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Originally posted by aew14
reply to post by dbloch7986
Is this serious? A conspiracy?
Its funny, the more I am here the more I realize that all the paranoid are here at ATS and believe that there is a conspiracy for everything.
You folks do realize that the bank actually loses money when a home is f/c on, right?
Of course you guys dont....to the masses here it seems that there is an underground network who controls everything and also the banks. In addition, they are looking to take down the people by FORCING them to buy homes that they really dont want.
I dont mean to be rude...but guys, [SNIP]
Originally posted by aew14
reply to post by dbloch7986
Is this serious? A conspiracy?
Its funny, the more I am here the more I realize that all the paranoid are here at ATS and believe that there is a conspiracy for everything.
You folks do realize that the bank actually loses money when a home is f/c on, right?
Of course you guys dont....to the masses here it seems that there is an underground network who controls everything and also the banks. In addition, they are looking to take down the people by FORCING them to buy homes that they really dont want.
I dont mean to be rude...but guys, put down the crack pipes
Originally posted by OutKast Searcher
To all of you that are against the "evil bankers"...I have a simple solution for you...don't do business with them.
Don't take out loans, don't have checkings/savings accounts, don't use credit cards, don't buy any stocks...and most of all DON'T USE ANY MONEY.
That's right...don't use money...since you all think the evil banks create this money out of thin air. If you are doing any of the above...you are a huge hypocrite.
I'm guessing most of you...which is why you think the banks are evil...because you own them money.
Originally posted by aew14
reply to post by dbloch7986
Is this serious? A conspiracy?
Its funny, the more I am here the more I realize that all the paranoid are here at ATS and believe that there is a conspiracy for everything.
You folks do realize that the bank actually loses money when a home is f/c on, right?
Of course you guys dont....to the masses here it seems that there is an underground network who controls everything and also the banks. In addition, they are looking to take down the people by FORCING them to buy homes that they really dont want.
I dont mean to be rude...but guys, put down the crack pipes
Originally posted by Klaatumagnum
reply to post by dbloch7986
In addition, with this MERS debacle where the "paperwork" behind the mortgages has disappeared into cyberspace to facilitate the bundling of mortgages into derrivatives, so that Wall St. can make huge money. You can pay your mortgage through to fruition of the loan, but will you get a clean title to the property at the end of the loan? Hardly unlikely IMHO. They have no idea where the original document is.
I am a real estate attorney in South Carolina, and have conducted thousands of real estate transactions for citizens just like you. While I do not defend the actions of the federal and even state governments in creating a huge real estate nightmare, I do believe that there is much, much more to the "how" and "why" the mortgage crisis arose.
First, I would like to point out that the government has acted in a grossly negligent manner over the past several years, and spanning several administrations, both Republican and Democrat. Their actions have assisted in creating the current economic meltdown without question. While I personally believe the government may have even intentionally created issues, and even that there may be a banking conspiracy, the original post here was an over-simplification of the problem, and not due just to governmental negligence or stupid laws.
The original post focused on asking why the banks own so much property, and did not delve much further. The reason banks own property is foreclosure. Banks do not go out and purchase property as speculative real estate developers or owner to make money; rather, they give loans to people who did not pay, or became unable to pay, which led to a foreclosure. When a bank forcloses on a home, there are several things which must be addressed. First, a bank loses money on foreclosing on the property. They must hire an attorney to foreclose, hire and pay a real estate agent to market and sell the property, and must fix things in the home to get it market ready. They simply do not engage in foreclosure to make money, and many banks, including Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, and other large banks will do just about anything right now to NOT own the home. Where they may have begun foreclosure proceedings in 2005 or 2006, at the heighth of the real estate market, if a person got behind a month or so, they will now delay proceedings even when a person remains behind 4 to 5 months on a home. Second, the fact that the foreclosure occurred is not always a bank's fault. The original thread paints a picture of borrowers victimized by big banking, the "system" in general, and shoddy loans. Some of this is true....and some of it is that people failed to abide by the terms and conditions of their home.
My point is not that banks are "not" responsible, but rather, people are not just victims of a system. There are many, many citizens that merely failed to abide by the terms of their loan.
Now....let's examine "why" they failed to abide by the terms and consitions of their loan. First, the economy turned south around 2007, leading to many people losing their jobs. This, in turn, led to mass foreclosures because people could not pay for their mortgage. Much of this real estate meltdown occurred when builders and developers, private companies and citizens mind you, and not the government, overbuilt. They overdeveloped. They built more homes than people needed. Why did they do this? Because there had been a surge in easier-to-obtain home loans, when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac opened up credit programs and mortgage programs, as well as a surge in the number of builders and developers in the market, a market where it was easy to sell a home.
What we ended up with were pockets of real estate markets which began to overbuild, and when overbuiding occurred, homes for resale stopped, as everyone began buying a cheap, new home, with more space, more upgrades, and at a cheaper price than a resale. This stagnated the resale market, and eventually, it caught up the the new construction market. This stagnated the entire market and people could not sell homes.
So, we ask, why did the large, federally backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac open open new programs and make it easier to buy a home, even when you had bad credit, a history of non-payment of bills, and allow people who never should have owned a home to buy?
Andrew Coumo. Now, set aside political issues because I am not advocating for or against a political party here; rather, I am stating facts. He was the youngest Director of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the history of the United States, and served under President Clinton. Coumo began placing mass pressure on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to grant loans to what were called "subprime" borrowers with subprime loans. These loans were many times adjustable rate mortgage, which gave initial low rates, but jumped up several years later. Not only were credit score requirements relaxed, but under his pressure, the federal government opened many adjustable rate mortgages to allow marginal applicants to buy a home.
This becomes a cause/effect question. Did Coumo's blatant stupidity in creating ridiculous adjustable rate loans, and then giving those horrendous loans to citizens who had a history of not paying bills create the problem, or was it just a very foolish, but well-intentioned, agenda to get the non-rich into the home-ownership club? Or conversely, was Coumo's agenda a good idea that was coincidentally smashed due to the souring 2007 and later economic climate?
Now that you have a very basic, very abbreviated history of this, do the analysis. We have several indisputable facts: