I took part in an interview for the local paper (you can watch the interview here) and the question was raised..."is this bailout a good idea?"

Yes there were some bad loan decisions made. Lender and borrowers can shoulder the blame equally. But the one thing I hear from a lot of people today is this...

"I think there should be tighter guidelines when getting a mortgage"

I find this an interesting statement, simply from the stand point the ones saying this are not currently trying to get a mortgage. It is easy to arm chair quarterback this thing, but something totally different when you are in the game. It isn't fun fo ryour LO to call 50 times during the loan because the rules changed and they need more paperwork.

Here is another thing people say...

"I think you should have to put money down to buy a house"

Really? What if you are selling your home and NEED to move? Do you feel the same way then? Do you relly care what type of loan the buyer really gets at that point in time?

One the the gentleman at the interview  said this...

"I think the appraisers are to blame. The appraisal should be completely unbiased"

So I told him about the impending legislation to have appraiser totally removed from speaking with Realtors and loan officers. He thought this was a good thing, so I propose this scenario to him...

Lets say you have locked in a rate for 30 days. Your appraisal is ordered from a National vendor. The loan officer can not gaurantee when it will come in, so what happens if it takes 31 days to get the report in. At that time rates shoot up 1%. Your rate expired, so you have to take te new higher rate, but for pete's sake your appraisal is a clean as the driven snow...at least until the market crashes again.

These are just some random thoughts that go through my head these days. A lot of people have opinions until they are the ones in the situation. We all like to say we have faith, but faith is not truly tested until we are deep in up to our eyeballs.

I guess the conclusion is we all make the argument depending on which side of the fence we are on at a particular time. That tends to be our human nature. That is why I like he following statement...

Sure the grass is greener on the other side, but don't forget it still has to get mowed.

Keep your head moving forward and remember, this too shall pass...