[.OrgOwner]

Who just who is eligible? If the property is a single-family residence in which you live and you're 90 or more days past due on your payments or in foreclosure, you are eligible. You cannot be in bankruptcy.

The players are : Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and many other major lenders and mortgage servicers, effective from Dec. 15

Equity required: Your loan-to-value ratio must be 90 percent or better -- that is, your equity must be 10 percent or lower, as determined by the mortgage servicer (depending on your lender).

The New Plan to Keep People in Their Homes - washingtonpost.com

Real Estate

[globehopperz]

I'm sorry but I don't have much sympathy for those who signed the papers for an ARM mortgage. How exactly do people feel taken by the banks when their contract clearly states how high the rate could go. If you won't be able to afford the higher payment should rates rise, stay away from that type of loan! If you can't afford the payment on a fixed rate, then find a cheaper house!

Not sure how eligibility works with this plan. Just BS to bail people out for stupid decisions, period.

[lanbrown]

Originally Posted by globehopperz

Not sure how eligibility works with this plan. Just BS to bail people out for stupid decisions, period.

Yes and no. I haven't read the plan, but my view is if they get federal assistance to keep their home, when they sell it they should have to pay capital gains on the sale. If the house is sold for more than what they paid for it, they get to pay taxes on it. If they think that is not fair, look at the alternative; you wouldn't have had a house to sell and thus $0 gain.

[dadicroce]

all i know is i work mighty hard to make sure all of my bills are payed in full and on time. i have no compassion for individuals who fail to do the same. in this day and age its very rare to find people who live within their means, if you cant afford it dont buy it its as simple as that. between banks bail outs and auto bail outs this gov. is beginning to sound like a joke. for a living i work for a mortgage bank and you should see the ignorance in some of the potential home buyers. for a general rule of thumb, if you dont make enough in one week to cover your entire mortgage (all taxes included) the house is too expensive for you. theres no shame in buying a piece of property less expensive as a starter home and then moving a few years down the road when you have some equity established. imo that shows wisdom and maturity. but hey what do i know i only do this for a living lol

[BigBassTurd]

Originally Posted by dadicroce

for a general rule of thumb, if you dont make enough in one week to cover your entire mortgage (all taxes included) the house is too expensive for you. theres no shame in buying a piece of property less expensive as a starter home and then moving a few years down the road when you have some equity established. imo that shows wisdom and maturity. but hey what do i know i only do this for a living lol

That is what I did when I went looking for my current place to rent. And will be doing the same when I buy a house/condo here in the near future. If I can't afford at least 90%+ of the rent/mortgage in one paycheck it's to expensive. I'll just buy something small first, fix it up and then upgrade later. I've seen a lot of nice starter homes( 2bdr 2 bth ) here in my area for around $100k-$125k. Which is about a third of what it cost 2 years ago.

[LoopyLee]

Originally Posted by dadicroce

a general rule of thumb, if you dont make enough in one week to cover your entire mortgage (all taxes included) the house is too expensive for you.

If that was a general rule of thumb then SSB and I cant afford to rent the house we are living in now, hell.. round here we couldn't afford a 1 bedroom flat for the four of us!!!

It actually works out cheaper for us to rent a house than buy one, if you could even get a mortgage at the moment!!! If we were to buy a similar house to ours the cost each month of payng for the house alone would go up by 50%..

[TKDmasterZ]

One of the mortgage brokers said I was a fool not taking out a loan for $500K when I only had $50K to put down. This was 5 years ago. I thought it simply just didn't make sense, so I bought my place for $299K, which seemed reasonable. I thought I was a fool for almost three years after that, but only until the market started tanking. Thank God I was a fool! I'd be out on the street with my two little kids if I thought I was so smart and took out a huge loan that I couldn't afford. So people weren't thinking. They did it just because they could. You should think twice when something just sounds too good to be true. That lesson applies to everything.

[Surffrog]

Originally Posted by dadicroce

all i know is i work mighty hard to make sure all of my bills are payed in full and on time. i have no compassion for individuals who fail to do the same. in this day and age its very rare to find people who live within their means, if you cant afford it dont buy it its as simple as that. between banks bail outs and auto bail outs this gov. is beginning to sound like a joke. for a living i work for a mortgage bank and you should see the ignorance in some of the potential home buyers. for a general rule of thumb, if you dont make enough in one week to cover your entire mortgage (all taxes included) the house is too expensive for you. theres no shame in buying a piece of property less expensive as a starter home and then moving a few years down the road when you have some equity established. imo that shows wisdom and maturity. but hey what do i know i only do this for a living lol

Extremely good and valid point here

Originally Posted by LoopyLee

If that was a general rule of thumb then SSB and I cant afford to rent the house we are living in now, hell.. round here we couldn't afford a 1 bedroom flat for the four of us!!!

It actually works out cheaper for us to rent a house than buy one, if you could even get a mortgage at the moment!!! If we were to buy a similar house to ours the cost each month of payng for the house alone would go up by 50%..

Loopy, as lending becomes easier, you should find house rents get cheaper. The problem you have at the moment is caused by the knock-on effect of people who had a mortgage now finding themselves evicted and having to rent. This is how slum-lords make their money. They know if you don't pay someone else will

[.OrgOwner]

Originally Posted by TKDmasterZ

One of the mortgage brokers said I was a fool not taking out a loan for $500K when I only had $50K to put down. This was 5 years ago. I thought it simply just didn't make sense, so I bought my place for $299K, which seemed reasonable. I thought I was a fool for almost three years after that, but only until the market started tanking. Thank God I was a fool! I'd be out on the street with my two little kids if I thought I was so smart and took out a huge loan that I couldn't afford. So people weren't thinking. They did it just because they could. You should think twice when something just sounds too good to be true. That lesson applies to everything.

Yes it's amazing that so many people live so close to the edge with their mortgage and don't allow for things that might just happen in the future. Why not have a buffer just in case? If a point or more in upward interest rates is going to tip you over the edge then you probably need a cheaper home.

[JEBSTER52]

Most of our problems are a direct link to the Sub prime giveaway from the Feds! People got loans based on diversity not income and friend that want pay the bills. If you can't afford a home on a 30 year fix then don't do it! Variable rates always change upward. Mr.Franklin Raines walked away with $90,000,000 from Fannie Mae by fraudulently reporting false profit or profit without operating expense, hence his bonus! Not one word about it in the press! We are just about to reap the whirlwind of PC Politics!