I have been threatening to write a blog for about a year now. I'll think of a topic, research it, agonize over the tone of my writing, wonder if it is witty enough and eventually get distracted by daily business. I'll come back to it weeks later and find that the topic is no longer timely or in hindsight was silly to begin with.
I just read a post written by a VERY GOOD friend (wink) about living within your means. It was well written, thought provoking and coincided with something that I read a few weeks ago that quietly outraged me. I started thinking about it and realized "I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY"! It may not be well written or thought provoking, no research has been done to back up my thoughts and there is certainly no wit involved but I'm outraged and I'm going to say it!
There was an article in a local paper not too long ago featuring a man who was outraged (that seems to be going around) that he was being kept from the American Dream of home ownership by banks that would not lend to him because his credit score is a 619. It was a long and slanted article about this "poor" man and how he was being done wrong by mortgage lenders and credit scoring agencies. It talked about the lack of common sense in today's lending environment and how the current credit crisis was keeping good people from buying homes. I feel that credit scoring is a behemoth that no one can really understand (a rant for another time) and there have been some very strange and nonsensical underwriting guidelines published recently (yet another rant) so I did feel a bit badly for him although in the back of my head I was thinking (FHA, FHA) of the other reasons he might not qualify for a loan.
There was an editorial response printed the next week from a local lender who explained that the reason this "gentleman" could not obtain a a loan through the FHA is that he did not have the minimum 3% down payment that the FHA requires. When you talk about living within your means you must take into account not just a monthly figure that you can pay but also the amount of savings that you will be able to accumulate while making that payment.
I am certain if this individual had wanted the American Dream in the roaring early 2000's there would have been lenders lined up to give him a loan with no money out of his pocket and with no regard to his means. I am equally sure that if lets say his oil burner broke and the only way he could heat his house was by skipping the mortgage payment to fix it he would have done so. I feel confident that once on this slippery slope of homeownership outside of his means that his house would have eventually been foreclosed on and he would be outraged that the lender had put him in this position.
I am outraged by the sense of entitlement that is so common today. I want therefor I should get and you ( the lender, the government, the parents ) have to make sure that happens. I am outraged by the lack of accountability that is so common today. I wanted it, you gave it to me, it was bad for me so you need to fix it for me. I am outraged that journalists who don't understand the mortgage or real estate business and make little effort to educate themselves on those industries write these "human interest" fluff pieces and make it harder for the industry experts to do their jobs. Wait, that's a rant for another time.
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