Originally Posted by
buzzpat
I actually believe that there's plenty of fault all the way around. Freddie and Fannie were/are corrupt, banks knowingly made loans to high risk clients, and the recession put many otherwise responsible homeowners out of work with no way to meet their mortgage obligations. Walking away from a commitment with the ability to still make payments is one thing, losing your job and income and having no way to pay yor mortgage is wholly different. I think we're seeing a combination of both.
One word caused the financial meltdown... GREED!!! Many people had a hand in it. The banks, borrowers, and investors! The local governments were loving the higher values as property taxes soared and the money came flowing in. The banks were loaning money to anyone who had a heartbeat which was a huge risk. The idiots who took those loans and defaulted also are to blame. Everyone wanted to make a quick buck. I live near Sacramento and people from the Bay Area were buying up the houses here in droves. They would buy them and rent them out or turn around and sell them for a quick profit. That's part of the reason our home prices were so artificially inflated here. People were taking 2nd and 3rd mortgages out to pay for a bunch of toys. It was one big massive mess created by a bunch of greedy people looking to make a quick buck. Some innocent and responsible people got screwed, too. What about the young couple who buys their first house, just to see the value dump by more than 50% a couple years later? Then they see their neighborhood go to hell after all the houses around them are being foreclosed on. Or the responsible Delta pilot who gets displaced and can't move because he's upside down in his mortgage. Commuting's a choice... RIGHT!
