“Why am I paying for them? We are very frustrated and scared. My husband and I always discuss, ‘Why do we try to better ourselves, when it seems if you do nothing, you get all the help in the world?’”
– Michelle Fry echoes a feeling that many responsible and hardworking homeowners throughout the United States are feeling in a recent FOXNews.com article on the $75 billion foreclosure rescue plan that President Barack Obama recently announced. Fry and her husband earn less than $100,000 combined and are currently upside-down on their home in Atlanta, Georgia. The couple, however, does whatever it takes to ensure that their bills are paid on time. Meanwhile, the national mortgage bailout plan “appears to reward people who bought more house than they could afford and can’t pay their bills.” In fact, according to the article, the foreclosure rescue plan would help eight to nine million mortgage holders — a fraction of the approximately 50 million mortgages outstanding. Is it fair? Should it be?
I have not seen a post on the Produce The Note Strategy here, or did I miss that?
Nice post. On foreclosure: I like the produce-the-note strategy. I live in Tampa and know one person he helped, and it actually worked. They did not get the entire home paid for, but they got terms adjusted to be favorable and they were able to avoid foreclosure. It really varries by situation and probably the laws of your state on how far this goes.
There is obviously a balance to be achieved between doing what is fair and doing what is best for the national real estate market as a whole. Helping homeowners who bit off more than they could chew may not be fair. But is it fair for millions of homeowners when their homes lose value due to all the foreclosures? Either way, they are affected. I think critics of these programs need to consider this aspect.