Question: Have You or Anyone You Personally Know Been Affected By This Credit Crisis?

Funny you ask...

My co woker JUST told me about 20 minutes ago that her bank sent her a letter just a couple days ago basically pushing her to take out a Home Equity line of credit out on her house.

The kicker?

They were going to give her a gift card to Wal-Mart.

They even enclosed an application.

So if all these banks are in so much trouble then why are they asking people to open a line of credit?

I live in Omaha, Nebraska and we had a home crises last year. The reason in that since our city is so large, there is about 700,000 people living here so dont act like the city isnt moderatly sized cause I have people asking about cows and stuff all the time...and its ignorant, and its growing at such a fast pace contracters and housing companies came in and flooded our housing market with a bunch of cookie cutter/clone houses that no one wanted, and some of which are going to crap already. Big surprise. Anyway, they flooded the market, people tried to all at once move to fill some of the homes, I guess a couple people like homes make by Ikia quality wood and materials, and couldnt sell the house they were in. So houses sat empty, banks forclosed on a lot and are probably still sitting on them. I know that we have been selling the same 2 houses for 3 years with no luck. There was even an issue with a lot of fly by night operations involving contractors and skilled workers scamming people and leaving town during all of this. (by the way I have no qualms with either of the two, and you local contractors are probably great-but there are unfortunatly quite a few that will rip you off pretty bad.)

So there is a lot of houses not selling in town, but I do think that there is an ok market for people in about the 80,000 - 250,000 range, but not in the large town homes and mansions everyone thinks they need now. We have a street of dreams every year with million dollar houses on diplay for sale and fully furnished, I think one has sold. (Keep in mind that a million dollar house here would be about 3.5 in say boston or california.)

also, one other funny thing is that last week there was a huge job fair next to where I work. The thing thats weird about it , to me , is that the company is Ameritrade, a stock and brokerage firm. You would think that they would be aware of the current financial and walstreet situation- but in a time when everyone is saying lay off, they are hiring on more people. On the other side of that same coin though, we did receive a memo today that many of our clients in Texas will be laid off, and we also received info regarding what to tell people if their employer closes its doors and they dont know whats going on. So I guess a lot of this depends on which part of the country you live in. On the whole, things a pretty good and "Normal" in the heart land. I wouldn't want to be living on the coast or any well know large city at the moment, because if all of this crises stuff comes down with the martial law and everything, I personally feel like it would be small areas in few places. I would be a few riot type situations across the country but not full scale pandemonium with people beaking into your homes for food. Besides, if we all team up we can just bum rush the Canadian border- they cant stop all of us.

P.s.- I will not tell you where I work, I would get in trouble because any information given out by me would be a huge security issue. Its nothing cool or involved with military or anything-just plan old business, confidentiality clauses and such ,since the company handles private information for thousands of people.

Yes, on Tuesday our factory laid off everyone that had not completed their probationary period for new hires (150 days). We lost 7 people. This in a union shop...

Today it was announced that the GM plant in Moraine, OH (a suburb of Dayton) will close Dec 23, 2008. This after losing their second shift ahead of a planned closure by Jan 1, 2010.

The Moraine plant was the last automotive plant in Dayton. At one time Dayton had so many that it was calld little Detroit. Off the top of my head, there are less than 10 factories of any type of manufacturing left in Dayton of mdium size or larger. There should be 20 or so machine shops left that hire 25 or less, but they tend to supply speciality builds for larger factories. So who knows their future.

I lost my house because my landlord can't get a loan and conditions at work are deteriorating fast. Nobody wants to spend money, we do more returns than purchases. Payroll cutbacks are hurting us. We didn't make much money to begin with making minimum wage. I cannot afford a car, or car insurance, or medical insurance, or dental insurance. Probably gonna lose my job soon.

Is it wrong that my every waking thought revolves around a violent revolution? Is it wrong that when bush comes on CNN I mime firing a sniper rifle into his forehead? Is it wrong that I want to burn down our whole civilization in an anarchists orgy of destruction so that we can rebuild from the ground up?

I lost my house because my landlord can't get a loan and conditions at work are deteriorating fast. Nobody wants to spend money, we do more returns than purchases. Payroll cutbacks are hurting us. We didn't make much money to begin with making minimum wage. I cannot afford a car, or car insurance, or medical insurance, or dental insurance. Probably gonna lose my job soon.

Is it wrong that my every waking thought revolves around a violent revolution? Is it wrong that when bush comes on CNN I mime firing a sniper rifle into his forehead? Is it wrong that I want to burn down our whole civilization in an anarchists orgy of destruction so that we can rebuild from the ground up?

Does anyone else live in the midwest? If so what is your conditions as far as health coverage and job security? THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE A SLAP IN THE FACE TO ANYONE, IT IS NOT SELF TOTING, AND I MEAN NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE BY MY NEXT COMMENT BECAUSE I FEEL THAT THIS IS A SERIOUS SITUATION AND IS NOT FUNNY IN THE LEAST.

I personally have medical coverage, dental, vision, 4 life insurance plans, a 401k that only dipped slightly and many of my stocks were up 4 and 5% last I checked (up from the dip not from when they were instated), ad&d. I also have a flexible spending account to avoid out of pocket expenses. My wifes employer has the same options and she elected most except for medical and dental because I already have it. I bought, well I Mortgage a home, since last year- no issues. and we own 3 cars. we also live in a decent neighborhood, not great but calm and clean. I dont want this to sound like fantasy land or anything, we have our stretches , but overall we pay our bills and have money left to eat out all the time and go to movies, whatever. This alone is fine, but we are only 24. My wife has an associates degree and I have no degree but some college (for which I am paying dearly for).

I sincerly feel like either a lot of people in crises may have been living outside their means and many are just living in the wrong place at the wrong time (with regard to the part of the country) I was just curious to see if anyone else is making it or if the majority of us are going down the crap shoot. A lot of the people that are homless and facing issues are in massive cities I couldnt afford on my best year without a national financial crises standing in the way.

AGAIN, PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS PERSONALLY IF YOU HAVE FACED FINANCIAL HARDSHIP OR HAVE NO COVERAGE, THIS IS A QUESTION WITH AN EXAMPLE AND NOTHING ELSE.

A person I keep in contact with in Washington State has also said that houses are selling and that people wanting to sell homes will do ok as long as they ask for a price at or a little less than the apprasal. So you can sell your home, just not make a lot of overhead- if any. But this is for people and not a bank obviously. Still, thats one more piece of the picture. I also have relatives in Iowa, Kansas, California, Colorado, Utah, Montana and Arizona. All doing fine. Friends in Washington State and several Wales UK doing fine. by fine I mean life as usually, as it was 3 years ago.

A person I keep in contact with in Washington State has also said that houses are selling and that people wanting to sell homes will do ok as long as they ask for a price at or a little less than the apprasal. So you can sell your home, just not make a lot of overhead- if any. But this is for people and not a bank obviously. Still, thats one more piece of the picture. I also have relatives in Iowa, Kansas, California, Colorado, Utah, Montana and Arizona. All doing fine. Friends in Washington State and several Wales UK doing fine. by fine I mean life as usually, as it was 3 years ago.

reply to post by whaaa


Hang in there, i'm a mortgage broker (honest one) and its all white knuckles and top ramon. I will say there has been a big pick up since september. now close loans close!!!!

reply to post by anotherdad


would you agree with the comment that I made about washington state then? homes are moving but not at a lot of profit to the seller. The source I have is a real estate agent in Bellingham, washington that sends me information since I'm considering a move that way

reply to post by Subversive_Populous


Funny i'm outside seattle my home appraised for $675 18 months ago. I've had it listed at $540 for 4+ months now and no one is even looking.

reply to post by Subversive_Populous


Wash. State is quircky, with some pockets and price ranges doing OK, Bellingham is a fairly solid market with well priced homes for the area. I.E. long commute to Seattle but save $500 a month on your mortgage for the same type home.

   

reply to post by anotherdad


If I had that Kind of money I would buy it. Bellingham is about 3 hours north of you by fair haven harbor and about 15 min. from Canada. Its a smaller college town of about 60,000 I think, maybe the market is a little different up there. Where are you Everette? If so I have heard they are doing a lot of developing there, is the market full of clone houses like Omaha?

reply to post by Subversive_Populous


Not sure, where i'm at we call Bellingham Canada, it's a few hours north. But is a a good liitle town with employment opportunities in all directions which is key for home values. Plenty of different activeties all around you there.

reply to post by Subversive_Populous


I live in TN, Memphis area. Pretty much in the same boat as you. Landed a very nice job about a year ago, in no danger of the company going under any time soon. No house, but then again I don't really want a house in this city if I can help it. Gas prices seem to be pretty low compared to a lot of other places in the country. I don't get credit offers, but that's due to opting out of them already. Getting married in 12 days, and going on a cruise to the Bahamas, so no big financial hardships here. Everyone i've spoken with at work is pretty well off. The only people I hear complain are those that overextended. I would imagine most people who have always lived within their means, or below them are going to be well off compared to some.

reply to post by Hypntick


Exactly. First off congratulations on getting married. I tied the knot 1 short year ago. But the people I have come across in dire straights, at least at this point, werent doing so well to start. Sure some of them have a nice plasma tv or a really nice computer I wouldnt mind having. -say how many people losing their house was in line to buy a ps3 on their new credit card, and not only that- waited in line all night to make sure you secured even more debt to yourself.(nothing against sony- just the best example I had at the moment) The bad business practice of wall street caught up with them and the bad financial decisions are catching up with a lot of americans spending more than they make.

Best of luck to you and yours and have a safe trip!!

oh and the gas here is 3.02 and has been dropping all week. 3.02 for mid grade.

oh and the gas here is 3.02 and has been dropping all week. 3.02 for mid grade.

reply to post by Subversive_Populous


I paid $3.79 today, so if moving adjust that budget.

reply to post by anotherdad


going up or down?

*by the way I have no idea why I keep having 2 posts come up that are exactly the same, ugggggh!!!Its not me doing it. I think.