More On Gardner Foreclosure

Michelle Malkin has a new San Fran Chronicle story on the foreclosure heartache of the moment:

The money wasn’t going to her parents’ health-care expenses. She didn’t have a job. “Some” went to credit card bills. “Some” was “eaten up” by loan fees.

And the rest?

Apparently this is the Chron's go to family for the mortgage issue, they profiled them back in 2007. And the lender did everything they could to help them out:

Just 90 minutes before the appointed time on July 3, Gardner got a phone call that the auction had been postponed for a month. Her real estate agent said the lender had agreed to allow time to try to sell the house to an investor who would rent it back to the family. "It's a big load off my shoulders for now," said Gardner, a voluble woman with high cheekbones and an aquiline nose. "But I know it's just postponing the inevitable. They will be putting me out of the frying pan into something worse."

And she went in thinking someone was going to bail her out all along:

She was getting ready to drive to the Alameda County Courthouse to see what would happen. She pictured that "bigwigs, investors (would) fork out the money."

Congrats American taxpayer - you're now the "bigwigs" she had in mind that would bail her out after squandering hundreds of thousands of dollars. Don't you feel rich?

In the latest of many refinancing moves, all the money went to $14,000 in credit card bills:

Johnnie Gardner's monthly income from Social Security and his pension from 45 years as an electrician at the Oakland Naval Supply Center is $3,144, while Joann Gardner made about $2,100 a month from her secretarial job.

How did Gardner think they would afford the mortgage?

"We were supposed to be cashed out $15,000," she said. "I thought with having that cushion, I'd take a little out each time, and as Daddy's checks came in, it would stack up to enough to pay for the mortgage, and my income would go for utilities and groceries."

Instead, after the lender paid off credit cards for her and her father totaling about $14,000, she only got $1,260.

Then she lost her job in February because she was taking too much time off to tend to her parents. Her mother has Alzheimer's, and her father has arthritis and digestion problems.

When the first mortgage payment came due, Gardner realized they were in over their heads and called the lender.

"They said, 'We can't help you, it's a done deal, you're going to have to try to make those payments,' " she said.

Ian Kideyz, a spokesman for the Gardners' mortgage broker, Apply4Homes of La Jolla, said the refinance helped the family because paying off the credit cards saved $666 in monthly payments, and their new mortgage payment of $3,007 (not including taxes and insurance) was only $133 more than their previous payment.

"I know they're upset because they can't make the payments, but they were put in a better situation," he said. "Their monthly obligations have been reduced. There were no excessive fees charged on this loan."

Comments

[Fred Beloit]

And Bush has signed the "Rob the Diligent" bill, to encourage more "refinancing" one supposes. Well, I'm off to the bank to borrow a wad on my "equity". If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

[Spartan112]

Sure their monthly obligations were less until you take into account the upkeep on the home...property taxes, etc, etc, etc...

[seekeronos]

Ah, and this is how we go from a nation of deluded, indebted homeowners to a nation of renters (at best) and homeless (at worst).

"----- The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. -----" (Proverbs 22:7, KJV)

[SacTownMan]

Let's see, pay off the unsecured debt first so you can lose the home that is a secured debt. Makes great financial sense to me.

The greed of modern Americans is amazing. Just cash in the equity on your most important investment so you can pay off credit card debt.

The most glaring fact is shown in the statement "In the latest of many refinancing moves".

Take a job at $2,000/mo and along with the Dad's modest retirement income of about $3,000 for a combined total of $5,000/mo. Now just take dad's entire retirement check each month and spend it on the house payment. That leaves her with about $1,600 clear/mo after taxes to pay for all of the other bills they have. Hmmm food, gas/oil, vehicle upkeep, health care, savings, etc. etc.

Does anyone else see a problem here or did I just take a snap shot of the financial nightmare that is plauging our country.

The blame here lies with the parents. We take the time to tell our kids to look both ways before crossing the street, stay away from strangers and "don't you go where the huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow" why not take the same effort and explain that credit is something you avoid except for home or car loans and not dinner at the Sizzler.

My kids have been taught to save 10% of their income for savings at an early age. If you don't have savings to cover yourself for three months of potential loss of income then you don't need to be commiting 60-70% of your monthly income to buying a house. The world needs renters too! This is a recipe for disaster and is at the heart of what is adding instability to our economy, not George W. Bush as our favorite moonbats would like you to believe!