Comments on: Mortgage Relief and a Generational Divide http://washingtonindependent.com/364/mortgage-relief-and-a-generational-divide National News in Context Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:30:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: housingwire http://washingtonindependent.com/364/mortgage-relief-and-a-generational-divide/comment-page-1#comment-4465 housingwire Tue, 05 Aug 2008 19:15:17 +0000 http://www.washingtonindependent.com.php5-9.websitetestlink.com/?p=364#comment-4465 Everyone's a critic, I guess.<br><br><br><br>Kevin, if you want a PhD's opinion, here you go: I'm sick and tired of hearing everyone reflexively pull out the "blame the victim" line anytime someone suggests that a borrower might, actually, not be a "victim" and may instead be facing a foreclosure that is at least in part their own fault.<br><br><br><br>It's far too easy these days to decide that borrowers in trouble got there because of lenders' misdeeds.<br><br><br><br>And I began Housing Wire in December 2006 for the very reason you lamented; I've spent years in the trenches dealing with borrower defaults, and I knew first-hand what was coming.<br><br><br><br>Solving this problem means coming to terms with how we got there. That means being honest about the fact that the vast majority of foreclosures, while unfortunate, are as much the borrower's doing as the lender's/ Everyone's a critic, I guess.

Kevin, if you want a PhD's opinion, here you go: I'm sick and tired of hearing everyone reflexively pull out the “blame the victim” line anytime someone suggests that a borrower might, actually, not be a “victim” and may instead be facing a foreclosure that is at least in part their own fault.

It's far too easy these days to decide that borrowers in trouble got there because of lenders' misdeeds.

And I began Housing Wire in December 2006 for the very reason you lamented; I've spent years in the trenches dealing with borrower defaults, and I knew first-hand what was coming.

Solving this problem means coming to terms with how we got there. That means being honest about the fact that the vast majority of foreclosures, while unfortunate, are as much the borrower's doing as the lender's/

]]> By: kevinh http://washingtonindependent.com/364/mortgage-relief-and-a-generational-divide/comment-page-1#comment-4464 kevinh Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:43:04 +0000 http://www.washingtonindependent.com.php5-9.websitetestlink.com/?p=364#comment-4464 On thing strikes me about the beginning of Paul Jackson's story. Here is a highly educated couple, one who ends up writing for a mortgage blog, and his reaction to 100% financing was that he "couldn't reconcile how a broker was telling" him that he could afford it. I would have imagined that his reaction, especially in hindsight and given his critique of Congressional foreclosure relief, would be a little more dramatic, something to the effect of "I knew on the spot that this was a terrible idea at the time and that massive floods of foreclosures would occur as a result."<br><br>Maybe I'm reading too much into his phrasing. But my point is simply that many people without PhDs did not have the resources to move to Texas or the credentials to get a job there, and even if they did, do we think that at the time, with everyone promoting how wonderful home ownership was, with no regulation on the way that loans were made and advertised, that everyone who got caught up in this deserves what they're getting now?<br><br>I don't know enough about this issue to say whether or not the current Dodd legislation is good or bad, but stories like the one above seem a bit more blame the victim than looking at why brokers like the one mentioned weren't being monitored or regulated more effectively. On thing strikes me about the beginning of Paul Jackson's story. Here is a highly educated couple, one who ends up writing for a mortgage blog, and his reaction to 100% financing was that he “couldn't reconcile how a broker was telling” him that he could afford it. I would have imagined that his reaction, especially in hindsight and given his critique of Congressional foreclosure relief, would be a little more dramatic, something to the effect of “I knew on the spot that this was a terrible idea at the time and that massive floods of foreclosures would occur as a result.”

Maybe I'm reading too much into his phrasing. But my point is simply that many people without PhDs did not have the resources to move to Texas or the credentials to get a job there, and even if they did, do we think that at the time, with everyone promoting how wonderful home ownership was, with no regulation on the way that loans were made and advertised, that everyone who got caught up in this deserves what they're getting now?

I don't know enough about this issue to say whether or not the current Dodd legislation is good or bad, but stories like the one above seem a bit more blame the victim than looking at why brokers like the one mentioned weren't being monitored or regulated more effectively.

]]> By: housingwire http://washingtonindependent.com/364/mortgage-relief-and-a-generational-divide/comment-page-1#comment-332 housingwire Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.washingtonindependent.com.php5-9.websitetestlink.com/?p=364#comment-332 Everyone's a critic, I guess. Kevin, if you want a PhD's opinion, here you go: I'm sick and tired of hearing everyone reflexively pull out the "blame the victim" line anytime someone suggests that a borrower might, actually, not be a "victim" and may instead be facing a foreclosure that is at least in part their own fault. It's far too easy these days to decide that borrowers in trouble got there because of lenders' misdeeds. And I began Housing Wire in December 2006 for the very reason you lamented; I've spent years in the trenches dealing with borrower defaults, and I knew first-hand what was coming. Solving this problem means coming to terms with how we got there. That means being honest about the fact that the vast majority of foreclosures, while unfortunate, are as much the borrower's doing as the lender's/ Everyone’s a critic, I guess.

Kevin, if you want a PhD’s opinion, here you go: I’m sick and tired of hearing everyone reflexively pull out the “blame the victim” line anytime someone suggests that a borrower might, actually, not be a “victim” and may instead be facing a foreclosure that is at least in part their own fault.

It’s far too easy these days to decide that borrowers in trouble got there because of lenders’ misdeeds.

And I began Housing Wire in December 2006 for the very reason you lamented; I’ve spent years in the trenches dealing with borrower defaults, and I knew first-hand what was coming.

Solving this problem means coming to terms with how we got there. That means being honest about the fact that the vast majority of foreclosures, while unfortunate, are as much the borrower’s doing as the lender’s/

]]> By: kevinh http://washingtonindependent.com/364/mortgage-relief-and-a-generational-divide/comment-page-1#comment-333 kevinh Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.washingtonindependent.com.php5-9.websitetestlink.com/?p=364#comment-333 On thing strikes me about the beginning of Paul Jackson's story. Here is a highly educated couple, one who ends up writing for a mortgage blog, and his reaction to 100% financing was that he "couldn't reconcile how a broker was telling" him that he could afford it. I would have imagined that his reaction, especially in hindsight and given his critique of Congressional foreclosure relief, would be a little more dramatic, something to the effect of "I knew on the spot that this was a terrible idea at the time and that massive floods of foreclosures would occur as a result." Maybe I'm reading too much into his phrasing. But my point is simply that many people without PhDs did not have the resources to move to Texas or the credentials to get a job there, and even if they did, do we think that at the time, with everyone promoting how wonderful home ownership was, with no regulation on the way that loans were made and advertised, that everyone who got caught up in this deserves what they're getting now? I don't know enough about this issue to say whether or not the current Dodd legislation is good or bad, but stories like the one above seem a bit more blame the victim than looking at why brokers like the one mentioned weren't being monitored or regulated more effectively. On thing strikes me about the beginning of Paul Jackson’s story. Here is a highly educated couple, one who ends up writing for a mortgage blog, and his reaction to 100% financing was that he “couldn’t reconcile how a broker was telling” him that he could afford it. I would have imagined that his reaction, especially in hindsight and given his critique of Congressional foreclosure relief, would be a little more dramatic, something to the effect of “I knew on the spot that this was a terrible idea at the time and that massive floods of foreclosures would occur as a result.”

Maybe I’m reading too much into his phrasing. But my point is simply that many people without PhDs did not have the resources to move to Texas or the credentials to get a job there, and even if they did, do we think that at the time, with everyone promoting how wonderful home ownership was, with no regulation on the way that loans were made and advertised, that everyone who got caught up in this deserves what they’re getting now?

I don’t know enough about this issue to say whether or not the current Dodd legislation is good or bad, but stories like the one above seem a bit more blame the victim than looking at why brokers like the one mentioned weren’t being monitored or regulated more effectively.

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