wrote in the number himself.

"I guess I'm just a freak that way."

No Jay, it's called CHARACTER...

Every time a client would call me and claim to have been either sold a mortgage different from what they'd been told, or some other tale that blamed the mortgage broker, when the paperwork was faxed to me, their signature would appear on the key page. Invariably.

...his stated income was on the application... was $16,250 a month...he'd only made $35,000 all year
I blame Bush.

I've got an adjustable rate mortgage on my second home that adjusts in September. My husband and I knew damn well what we were getting into. As it turns out, our adjusted rate will be less than what we would get if we went out now for a fixed rate mortgage so we've decided to "ride it out" for another year. We have made bad decisions in the past, but we learn to live with them and suffer the consequences. And we read everything we signed.

Isn't it reassuring to know that the Dems want to bail out guys like that with their $300 billion program when schmos like me are following all the rules and just sucking it up?

People feel entitled to the salary increases that will allow them to 'work' their way out of buying in over their heads.

The entitlements were always an illusion. Most People were just able to live with the risk in a growing economy.

When I got cancer, we got a month behind on the mortgage. Some money came in and we were able to catch up. I blame people who thought that the economy would fix it for them, or just plain screwed up.

I've been in the mortgage business for almost 20 yrs.

2 questions come to mind.

If the guy made $35,000 all that year, where did he think the money was going to come from to pay for that too big house, which also carries with it, along with a higher mortgage amount, more taxes, more utilities, more carrying costs etc. (An income of that size would support total debt payments, including new mortgage, taxes, and insurance, of anywhere from $6-6500. Know anyone that can handle that kind of monthly expense on less than $3k a month??)

Also, there are AT LEAST FIVE chances to read about your loan terms prior to you getting keys to a new home. The initial app, the initial Truth in Lending, an ARM Disclosure(all done right at the start of the process), and at closing, the final note and note rider(if anything other than a fixed rate loan), the final TIL, and the mortgage rider.

Anyone claiming they didnt know is a flat out liar. They rolled the dice, they lost, deal with it.

I do real estate closings for a living, and can tell you, that if a guy only makes $35k or whatever, and is signing a $200k or more loan, there's a problem.

And, he knows, or should not be excused from knowing, that if you don't make enough to cover your mortgage, you don't qualify for the loan.

This schmuck, I guarantee you, knew exactly what was going on. Bastard.

The buyers should not be be bailed out. They should be put in a mental facility and the sellers in prison. Just the facts Mama, Just the facts.

"When they told him it was $16,250 a month, he burst out laughing"
That was because HE LEFT IT BLANK !!!
And he left it blank for a reason. The same reason I LEFT MINE BLANK !!! So my broker could fill it in with a number that would FLY.
All the numbers my broker told me I AGREED TO.
The only number I didn't have is "What income the bank would buy"

I guarantee you that the guy wanted a certain house that was beyond his means. He finagled with the broker (or agent or whatever) to fudge numbers to get him that house. He knew that he couldn't get the house by the conventional means of submitting bank statements, W-2s, paycheck stubs, etc. so the broker told him they could do it on "stated income" and he wouldn't have to prove a thing. Whether it was $16,250 or $6,250 he knew that the number there would be a lie.

I've bought 3 houses in my life. Own one now I'm paying on. I've never signed any mortgage agreement that didn't tell me how much my monthly payment would be.

If he didn't know how much the broker filled he had to know when the first note came in and was greater than his take home pay that something was up.

He was in on the scam as much as the broker, if not more.

My neighbor's son, 24, is claiming the same "the broker fooled me." He's a cook in a local chain restaurant making $12K a year. He claims he didn't realize that wasn't enough money to buy a $700K. Yeah right.

When I got my first loan, they required I bring my two most recent pay stubs so they knew exactly how much I made per year and put that number directly in the box.

I also spent a lot of time figuring out how much I would pay each month for a given house before I even made a bid. Apparently I should have just bought a house I liked and asked for a bailout just a few years later.

I had to bring paystubs to my closing. It wasn't a problem with the house I'm in now, though. When I was looking, I told my buyer's agent what I was comfortable with for a monthly payment, and trusted her to show me houses that would fit that requirement.

Masonn, if you left part of your mortgage application blank with the expectation the broker would fill in an income that would "work", you engaged in fraud, pure and simple. It's a risk you took, and if get in over your head it's up to you to dig yourself out. If you can't, you should go to jail.

I don't understand this one. I had to bring pay stubs, W2s, and bank statements to my mortgage officer.

This whole mortgage crisis sucks and there really is no good answer to it. Obviously the mortgage industry needs to be more tightly controlled. A bailout pisses me off on the surface too, but honestly how does the country benefit from millions of people being foreclosed on and tossed out on the street?

Ryan, the answer to that question is that people will see that you don't get away with doing it.

And when frauds get tossed out on the street, the properties are resold to people who can afford to pay the mortgages and worthless assets become productive assets.