Meltdown beyond the Holidays
The holidays are upon us and I have to share that one of our traditions is driving throughout our neighborhood with our twins and seeing all the Christmas lights that are decorating all the houses. This year was quite different than years before and you are probably asking yourself what I mean. Let me say, before even in the last two years there were probably outside Christmas decorations on every third house. There were also some houses that were quite extravagant with their decorations and then others you didn’t know what the purpose was of even decorating. This year as we drove through, we were lucky if we saw decorations on one house on a street. What we saw more of was vacant houses, for sale signs in yards and doors with tons and tons of signs hanging and yards unkept. I have to admit it only confirmed to me that the mortgage trauma is not over by any means.
During this holiday season, there are people fighting for their homes and some are even losing them to foreclosure. I read a story in our local newspaper about a veteran that was losing his home because of adjustable rate mortgages. He shares how when he initially bought the home he could afford the mortgage but received assistance from a friend in the family regarding a mortgage. Now that adjustable mortgage has started and his payments went from approximately $1,000 a month to $3,000. As a veteran he is unable to afford those payments. He said he trusted that person that was a friend of the family and now it is apparent it is coming back to bite him. He didn’t really understand all the terms and figures that were being thrown at him. How often have we heard stories like this? From what I could surmise one of the only factors that made him different than the other stories was this man a veteran.
Constant stories about people with adjustable rate mortgages is one sign of a meltdown and want to call to the readers attention that every couple of days we are seeing headlines such as “Fed tightens up lending rules”, anything that says “Subprime” and the various meetings that are happening in and out of the White House. Regardless there is a lot of attention on this subject all over.
As a writer for this blog, I hope that during this holiday season that those families that have lost their homes to foreclosure, moved out before being in a foreclosure situation or even those who are facing rate adjustments soon will receive the help and guidance they need as they prepare to go into 2008. With all the different options that are being presented such as FHASecure, refinancing and even the latest bill being presented by the Senate, I encourage you all to do your homework and truly find out what is best for you. Have you ever heard, you don’t know until you know? There could be solutions from your lender or through your local bank but you don’t know because you have not read everything that came in the mail. While you are preparing to enter into a new year, take the time to seek out realistic options.
Happy Holidays
Taffy Wagner
