rssThe Old ‘My Wife Made Me Buy It’ Excuse for the Mortgage Mess
Friday, May 29, 2009 at 8:55 am
- 10 Comments
When New York Times economic reporter Edmund Andrews penned his memoir of buying an overpriced house that led to his family facing foreclosure, he attempted to depict himself as an everyman caught up the financial crisis. If it happened to someone like him, it could happen to you.
This hasn’t worked out on many levels for Andrews, particularly since Atlantic blogger Megan McArdle turned up evidence of his second wife’s two bankruptcy filings — one while married to Andrews. Andrews wrote that one reason he bought a $460,000 home he really couldn’t afford, given his steep child support payments from his previous marriage, is that his new wife wanted the house. Now Clusterstock notes that Andrews’ tale has spawned a chorus of “But My Wife Made Me Buy This Crappy Overpriced House”‘ excuses on real estate blogs.
On StreetEasy, a New York region real estate blog, one soon-to-be homeowner already regretting his impending purchase wrote this:
I went into contract this week, and this is mostly a function of needing to find a place to live due to relocation. My corporate housing was running out. Wife pressure to close a deal probably also adds to the mix.
The wife made him to do it, too! Apparently, Andrews isn’t the first to make this argument. Clusterstock links to an infamous 2006 Century 21 television commercial titled “Suzanne Researched This” that espoused the same theory.
Basically, the commercial touts the fact that your Century 21 broker will team up with your browbeating wife and guilt you into buying the home you can’t afford. It must be watched. We still think it kind of might be a parody.
I can’t buy this theory in any form, because it’s nothing more than a sexist throwback. In the excerpt of his book, I thought Andrews dodged his responsibilities a bit by emphasizing his wife’s desire for the house; he’s the economic reporter — couldn’t he just have said the numbers don’t add up? Of course, as we pointed out earlier, families under financial stress sometimes stay together through a recession and fall apart when times get better. I’d imagine this is especially true for couples who are already blaming each other for home purchase decisions they made together.
10 Comments
Comment posted May 29, 2009 @ 6:25 am
Andrews does put in little comments that seem to foist blame for his disastrous decision to buy a house he could not afford onto his wife. I've seen him on television interviews where he says he was and is hopeful that she is going to earn enough money to make everything magically work – when she has been a SAHM for 20 years, and hasn't worked a lot in the years they've been together. I think he resents her not bringing in an income and she resents him for not making enough to pay the bills. Both of them are immature IMO and deserve each other.
Real adults who are married and house shopping talk about what they'd like in a house and how much to spend. They actually come to a mutual agreement about that. Any man out there saying “my wife made me do it” is someone who hasn't grown up enough yet to own his own decisions. Not participating in the decision about how much to spend is a decision also.
Comment posted May 29, 2009 @ 7:11 am
they say married men live longer………………….nope it just seems longer !
Comment posted May 29, 2009 @ 8:02 am
It's a sexist throwback all right, but a lot of people are in sexist throwback marriages.
Comment posted May 29, 2009 @ 11:14 am
I thought Andrews sounded ridiculous and disingenuous on his TV interviews. On “Moneyline” he stated “NYTimes reporters have hormones, too,”
He can't have it both ways — say you did it for love (to sell books) /wife held it over him, on the other hand. He signed the mortgage papers, he knew she filed for bankruptcy twice before and hadn't had a decent job in 20 years. Who is the real fraud here?
Pingback posted May 29, 2009 @ 12:36 pm
[...] The Old ‘My Wife Made Me Buy It’ Excuse for the Mortgage Mess – The Washington Independent.comWhen New York Times economic reporter Edmund Andrews penned his memoir of buying an overpriced house that led to his family facing foreclosure, he attempted to depict himself as an everyman caught up the financial crisis. If it happened to someone [...]
Comment posted May 29, 2009 @ 1:25 pm
Andrews does put in little comments that seem to foist blame for his disastrous decision to buy a house he could not afford onto his wife. I've seen him on television interviews where he says he was and is hopeful that she is going to earn enough money to make everything magically work – when she has been a SAHM for 20 years, and hasn't worked a lot in the years they've been together. I think he resents her not bringing in an income and she resents him for not making enough to pay the bills. Both of them are immature IMO and deserve each other.
Real adults who are married and house shopping talk about what they'd like in a house and how much to spend. They actually come to a mutual agreement about that. Any man out there saying “my wife made me do it” is someone who hasn't grown up enough yet to own his own decisions. Not participating in the decision about how much to spend is a decision also.
Comment posted May 29, 2009 @ 2:11 pm
they say married men live longer………………….nope it just seems longer !
Comment posted May 29, 2009 @ 3:02 pm
It's a sexist throwback all right, but a lot of people are in sexist throwback marriages.
Comment posted May 29, 2009 @ 6:14 pm
I thought Andrews sounded ridiculous and disingenuous on his TV interviews. On “Moneyline” he stated “NYTimes reporters have hormones, too,”
He can't have it both ways — say you did it for love (to sell books) /wife held it over him, on the other hand. He signed the mortgage papers, he knew she filed for bankruptcy twice before and hadn't had a decent job in 20 years. Who is the real fraud here?
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