When People Signed Sub-Prime Mortgages Did They Look at How Much Their Payments Would Like Be After Resetting?
I would hope that people paid attention to how high their payments were likely to be after the first reset.
And, more importantly, I hope people looked at how high their payments might end up being if the first reset went to the highest level allowed.
To me, it seems like signing an adjustable mortgage is a way of trying to “hope for a free lunch.” If a person can’t afford the payments of a fixed mortgage, he/she is largely praying that the resets work in his/her favor. This is particularly important for a person who can’t afford to make a decent downpayment.
When we bought our first house, I definitely ran the numbers of what could happen (worse case) if we signed an adjustable-mortgage. I saw that we would be “bankrupt.” I didn’t want to put my family through that risk.
Tags: Mortgages, Payments, People, resetting, signed, Subprime
I have a feeling that most people who went for these mortgages were just happy to get one, regardless ot the consequences down the road. I don’t think they were aware of what would happen.
You were smarter than most people were, I’m afraid.
People got into these “interest only” and subprime mortgages because real estate values were shooting through the roof and there was no way to lose money. They felt that they would simply flip the home, at a profit, before the principal payments kicked in.
It worked for awhile, but when the market came to halt, a lot of people got caught with their pants down. They had a house they couldn’t sell and a mortgage they can’t afford. That’s why everyone is so scared to see how many foreclosures are going to result from this.
Obviously, far too many people trusted their realtors and lenders, and (like you said) hoped for continued low rates or trusted that they would be able to handle higher payments, thorugh raises or promotions. Others probably had no idea of what an adjustabel mortgage was really like.
no .. a lot of this people were tricked or not educated enough about the reset..
iam suprised that foreclosed homeowners are not suing lenders, agents etc..for the truth in lending violation
Happened in 1980 (Savings & Loan Debacle) as well as 2007. People are so used to houses going up up up and cheap mortgage money that everyone, lenders and borrowers, feel sure that they will be able to refinance before the devil starts knocking on the door. Normally it is true, and people just refinance out of trouble.
The problem is so many people hit the line at the same time, and mortgage money has dried up. The refinance option is not there, so they have to give the devil his due.
It happens about every 15-20 years. people forget the last time, and forget that these things are cycles with an eventual change. They get too caught up in the now and give little credance to the maybe in the future
I don’t buy the argument that all of these subprime purchasers were duped or tricked or pushed into these loans. I believe they all knew exactly what they were doing.
My belief is that the conversations went something like this:
Mortgage Broker: “I can get you into an adjustable rate loan, but in three years the rate will reset, and your payments will be higher.”
Borrower: “Will I be able to refinance into a fixed rate?”
Mortgage Broker: “Refinancing is allowed, and it will be easy if the appraisal value of the property increases.”
Borrower: “Well, everyone knows that real estate ALWAYS increases in value. Great, I’ll take it. Where do I sign?”
Most people don’t think that far ahead.
I think adjustable rates are great for people with less than perfect credit who really plan to get their credit report cleaned up before their adjustable rate increases. I mean, you’ve got usually 2 or 3 years before the first increase, that should be plenty of time to get your other bills in order & improve your credit score. The goal is to refinance before your rate increases.
I think most people who are in this situation also are buying more house than they can truly afford at the low interest rates anyway, so the problem is only compounded when they don’t clean up their credit and refinance.
I’m looking at buying a house right now. The banks tell us that we could afford to spend $250k on a house based on the 28 and 36% rules. Instead of doing so & being house poor, I’m looking at a house that costs $160k that needs a slight bit of work done to it, but that I can very easily afford to do it (and I get exactly the house I want in the end). I can still take vacations, I can still go out to dinner, I can still have a comfortable lifestyle.
Owning a home is great unless you don’t have any money, then it’s the worst decision you could ever make.
There are several borrower mentalities that loan officers must deal with. A – The bottom line person that doesn’t focus on a start rate as much as the highest possible payment. An LO will usually just tell them dont let the loan live that long, refinance again just after the prepay ends and before the adjustment kicks in.
B – The lowest cost today person that wants it all and for free. These people are often the most easily duped by savvy LO’s.
C – The I have bad credit but really need a loan type, most of these type and many of the ones above are now somewhere in default and foreclosure.
People like you often have no reason to go sub prime as your inherent credit concerns cause you to think and act differently. As a result your a high credit score conforming borrower. Many fall from your situation down to the sub prime credit abyss by a spouse, job loss, or illness.
The major problem that occurred in Sub Prime lending was not its rates, programs, or underwriting guidelines. It was a specialty market made to serve a niche. Just as a FHA type loan requires a special LO qualification to originate, sub-prime loans should have never been able to be issued by less experienced or non qualified loan officers. The borrowers are more easily taken advantage of and greed by industry can, and did, run rampant. Very few loan officers take the time necessary to explain properly the programs and potential pitfalls they contain. Some loans should never have been submitted to begin with and many of them slipped through a inexperienced underwriters hands. Upon closing the borrowers were on top of the world. Now their ship is sinking and there are no life rafts left. To most its a shame and to some it’s their own fault and they need to just learn about personal accountability rather than blame shifting.
i’m not sure, but i think this site has the answer to this particular question. they’ve got lots of stuff about this anyway.