Please explain to me what I am missing about the mortgage mess.

Without a job (for me at the time) my husband got a mortgage for our current home while carrying a mortgage on the previous home he was living in at that time. The mortgage co advised him that they would have allowed him a mortgage that would have had payments that consumed 70% of his take home pay.

70%!!!

What they didn’t know or care about is that I had savings, was getting a job and he was going to sell his first house.

I think that too many people got too much home on too little income. Too many “interest only” loans. Too many ARM’s. ARM’s are a roll of the dice. You are “banking” on the fact that you can refinance at a decent interest rate and that the home value will rise.

I heard on the radio yesterday that 30 year fixed mortgages have “risen” to 6.25%
Boo hoo hoo. When we got our mortgage 10 years ago it was 7.25%. The mortgage on my husband’s first house was 11%!!!

I see stuff about predatory lending. I don’t doubt that it exists. I think however, more commonly, people bit off more than they could chew. Ultimately the home owner is responsible for understanding the contracts they are signing.

What do YOU think?