Guest queries Posted March 24, 2009 Report Posted March 24, 2009 I can't get the site to load, but was just thinking about "toxic assets" yesterday. My house is a "toxic asset." I bought it four years ago, and because my credit was bad, for the first two years I was in a low, introductory rate mortgage that would go adjustable. Had I not understood the plan and let the loan go adjustable, I would have lost the house, but fortunately the month before it went adjustable, I was able to get into a fixed rate loan. I had two years of good payment history, but still had to have mortgage insurance. Our current loan is with the well-publicized struggling Countrywide. Two years after that switch, my husband was out of work and we fell behind in our payments. He found another job at less than half the salary he had before. We've almost caught up on the payments, primarily by the good grace of some loving people's help. I lay awake last night in my "toxic asset" and thought about how my boys love it. It is our home. I wondered if I will be able to keep it - the expenses of our life are still more than our income - or if I will end up moving my kids into a slightly less expensive but more cramped apartment somewhere. All the "toxic asset" buyouts in the world won't affect me, other than making me feel like sludge for living in one. Or maybe I am the toxic asset: isn't my ability (or lack thereof) to repay the loan really what's considered risky? Anyway, if someone buys my risky toxic mortgage, it won't create a better job for my husband or make me a better wage earner. That's something we'll have to do for ourselves in spite of the negative climate I find myself in. Quote
Islander Posted March 24, 2009 Report Posted March 24, 2009 Americans do not know the face of tyranny. They ignore the subtleties of those who desire to impose it on the unsuspecting majority. They ignore the unassuming means by which these ends are accomplished and by the time they wake up it may be simply too late. The analogy of the frog in slowly burning water comes to mind. Quote
Dravin Posted March 24, 2009 Report Posted March 24, 2009 "Beware the evil behind smiling eyes." - Elder Neil L. Andersen Life would be so much easier if all the bad guys had to wear black hats, and stupid people dunce's hats... :) Quote
Madriglace Posted March 24, 2009 Report Posted March 24, 2009 "Beware the evil behind smiling eyes." - Elder Neil L. Andersen Life would be so much easier if all the bad guys had to wear black hats, and stupid people dunce's hats... :)That would mean most would wear black pointy topped cowboy hats! Quote
a-train Posted March 24, 2009 Report Posted March 24, 2009 How on earth can something "toxic" be and "asset"? Perhaps I am old-school. I am not from the era, but I think like I am from that era my grandfather lived in. In his day they called "leverage" debt. He also called "toxic assets" liabilities. Liabilities were never considered "investments".Real estate values back then were a function of rent. If the house payment is greater than rent, it is overvalued. If it is much lower than rent, then it is undervalued. I guess that was simply too simplisticly simple for our modern superior sophisticated society.Whether you are facing trouble making your payments or not, if your house is costing you more than a rental, sell it!-a-train Quote
Moksha Posted March 24, 2009 Report Posted March 24, 2009 We didn't elect investment bankers. They just happened. Quote
a-train Posted March 24, 2009 Report Posted March 24, 2009 We didn't elect investment bankers. They just happened.But America DID elect Obama who made central banker Timothy Geithner the Secretary of the Treasury. Wanna buy some bananas?-a-train Quote
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