I find it absolutely infuriating that those who have invested in purchasing a home, and can no longer make payments on that home, are somehow entitled to keep that home.
Why?
How does that work?
An investment is exactly that. You take your money and place it somewhere in the hopes that it will make money for you. As such, it also entails risk.
Not having enough money to buy a home, I invested in the stock market. I lost over 10K in the past few years.
Do I get that money back?
Of course not. Because I'm single with no kids. So apparently it's "fuck you" to me from the government.
But those who bought houses they couldn't afford, all those who took those great variable rates, they are apparently "victims" here, or something.
Now, with the housing market dropping, houses will finally be affordable to a person like me. A person who didn't take a risky mortgage. A person who saved up to have 20% down for a 30 year fixed.
Now here I am, FINALLY ready to buy, and the entire fucking government is conspiring to keep housing prices artificially high to reward those who made the wrong financial choice and punish those who made the right one.
I'm not saying there aren't exceptions to this rule, especially around health care. Those who have been devastated by heathcare costs to the point where they can't make mortgage payments are deserving of some form of government help.
But in what world does choosing to invest in a home become worthy of a stop-loss backup by the government but those other individuals who invested elsewhere are told to go fuck themselves?
What the hell is wrong with renting?
I rent.
I've rented my whole life.
Why can't those who chose to buy a house they couldn't afford go back to renting, like the rest of us? Why is this seen as some great injustice? It's EXACTLY how the market is supposed to perform.
I didn't buy a house in 2002 when all my friends were jumping on the 0% down and 20% rates of return. My bonehead friend Scott flipped two houses in four years, making a hundred thousand a year.
He laughed at me. Told me I was being "too cautious."
And I was cautious. I didn't believe I should buy anything I wasn't capable of paying for.
So now I get punished?
I can't buy a house because housing prices will be artificially held high by a government protecting what should be forclosures?
It is ridiculous.
I know this is Daily Kos and this diary'll get flamed, but this is the reality based community, and so I appeal to my fellow Kossacks with this basic logical thought:
Those who invested in a home and those who didn't invest in a home BOTH made a choice.
To reward one for being unable to pay for the choice they made has an equal and opposite reaction of punishing the other person who did not take that risk nor make that mistake.
I do not think this position is incomensurate with being a liberal. Nor do I see this as "cold." Those who lose their homes, for the most part, can go back to renting a home like the rest of us. And next time they will make sure they can pay for a mortgage before taking one.