Real Estate Foreclosure Controversy

The controversy surrounding real estate foreclosure dramas are in two camps: those who believe in a bail out and those that don't. If you bought at the height of the real estate market and you are now faced with an adjustable rate mortgage and dropping real estate prices, you are probably in favor of a real estate foreclosure bail out. There are other people, however, who fault the home buyer and not the lenders for the the problems we are now seeing with real estate foreclosures. They argue that if borrowers hadn't overextended themselves buying too much house and agreeing to terms that made poor financial sense then they would not be facing foreclosure. Like any argument, there's probably a hint of truth in both sides.

How It Could Be The Lenders Fault

Real estate foreclosure was probably impacted by the easy credit standards and many unethical lenders that did not bother to substantiate the income or ability to repay for borrowers. Instead, they opted to sell them loans they knew they couldn't afford because the commission structure for mortgage brokers paid them upfront, not after the person was in the home. In that sense, many people were told one thing and were not told exactly how the adjustable rate mortgages worked clearly. In areas where prices were rising daily, the key to get in before being priced out of the market made people less willing to question the loan approval or terms. It was only after the prices dropped due to overwhelming real estate foreclosure problems that the same borrowers were caught holding the bag on bad loans.

Taking Responsibility For Signing

Of course, these people did sign even if they might have been misled to sign. The ultimate responsibility, some would suggest, lies in the signer who is responsible for the terms of the loan, whether they read them or not. Since many of the loans were used to speculate in real estate and/or buy large homes, many people who opted for fixed rate mortgages and bought less house than they could afford find it difficult to agree with real estate foreclosure loans that they feel will only serve to enable bad fiscal behavior in the future. If we aren't responsible for are mistakes as well as our successes, then there is no reason not to take out these mortgages in the future rather than pay attention to our financial means. And, finally, any real estate foreclosure loans, whether Federal or state offered, will be funded with the tax dollars of those people that did not go into foreclosure. They argue they should not be penalized for the bad choices that other people have made.