Web of foreclosure spreads in Marin

"out of 80 troubled homeowners at a Corte Madera workshop last month, all but 10 were in trouble after refinancing".

Are we supposed to feel sorry for these people. I have no sympathy at all. We worked hard, saved even harder, and then bought our home in Marin with a 20% down. Now, because of irresponsible and greedy people who treated their homes like ATM accounts, we are sitting here, watching our home values plummet. Those that do not deserve to get help, should have their homes taken away and they can then grow up, work hard, save even harder and buy homes with 20% down payments.

State of California should also change it's property tax policy. A homeowner who takes out equity (say $100,000) in his home is clearly proving that his home is worth $100,000 more than he originally paid for his home. That should automatically raise his property taxable value to the original purchase price plus the $100,000 in value taken out. This will stop greedy and out of control spenders from using their homes like free bank accounts. This system will be saving them from themselves!

I myself am going to be doing a short sale very quickly--for a $850K home in Corte Madera. Lost my job--no income/can't modify. In hindsight, it was my fault. The bank gave me a blank check, and I bought a home I shouldn't have bought. One catastrophic loss is all it took.

It has given me some perspective--namely, life is too short to spend 30 years paying for a house in Marin. And just think, one medical catastrohy in your sixties/seventies could wipe your home/saving away(even w/insurance). And add to that the fact that the USA is now, in essance, shifting to a regressive tax system based on consumption (user taxes)as opposed to taxing wealth (capital gains).

Change your names to Sanchez or Rodriguez or Martinez and you will get a loan with 0 down and 1% interest in no time. Amazing how many illegals with no proof of income or ssn or id can get these mega loans with low rates.

I agree with "nosympathy" what happened to the good old fashioned paying your mortgage down instead of buying a Range Rover with the equity and drving around like you are a millionair, you know who you are Marinites,good old fashioned math and living within your means may make a comeback.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-brown/lan...

It's time to start looking at who "really" owns these mortgages. Roosevelt froze foreclosures during the last depression. Why can't the guy many people are comparing him to, do the same? Tell me who's bought and sold?

Damn some of you people would kill your own mothers. Shame on you. The banks are the problem not the people who got lured into financing that was based on a derivative caused bubble. We bailed out the g*ddamn banks why can't we help these people? Look them in the face when you propose such hateful Draconian measures....

The bottom line is IF YOU BORROW MONEY YOU MUST PAY IT BACK. This is not the banks fault. You chose to suck money out of your house and you have to pay principle and interest on that money. These people are dillusional. Save, live within or better yet under your means - thirty years later pay off the mortgage. Who the h*ll refinances your house at 63?? Your house is not an ATM.

Contractor, you must be one those "super smart" individuals that took out money on your house to buy something you thought you needed. How are banks the problem? I am smarter than those banks and those banks did not hold a gun to my head and make me sign a loan that I could not afford. In fact, when they approved me for way more money than I could really afford, I told them, "thanks, but no thanks!" The mentality of "blame someone else" is what got people like you in trouble to begin with. So, quit blaming others and start taking responsibility. I admire MSD in Oakland for acknowledging her part in the mess she is in. To learn from your mistakes, you have to acknowledge you made a mistake in the first place. And yes, I wouldn't have any problems looking these people in the eye. In fact, I have already looked a few in the eyes and told them what I thought of their problems. And, guess what, they hung their heads in shame and admitted they didn't really need that extra SUV.

you got greedy and now you pay the price.

Or, you are one dumb person.

Take your pick.

Prez Carter started this.
Prez Clinton pushed for it.
Barney Frank threatened the banks if they didn't loan.
Banks didn't want to make risky loans.
ACORN had Franks in their pocket.
Obama was a member of ACORN.
Obama wants to bankrupt the country to further communism/socialism.
Obama gave money to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac.
America is broke because of Obama.
Obama wants to change the currency by collapsing the dollar.
Obama will use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to give China new credit in American property and land to pay for a new currency.
Healthcare along with new taxes will bankrupt all american and put 1/3rd of the economy in government control
American screwed, Communism is now here.
Oh, speed limit will be reduced to 45 mph because this will keep people out of hospitals. You watch that is the affect government healthcare will have on your daily lives.

If you can't understand this then you have no business being an american who believes in freedom

if healthcare passes, it will be the same as going to the bank, signing for a loan, then having the bank call you up 5 years later to tell you what the terms of the loan are, interest rate, etc.

Yet America seems so will to do this.

Why? Didn't we learn anything in the past??

We're creating a nation of homeless, with California as its capitol. These inhumane business practices should be stopped. The consumer needs to be protected just like with any other product. What a desperate situation. People are going to act more and more crazy as they become colder and hungrier. Even those in ivory towers won't be insulated from this total breakdown of society. Hang on everybody, and try to take care of each other rather than becoming more heartless and entrenched. It's the only way.

Why......... after 9/11, the BUSH dropped interest rates to the lowest rate ever to "stimulate" the economy. After the SHRUB was "re-elected", he pushed on national TV his desire for everyone in America to become homeowners. That was around 2005. Great leadership. The result was a real estate market that exploded, with home values escalating up to 30% per year. GREED followed. If you didn't have a home, you were going to be left behind.... the Jones's. With values shooting up, the banks jumped in even more, giving out "no-doc" loans, and no-down payment loans. GREEDY FOOLS went out and bought second, third, and fourth homes (had to..... didn't want to get left behind). How could you loose? Then it was Hummers, M5's, and trips to Fiji. It was the ROARING 2000's. Then the bubble broke. BUSH won. You people, wrapped up in GREED, allowed him to continue his useless wars, spending all the new-found and future capital on his oil agenda. It was the perfect RED-HERRING. No, I did not buy another house. We paid off our home through 30 years of payments. And, yes, since then, we lost over $400,000 in real equity (not just paper) as the home that we honestly paid for as those idiots that couldn't afford their obligations foreclosed. Thanks you idiots. Thank you BUSH.

Why......... slight correction: after 9/11, the BUSH dropped interest rates to the lowest rate ever to "stimulate" the economy. After the SHRUB was "re-elected", he pushed on national TV his desire for everyone in America to become homeowners. That was around 2005. Great leadership. The result was a real estate market that exploded, with home values escalating up to 30% per year. GREED followed. If you didn't have a home, you were going to be left behind.... the Jones's. With values shooting up, the banks jumped in even more, giving out "no-doc" loans, and no-down payment loans. GREEDY FOOLS went out and bought second, third, and fourth homes (had to..... didn't want to get left behind). How could you loose? Then it was Hummers, M5's, and trips to Fiji. It was the ROARING 2000's. Then the bubble broke. BUSH won. You people, wrapped up in GREED, allowed him to continue his useless wars, spending all the new-found and future capital on his oil agenda. It was the perfect RED-HERRING. No, I did not buy another house. We paid off our home through 30 years of payments. And, yes, since then, we lost over $400,000 in real equity (not just paper) in the home that we honestly paid for as those idiots that couldn't afford their obligations foreclosed. Thank you idiots. Thank you BUSH.

There is enough blame to go around on both sides that trying to point fingers is a useless exercise at this late point. There were both greedy lenders and greedy borrowers. But Wachovia, the lender mentioned in the article, is one of the absolute worst for consumers to have any borrower relationship with. It all depends on the lender and the individual situation with each borrower, but Wachovia has been in the press repeatedly for their business ethics and lending practices. Their nickname isn't "Walk-All-Over-Us" for no reason. In the specific case of Wachovia, legal or governmental intervention is warranted to put a stop to their treatment of consumers.

why wrote:

Prez Carter started this.
Prez Clinton pushed for it.
Barney Frank threatened the banks if they didn't loan.
Banks didn't want to make risky loans.
ACORN had Franks in their pocket.
Obama was a member of ACORN.
Obama wants to bankrupt the country to further communism/socialism.
Obama gave money to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac.
America is broke because of Obama.
Obama wants to change the currency by collapsing the dollar.
Obama will use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to give China new credit in American property and land to pay for a new currency.
Healthcare along with new taxes will bankrupt all american and put 1/3rd of the economy in government control
American screwed, Communism is now here.
Oh, speed limit will be reduced to 45 mph because this will keep people out of hospitals. You watch that is the affect government healthcare will have on your daily lives.
If you can't understand this then you have no business being an american who believes in freedom

Bernie Sanders
"while the middle class has declined under President Bush's reckless economic policies, the people on top have never had it so good. For the first seven years of Bush's tenure, the wealthiest 400 individuals in our country saw a $670 billion increase in their wealth, and at the end of 2007 owned over $1.5 trillion in wealth. That is just 400 families, a $670 billion increase in wealth since Bush has been in office……. In our country today, we have the most unequal distribution of income and wealth of any major country on earth, with the top 1 percent earning more income than the bottom 50 percent and the top 1 percent owning more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. We are living at a time when we have seen a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the very wealthiest people in this country, when, among others, CEOs of Wall Street firms received unbelievable amounts in bonuses, including $39 billion in bonuses in the year 2007 alone for just the five major investment houses."

…http://www.huffingtonpost.com /rep-bernie-sanders/dont-make- working-people_b_131070.html

Cod Fisher, are you some Commie stealing our fish?
Here's a follow up to your link:

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/09/closi...
Sep 11 2009, 10:41 am by Ronald Brownstein
Closing The Book On The Bush Legacy
Thursday's annual Census Bureau report on income, poverty and access to health care-the Bureau's principal report card on the well-being of average Americans-closes the books on the economic record of George W. Bush.

It's not a record many Republicans are likely to point to with pride.

On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush's two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked. By contrast, the country's condition improved on each of those measures during Bill Clinton's two terms, often substantially.

The Census' final report card on Bush's record presents an intriguing backdrop to today's economic debate. Bush built his economic strategy around tax cuts, passing large reductions both in 2001 and 2003. Congressional Republicans are insisting that a similar agenda focused on tax cuts offers better prospects of reviving the economy than President Obama's combination of some tax cuts with heavy government spending. But the bleak economic results from Bush's two terms, tarnish, to put it mildly, the idea that tax cuts represent an economic silver bullet."

Sorry, I thought it was People's Republic of China
"PRC"...

VEry, Very Stupid!

IceMan wrote:

Change your names to Sanchez or Rodriguez or Martinez and you will get a loan with 0 down and 1% interest in no time. Amazing how many illegals with no proof of income or ssn or id can get these mega loans with low rates.

This isn't real complicated. If you take out more loan than you can afford to pay back, then you may lose your house. This has got zero to do with Bill Clinton, George Bush or Barack Obama, and everything to do with personal responsibility.