Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Home Purchasing Credits

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Aug 17, 2012, at 12:03 PM, joyce <jcthorn [at] earthlink.net> wrote:

> Didn't we learn from debacles of the past?

Not having a downpayment, which means a minimum of $20,000 sitting around in 
the bank, has no relationship to having a reliable source of income and the 
ability to make mortgage payments.

And having money sitting in a bank doesn't guarantee that people will be 
responsible either.

The great mortgage crisis, in part, was caused by lack of income verification. 
There was no accountability. In many cases the brokers lied to the people who 
signed the papers because they got paid for getting forms signed. They didn't 
work for the banks that were loaning the money.

The ability to understand all the papers one signs when one buys a house is 
limited to the intelligence of the lawyer you hire to do the closing. Many 
people were tricked in this process.

Other people who had underwater mortgages could have continued to pay what they 
agreed to pay when they agreed to pay but for various reasons, those rates 
changed. Not all the reasons were legal. 

None of the people who bought units here have had any problems paying their 
mortgages. And the fact that they were able to buy means they now have equity 
and a net worth that is substantially greater.

The only person who has ever gone into bankruptcy or been foreclosed was a 
co-owner who never lived here and we suspect was buying the unit for investment 
purposes by using a cover. 

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines, Washington DC
"The truth is more important than the facts." Frank Lloyd Wright