Had lunch with one of my sons today. He's got a secure job as a civil engineer with the state highway department, his wife is a "stay at home mom", with son 2 years old and expecting daughter next month. He has "80-12-8" financing- 80% first mortgage, 12% second mortgage, and he put 8% down when he bought the place 2 years ago. I haven't specifically talked to him about the "mortgage crisis", so just for fun, I quizzed him a bit:
"So, what's the status of your loans, as to value of your place?"
"Well, judging by the similar house down the road that just sold, I'm upside down on my first mortgage, so my second mortgage isn't worth the paper its printed on."
"Soooo- what do you plan to do?"
"Whatya mean, 'What do we plan to do?' We're just gonna keep making the payments like we always have."
Still testing, I noted, "You know, you could just walk away."
"How stupid would that be? Then we go live in a shelter? Its our home. If we walk away from this deal, how long before we can buy another- 10, 15 years? No thanks. Value will come back, probably, but even if it doesn't, its a lot more comfortable than a tent."
Not holding son up as a paragon of virtue- but he and millions of others doing the same thing show that "middle america values" are still alive and well.
It should be noted that he did not offer to pick up the lunch check. . .
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Today's Featured Article - A City Guy's First Tractor - by Fred Hambrecht. After living in apartments in Atlanta for more years than I care to remember, the wife and I decided to move to the country. Humming "Green Acres is the place for me..." we purchased a 29 acre tract about 60 miles south of Atlanta. Next came the house, I could talk about that ordeal for another two weeks... But, I want to talk about my tractor! We didn't even own a lawnmower, and all of a sudden we had enough grass to feed all the starving children of the bovine world. Naturally, I talked
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