|
| As
an
immigrant
blac
|
|
 |
|
 |
As an immigrant black new yerokr here is what I see as happened:If you are a typical lower middle class family with kids, it is very difficult, to find affordable rental units in NY metropolitan area. The rent is outrageous. One bedroom in the bronx goes for at least $900.00. Imagine if you have a family! At the same time, you do not qualify for subsidized housing or section 8 because your income is too high. Landlords do not like to rent to families with kids if they can avoid it, and if one finds one willing to rent you an apt,you have to deal with complaints from your downstairs neighbors every time the kids ran around or even walk.So people were therefore desperate to buy a house for their family. This they did in with good intentions for their kids and in good faith to pay the mortgage and taxes. To those of you who do not live in NY, the houses I am talking about in queens for example are not like the ones in the rest of the country. They are old, narrow cramped houses with small room, but never the less they will do for most new yerokrs.Those who bought their houses in the 90's are still doing okay even with the economic downturn because they bought their houses before the height of the housing bubble. Even buyers who bought with subprime loans are still okay today if they bought in the late 90's early 2000's.However as interest rates kept going down, the homes became more and more expensive leading to grossly overpriced houses.Still people with families needed housing desperately, and they see how the people who bought in the 90's are doing well for themselves, and how the earlier buyers have built equity.So they take decide to buy a home, and since their income is low compared the cost of the overpriced house they want to buy, they obtained horrible subprime loans. The real estate agents and mortgage brokers did their share to push them for these loans since they will be paid a commission if the sale goes through. Also, please note that those who had bought earlier with subprime had not done too badly for themselves, so many people figured they would refinance later once they built equity. Also many thought that they can cover the mortgage by renting a room in the house, or taking two jobs, so on and so forth. Everybody assumed they will continue to have a job, and the price of houses will continue to go up-bad mistake!Than trouble begins-some people get divorced-so where there was two income, now there is less income for the house even with alimony. Some get sick and loose their jobs.Some loose their jobs for other reasons.All the above problems are nothing special and are part of life HOWEVER-now those in trouble can not sell their homes because the houses are OVERPRICED!!! (Remember, those who bought earlier are mostly okay because their mortgage payments are reasonable. It is the ones who bought in the height of the bubble that are in trouble).More trouble-the subprime loans start readjusting to very high monthly payments, but the borrowers cannot sell their homes to get out because again-the houses are overpriced.So the whole scheme starts to collapse" house prices too high-distressed homeowners can't sell their homes- foreclosure-recession, homeowners loose their job, subprime payments go up- foreclosure, , etc etc.Don't forget that that the fancy numbers and graphs you are all getting about excited do not tell the whole story. This is a human story people trying their best to "make it" and live dignified lives despite everything....
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(VISITOR) AUTHOR'S NAME
Kesar
MESSAGE TIMESTAMP
20 december 2014, 06:08:31
AUTHOR'S IP LOGGED
186.88.172.137
|
|
|
|
