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Posted
Jun 10 2008, 12:35 PM
by
Karen Datko
Sure, it's sad that TV icon Ed McMahon is facing foreclosure on his $6 million Beverly Hills mansion. But "PT" at Prime Time Money is irritated by the way McMahon has gone public with his housing woes. Ed has said he hopes his story will help others who are about to lose their homes. "In my opinion, a millionaire, who could get any type of mortgage he wanted, has no business being the spokesperson for the foreclosure issues facing the few who really got duped," PT writes. "... I'm convinced he's simply hyping this to get the house sold."
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Posted
May 28 2008, 06:09 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller. I'm a "Seinfeld" fan, and I'm reminded of the episode when George Costanza pushed an elderly woman, a clown and a roomful of children out of his way so he could escape what he thought was a blazing fire. The clown ended up dousing the blaze with his big shoe. When you think of your home-equity line of credit, you should be reminded of George. In an emergency, your home-equity line of credit may be the first thing to leave the room.
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Posted
May 19 2008, 04:35 PM
by
Karen Datko
Just how bad is foreclosure? As the "Silicon Valley Blogger" points out, pretty awful. But it might just be the end to a financial nightmare that's keeping you up at night. If faced with the prospect of foreclosure, the important thing is that you understand the consequences -- and there will be some -- of this huge financial step.
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Posted
May 19 2008, 02:19 PM
by
Karen Datko
You don't need to have a crazy interest-only or adjustable-rate mortgage to feel the pain of the housing slump. A reader who posted a question at Free Money Finance wisely put 20% down and got a fixed-rate mortgage in Las Vegas when that housing market was sizzling hot. Now it's not, and he's upside down -- he owes more on the house than it's worth because of dropping values. His problem is that he wants to move.
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Posted
May 06 2008, 03:29 PM
by
Karen Datko
If you don't want your house to sell, make sure it looks like some of the houses featured at snarky I Can't Sell My House, a blog that's essentially a pictorial history of our current housing woes. You know that look -- a Christmas tree still on the curb four months after the holiday season, an overgrown lawn, or a few grocery carts parked near the driveway. Inside, make sure buyers can immediately identify what kind of pet you have -- just by gently inhaling. If you really want to sell your house in this tough market, read The Wisdom Journal's "52 tips to make your home irresistible to buyers." Ron shares more than the obvious in this post.
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Posted
May 03 2008, 05:47 PM
by
Karen Datko
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Former baseball star Jose Canseco is walking away from his 7,300-square-foot mansion in a Los Angeles suburb. But did you know he's only the latest celebrity who has faced foreclosure? In fact, the Los Angeles Times blog L.A. Land has an occasional feature called "Celebrity Foreclosures," and so far has written about such notables as Canseco and Marion Jones. The most recent installment includes suggested headlines about Canseco like "Jose walks" and "Canseco took a walk, but was called out at home."
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Posted
May 01 2008, 12:49 PM
by
Karen Datko
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It used to be that if you wanted to buy a house, you simply talked to a lender. "This is nice, if you have an honest, unbiased broker," writes Jonathan at My Money Blog. "This is also how people got talked into 0% down, subprime adjustable-rate mortgages." If you are thinking about, saving for or on the verge of buying a house, we strongly recommend that you read Jonathan's two-part series on shopping for a mortgage. We've been through the house-buying process three times and wish we could have read these posts before we did.
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Posted
Apr 09 2008, 12:55 PM
by
Karen Datko
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Seb at Pinching Copper apparently said aloud what other people have been thinking when he wrote "There are no victims in the housing bust." He's tired of all the media stories about "innocent" people who suddenly find out that they can no longer afford their homes. "So who do you blame in all this?" Seb wrote. "The bank that approved the loan? The TV show that pumped homeownership? The Realtor who sold the house? In the end, the only person to blame is the one who signed the mortgage document. "The media can portray these people as victims, but the sad truth is that the vast majority of people who are being foreclosed upon could never afford a home to begin worth," Seb said.
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Posted
Apr 02 2008, 12:11 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Mike at Clever Dude makes an amazing confession for a personal-finance blogger. He and his wife bought a house with an interest-only mortgage and no money down "because we wanted more than we could afford," he admits. Not only that, but "I can directly blame ourselves for not understanding the terms of our loans," he says. He depended on the mortgage broker to do the math, rather than educate himself about what he was getting into. "So I accept full blame for my shortsightedness, laziness and ignorance," he writes. (Luckily for them, they've still built up some equity.) Thus begins his examination of why he made uninformed decisions.
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Posted
Mar 13 2008, 01:05 PM
by
Karen Datko
We have a friend who is determined to buy a home, and this causes us to worry. Are prices going to drop where she lives (they haven't -- yet) after she buys? Renting is cheaper than buying in her city. Is she better off continuing to rent and investing the difference? Thus, posts on this subject intrigue us. One we recommend is Pinching Copper's "Why we rent," one of the top picks in the recent Carnival of Personal Finance. Of course, there are plenty of good arguments on both sides of the issue. Seb at Pinching Copper makes an interesting case by comparing what it costs to buy vs. rent a home with the same floor plan in each of three different major markets.
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