Comments on: Alt-A and Option ARM Economic Disaster Update: California Solution? Workout 3,430 Alt-A loans in March. Good Job. All we have is an additional 643,000 Alt-A Loans in the State. At this Rate it will take us 15 years to Modify or Alter all Alt-A Loans.

By: Dcdubbs

Dcdubbs — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:45:36 +0000

I’m surprised by all the doom and gloom talk as well regarding the Option ARM. Isn’t the IO payment dropping below the Min payment at this point anyways? The MTA is at .49 for christ sakes. The media just needs to continue to beat this thing to death. I have a tendency to agree with linked bloggers article. The people that were going to foreclose, already have. With interest rates continuing to dip, and the neg am gone on their loans, why leave.

Too bad these loans were so abused- they had their merits. Case and Point: http://www.bankapedia.com/mortgage-encyclopedia/faqs/674-advantages-to-the-option-arm

Just a matter of time before they become illegal

By: whiskey

whiskey — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:15:08 +0000

Sorry I’m off topic. The doctor would have much to add to the angle on the following article:

http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-next-segment-of-the-housing-market-to-crash-1-million-mcmansions-2009-6

In light of recent events, will you discontinue the use of your lingo on those walking away from underwater mortgages to be “moon walking away” from a house? I still like the visual (eh, he hew! maybe some crotch grabbing directed towards the bank on the way out)

By: Sabin Figaro

Sabin Figaro — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:04:30 +0000

@Jonathan,

Excellent article–nicely explains what should be obvious and perfectly relevant to this thread. Oz was a good man but a terrible wizard, and now that Toto has pulled back the curtain, America and Canada may have to come to terms with the fact that the show may be over. Can we really really just survive servicing one another? And that with technology even a lot of our service sector is going overseas…Housing, not readily outsourced, was the chosen bubble because you cannot import big houses competitively.

How this plays out will be interesting.

By: Bottom Feeder

Bottom Feeder — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:06:44 +0000

Although the Doctor’s reasoning has still got me sold on that this is NOT the time to buy, I’m starting to have the same fears that Whattado has. If all those loans do get into the hands of the Treasury (us), It seems soooooo plausible to me that either 1) deadbeat mortgagers will be allowed to live completely rent free INDEFINITELY. (After -all who’s going to know?) or 2) Abandoned walk-away houses will remain that way for a decade. Cities will protest, but it will fall on deaf ears. Sadly, it seems plausible to me. once again, the joke is on the responsible saver.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:16:34 +0000

Well worth a read to see how North America, and much of the developed world, got to where they are now. In debt.

“The Inevitable Collapse – North America’s Leveraged Economy and its Effect on Canadian Home Prices”

http://www.americacanada.blogspot.com/