|
Feedback ForumNOW wants to hear from you! Send us your opinions, reactions and ideas about "Subprime Solution?"Submissions for this question are no longer being accepted. Previously submitted comments appear below. Comments may have been edited for content or space. Poster: a.benjamin Comment: These private prisons are opened for money. The only problem is the execs make six figure salaries and the officers who do the grunt work makes $9.00 bucks an hour. Therefore, these places are not as safe as state and federal prisons. Additionlly, there are plenty of drug addicts and mentally ill inmates filling our prisons. Most of these guys can be in a treatment program instead of wasting taxpayer money for four or five years in prison. Poster: Anne Comment: My goodness! Didn't the people who watched this show see what it was about? Do they live under rocks? Why shouldn't every American own a house? My parents started form scratch, too, but their first house cost $7000! Times have drastically changed. My husband and I have not been able to buy a house because we don't have a BIG enough down payment. I am disabled and can't work. The state will not give me disability, until I fight harder and wait longer. (it's been 2 years already). We don't have a pension. We have to save in an IRA. We barely have enough money to pay our every day bills, but we pay our RENT, utilities, phone, etc., every month. Why can't we own our own home??? Just because we can't samve a big down payment doesn't mean we can't pay for a mortgage. All we want is a small house for two that we can call our own. Don't we deserve that? What is wrong with you idiots out there? Are you all so self righteous that you can't have compassion for the every day working stiff? I have worked all of my life, since I was 15-1/2 and could get a work permit. Just because of some stupid woman that couldn't wait for my car to get past an intersection on my way home from WORK, I can't work any more. This does not make me lazy! Our economy is all messed up and this is what is keeping us from owning our own home---GREED. Wake up you stupid people and realize the real problem. Don't blame the little guy. Poster: sheila M Comment: I enjoyed the show i live in harlem ny, its very difficult to rent here,rent are very high, i have to move out of the city, i may need help to get a home, in new jersey or staten island ,i dont drive, it because of the high rise building, we cannot afford they buy or lease the land for pennies, and make millions while the real resident of harlem, get homeless our elected senator and congressmen or women, doing noting can JPS help us i need help Poster: Judith Martin-Becker Comment: I am one of those who refinanced and got in over my head. Married for quite a few years, left with two kids, while he moved on to a bigger house. Yes I get Child Support, but with jobs and skills being what they are for woman who have been home raising kids, I got in over my head, and watched all this happen. Could not pay the mortgage, or the debts I incurred but my observation is if all of this foreclosure is so hard, why not find out what the person can pay, and rewrite the loan for an additional 10 years, My problem was not that I could not pay it, I could not pay the amount they wanted me to pay but I could have been better off with a lower cost monthly payment, enabling me to pay off debt, and feeding my kids...but it became so complicated, I sold, for way less than I wanted to..got out and now rent a basement apartment, and the ex is still complaining and taking me to court, because I moved a little further away than he thought I should. Poster: Bryan Comment: NO Bail out for people that bought houses they could not afford to begin with. I'm tired of hearing sob stories - I lost my job or I got hurt or or or. A responsible person buying a house would have a down payment and a year of savings in the bank to back them up. I sold my house in Atlanta to move to Raleigh, NC and found the houses to be WAY overpriced in Raleigh so I'm now back to renting. I told one person after another a 2500sq ft house was simply not worth over 250k and they just kept buying. Now these same people are watching the values fall and wondering what do they do. A house is worth the price of the land, materials and labor to build it. If your paying over $100 a sq ft (including the price of the land) you had better be asking yourself why??? I sold my 2500 sq ft 6 year old house in Atlanta for $180,000 and made a nice profit at that.......... Wake up people!!!! NO BAIL OUT FOR STUPID PEOPLE!!!!! Poster: G. S. Ard Comment: I know some of the so called victims who bought houses they couldn't afford or took out second mortgages to fund a lifestyle they couldn't afford. In the mean time my wife and I saved for, bought and paid for our lot, had a good down payment for a construction loan, put in sweat equity by doing parts of the construction ourselves, and drive 10 year old cars. We now have about 50% equity in our house and a payment we can afford, while some people we know have negative equity, payments they can't afford, and drive new vehicles. I just don't feel obligated to bail out those irresponsible people. Its punishing people like me and rewarding the behavior that caused all the problems in the first place. As for the shady mortgage brokers and lenders, if fraud or deception can be proved, punish them to the fullest extent of the law. Make examples of them that nobody will forget for a long time. Poster: William Wright Comment: Regarding those who took out sub-prime loans: The solutions to the mortgage crisis presented in your program seem to presume that carrying the maximum amount of debt is a good thing for a family, that they should be supported in continuing to pay the highest service on debt that they can manage, in living nearly beyond their means in houses they cannot really afford, houses which would not have become so expensive if unreasonable debts had not been allowed. It sounds almost unthinkable, too cruel to consider, but after a very painful adjustment to the damage done by the sub-primes, and aside to the damage of the banking system, wouldn't it be a good thing if the price of the average home fell to the point that the average family could afford to save for a 10-20% downpayment, take out a reasonable loan, and afford an average home without going into maximum debt for the rest of their working lives? The solutions proposed might protect the banks and the unfortunate buyers who bought into the bubble, but in protecting these unfortunates the solutions would keep the cost of housing inflated so that nearly all young families wanting a home as they start out must look forward to servicing more debt than we ever imagined. That's the bottom line for many of the proposed solutions, maximum debt for the average family, finding the maximum loan payments to the banks. Poster: Judith C. Day Comment: Why should all the developers, contractors and financial institutions get to keep all their wealth after the mess they created with their greed while those of us who are trying to hang onto the middle class pay the price for their actions? Why don't we go back to those greedy guys who made the mess (and Mr. Greenspan) and let them pick up the tab. Let them go bankrupt, be homeless, drive used cars, live in apartments or shacks , for that matter. How do you think we got in this mess? All the perpetrators knew that they would get off scott free. I have noticed that no amount of wealth is never enough for these blood-suckers. And also, lets burn all the golden parachutes for the failed CEOs, etc. Getting hundreds of millions on their way out is a crime. The fact that they earn thousands of time what the people who earn the money for them isn't right either. As a 66 year old woman who has never ripped off anyone or stolen a penny, I am sickened at the state of affairs in my country. Bill Gates, the third richest man in the country has cost me, through his shoddy practices at Microsoft. thousands of dollars that I couldn't afford. One computer was killed by a virus installed at his factory but not before I spent thousands while it was dying and lost irreplaceable data. Have I been reimbursed? HA! He's getting stroked for all his philanthropic activities and I'm struggling to make ends meet. So much fro justice. Poster: joseph kitchel Comment: Your lead-in to the 6/27/08 program was misleading, and raised unfair expectations for those actually facing foreclosure. You said: 'Meet the social entrepreneur who may have just the thing for helping families threatend with foreclosure to stay in their homes.' But, in fact, the program was more about JPS helping first-time buyers, the weaknesses of the Hope Now program, and the potential for possible future help for those threatened with foreclosure if JPS can convince lenders to use their Best Fit software. I think this was a dishonest and tittilating lead-in which gave false hope to the viewer, since the help you suggested is not really available now. I expect more honesty from NOW. Poster: jack Comment: if everybody ran around with a mobster like senator obama, and got massive house and property for what?, there would not be a housing crisis for us little whitee trash. Poster: dario salazar Comment: Subprime 'help', but not a 'solution' will be found until our country's economics go from capitalistic to capitalistic with consequences for big business. It's a 'who cares about the customers,company,consequences-it's all about my profit' type of mentality in today's American big business. Sure we had people earning $40K a year dumbly accepting a $250K mortgage. But we had far more people believing realistically/financially they could afford the mortgage-only for it to increase by the hundreds of $$$'s due to a 'minor' detail their loan officer 'forgot' to mention buried somewhere in 5 pages of fine print. Basically, we've got a few thousand ceo's/bank exec's/investors who's utter greed without any thought to consequences have played a huge roll in bringing an entire nation's economy to it's knees-and we're all paying for it. If you or i treated our friends/employer/police officer,etc in the same shady way these 'lenders' dealt with the public-we'd have to deal with the consequences. The lenders? 'Oh, dear me-am i responsible for my company going bankrupt, are you firing me?'. Guess i've gotta take my multi-million $ pension payout and go on vacation. On a multi-million $ yacht. That belongs to a Big Oil exec friend of mine. 'How did you afford this yacht, Big Oil exec friend-i thought oil was at record highs, you must be suffering?'. 'Oh yes, it's tragic-did you see our record profits last quarter?...and last quarter...and last quarter...'. 'You know, friend mortgage lender, i've been trying to figure out why my fellow Americans are getting screwed so bad at the pump-especially since we here at Big Oil have absolutely nothing to do with it. And the billion's of $$$'s in credits we suck from Americans every year for exploration we're not even doing is not enough. You know what grinds my gears though, mortgage lender,is that because of your mess my $7mil house is only worth $5mil now. Pretty soon i might have to use my own money instead of the taxpayer's to survive. It's tough dealing with the consequences'. Poster: Sylvia Comment: Borrowers and Lenders both benefit from a succesful home sales. What happens when the homeowner can't pay because they manipulated the software with inflated wages and other false income? Now doesn't the lender want to see a proof of how and why these loans were aproved to begin with? Why pays? Loan officers got their commisisions, the sellers got a big chunk of falsely increased price for their homes, and the government will have to bail them out so the loan sharks will keep doing the same in the next 10 years? When will the loan officers be legally responsible for their credit fraud? When will they have a check and balances to make sure people will not be hurt because they raced to get to american nightmare? Someone has to look at the pattern and stop the cycle. No software will work, unless the keyboard operators key in the right figures and accept the authority of the software. Maybe no commission for loan officers.? Maybe have each forclosed loan investigated? Some people get away with fraud and everybody pais for them. Poster: Michael Lopez Comment: When other people took a chance on adjustable loans I resisted and still continue to rent. Who is going to help me? I saw the fine print and decided not to play such a risky deal. Now as a taxpayer I'm asked to bail those out who did not read the fine print. My other point is even more pertinent. By bailing these loans out the American taxpayer is artificially propping up the price of homes that should be valued much lower. I live in L.A. County where only 11% of the people can afford the average house valued at a whopping $460,000!!! How did prices go so high? Speculators, many of whom are average home owners who wanted to flip a fast buck by flipping a second house. A whopping 40% of homes bought were second homes! This drove prices 40% higher. Well the bubble has burst and prices need to fall by 50% in order to meet the needs of first time buyers. Banks make money on loans andrelators make it on fees. In order for housing to be a growth sector again the prices need to fall where they really belong!! Then people will start buying and going to home depot and buying more. The tide will rise again but first we have to let the tide go out. Poster: Sharon Butler Comment: Interesting segment. I have been in the mortgage business since 1986. If you recall we had this happen back in 1991, not as bad, but close. Home Savings and Great Western were the leaders on the foreclosure front. Housing is a 10 year investment and homeowners, especially ones who were at fault need to have responsibility. There are those who did not know what they were getting into, and that falls back onto their loan offier and the California Department of Real estate! I am currently filming a program for Home Buyers, Home Owners, Understanding loans, understanding costs, etc. If we purchased homes, we need to understand much more than the average home owner understands. This is a huge responsibility that is played down, much too much. The people you interview were, for the most part, knowlegable. My point, first time home buyers classes should be forced along with some type of class that has to be monitored if getting any loan other than the every day 30 year fixed. SOME Loan officers are too smooth when sneeking a borrower into a deal! Poster: elly orrin Comment: I just looked up Just Price Solutions while your program is on the air. Please note that it makes clear that it makes clear it is only for wholesale lenders! I doubt anyone can talk them directly other than the lenders. Poster: Sonja Poet Comment: $2,269 Monthly Mortgage to be paid by a young couple? The same as their rent? What state allows landlords to charge over $2,000/mo. rent? Who are we kidding here? Am I the only viewer who sees through this, the latest in the mortgage/housing scam? JPS appears to me to be another blood-sucking, so-called Non-Profit draining funds from the federal coffers, or our tax dollars. Good Grief, when will this highway robbery ever end? I would be very interested in Mr. Cosgrove's background. Any connection with M.E.R.S? This top-heavy scheme seems about as altruistic as throwing a drowning community a glass of water. I have nothing but compassion for all PBS wage earners as there is no longer anything subtle about the partisan programming these days. Honestly, I can see the embarrassment on the faces of some of my favorite TV personalities. Can we hope for a return to non-partisan programming in 2009? That is, if we still have access to TV! If this were an Alfred Hitchcock movie, I would expect the end to look like this: Most Americans become debt-slaves. They are gathered like sheep, held in detainment centers, and then shipped to the polluted cities of China to work and die in sweat shops making cheap products to be consumed by the nouveau riche' Chinese now living in their new homes in America while telecommuting to their factories in China. Hu wins the game of GO? Americans - get out of debt NOW. What an imagination, you thing? Poster: Shane Martin Comment: I am very disappointed with the one sided coverage of the housing crisis. I do feel that people who were legitimately tricked into bad loans or who have had illness or unforeseen job loss should be helped out. I do not feel that people who have declared bankruptcy and have a low credit score deserve to be in a $400k luxury home. I've seen stories of people making $35k annually who have bought a $350k house, that they are about to lose, portrayed as victims. Our combined income is three times that amount. By that rationalization we should be able to afford a $1m house. I would never buy a $350k house, let alone a $1m house. What happened to personal responsibility and common sense? Should I have gone out and bought leather couches, a plasma screen TV, a hummer and a mansion and just waited for someone to bail me out? How about we save the pity and mortgage assistance for the people whose jobs were outsourced unexpectedly or who just had to shell out several hundred thousand dollars in uncovered medical expenses (even though they probably had health insurance)? Poster: LYNN ROSS Comment: I thought your show was very informative. I am a new home buyer myself. And i am glad there are some organizations that are helping people buy a home, however......... What I find so astounding is that poor people or people in huge debt were able to get mortgages. I had been living in Manhattan renting a 1 bedroom apt. I could not understand how all these younger people were able to buy these expensive apt's. I am from the old school that YOU NEED A DOWN PAYMENT!!!!!!!!!! I had to move to Charleston, SC to buy a home that I could afford. What happened to sacrificing??? I would have loved to buy an apt. for $600,000 in Manhattan, but could not afford that. I wanted to own a home. So I decided I can't have EVERYTHING and moved to an area that I could afford! How dare banks and these mortgage companies give out loans to buyers with no down payment. Give me a break. You implied in your show that it is UNFAIR that only rich people can buy a home and lower income families have the same right to own a home. Excuse me, NO!!!! AND, what right does that Hispanic family have even looking at a home for $400,000! If they want a home, you start with something smaller and work your way up. This is not Russia, and we saw how well that system worked out. This is America. No one is entitled to a free ride. My parents came to this country with nothing. They never made alot of money. So they never were able to afford a home. So now it's diffrent??? Why??? If a family wants a house then work hard, save your money and put money in for a down payment. In this sophisticated world we live in I find it hard to believe that all these people got these loans and had no money to put down. Now people like myself have to bail them out????????????? ABSOLUTEY NOT!!!!!!! My hard earned tax dollars should help the banks and the people who knew they could not afford a home? NO! And I do not buy the fact that these people were ignorant and had no idea what they were getting into. RIDICULOUS. I am outraged that this has happened to our country. And I hope the bill does not pass to bail everyone out. What happened to accountability???? It's all about GREED. All these CEO'S have made millions. Let them bail out these foreclosures. They should all be put in jail It's ENRON all over again. You wanted a comment?? You got one. Poster: Steve Siegesmund Comment: Your show was a sham and a disgrace because you are encouraging laziness and materialism. The people in your show want a larger house then they can afford and are not willing to make the sacrifices it takes to own a home. Whatever happened to buying a small fixer-up house as your first house and then sell it years later for a larger house? That is what the rest of us did so why can't everyone else. I did not see any 800 square feet houses without garages in your show and that is a good starter home. Please stop promoting greed and materialism by encouraging people to think they deserve something they cannot afford. God Bless America, Poster: Vicki Gehlert Comment: I have been in foreclosure for the last three, almost four months. With the assistance of a state (of Fl) SHIP Program (State Housing Initiative Program) Foreclosure assistance I am on my way to being out of foreclosure! I did not buy more than I could afford, but, I bought, then lost my job and have not been able to earn at that level in five years, due to the economy. The insurance fiasco here in FL is what caused me to get behind when my insurance company illegally raised rates and then went under. But that is another story you might look into! Poster: Ira Jinkins, Sr. Comment: Hi: Thank you so much for the NOW/JPS Story. It is very educational and informative. I plan to pass on this much needed information to my family, friends and associates. Again, Thank you. Ira D. Jinkins, Sr. Poster: Yoon Comment: I enjoyed the show on home loan solutions and JPS. It was inspiring as well as informative! It's good to be reminded that it is possible and happening to run a socially responsible business. |
Who's Helping Our Wounded Vets?
Elizabeth Warren on the Economy
Nurses Needed
Electric Car Dreams
PBS Special Report: Health Care Reform
