I’m laughing my ass off over here on an article I just read over at orlandosentinal.com.

The heading was; Mortgage Woes

Here’s a quote from the article:

“In Florida and across the country, many homeowners have been unable to keep up with their adjustable-rate loans or sell their houses in the stagnant real-estate market. There’s no question that home buyers shouldn’t have taken on mortgages they couldn’t handle. But it’s also true that many were led into poor choices by unscrupulous and loosely regulated lenders.”

Bull CRAP! I say…

Aside from the mortgage lending laws such as RESPA, no one forced those borrowers hands to sign the 42+ pages of disclosures (and you have to sign two different sets over several weeks). PLUS you get three days AFTER signing to say NO I don’t want to do that. (only when refinancing on a conventional mortgage, not when purchasing or doing an investment property).

My point after that rant - RESPA is something every mortgage borrower or refinance prospect should be familiar with - hell it was made to protect the borrower.

Believe me, the average Stupid Home Owner has not read two lines of RESPA. Who’s fault is that?

Unscrupulous!!! You’ve got to be kidding me - the final closing documents (HUD1) show the final numbers and THEY signed em knowingly taking the gamble that their short term ARM loan with a low teaser rate was going to adjust UPWARDS. They took the gamble and lost - who hasn’t. We’ve all gambled and lost a time or two.

I gambled once, but she was blonde and on roller blades - however that’s for my other blog (I digress).

It’s simple, the high housing prices corrected themselves - we knew they would, and most of us are glad they did. That million dollar 900 sq ft. condo next door to me with no garage was bound to come down in price (and it did too, he he).

If you can’t afford a 30 year fixed rate, interest only mortgage loan and you have to trick the system to get approved because your credit sucks and you don’t have a job - you gamble. People gambled and lenders offered the “legitimate” products because business was so good. Products like short term ARM’s and Stated Income Loans are very useful if used properly, not so you can get squeezed into approval.

If you know anything about how a mortgage loan is processed - it’s far from unscrupulous - it’s down right difficult and regulated (remember RESPA?).

Your mortgage broker/lender is only as good as YOU are. If you don’t know the law (did I say RESPA), and if you don’t know how to read a [tag]good faith estimate[/tag] who’s fault is it? The broker who figured you could afford another point in origination or you because you had no idea what a point was anyway.

You have two choices - stay mired in the Stupid Home Owner muck and gamble OR be a daily Stupid Home Owner Reader (hint, you are reading right now aren’t you!). Keep up the good work and either bookmark this site or subscribe to the RSS feed. If you don’t know what an RSS feed is email me and I’ll bring you up to speed, hell I have to do it for everything else don’t I (I’m kidding).

End of rant.