Meat, it's like saying the Nigerian e-mail scams aren't the fault of Nigeria, those suckers they took in, well, it's their own fault. OK, fair enough, it IS their own fault. But come on, that doesn't make it right.
Do the financiers follow all the rules and do it legally or is there fraud involved in some of these housing loans? No question there IS fraud, and law suits ARE being filed, as they should be. Here in Hawaii recent newspaper articles have been focusing on the pressure apraisers are under to deliver a certain price to the lender. IF they don't bring the property in 'at the right price' they quickly find themselves out of a job. There are other apraisers willing to 'work with the bank' to get the 'number' right. Thats gotta change, law suits may be the only way. If you lease that Bugatti with intent to defraud, use fraud to secure it, or are 'suckered' into the lease BY fraud, someone should get sued! WHO that may be will have to be decided on a case by case basis.
I've been in involved in various real estate deals a LOT over the last 20 years or so. I've never seen it so easy to manipulate the market financiers as it has been until recently. It seems the whole nation was caught up in this mess. I hope most people have now gotten the message, but there will ALWAYS be suckers, gamblers and con men around to play the game. I, for one, just won't be to quick to condem those who made a bad decision, it's likely they ARE going to pay for it anyway. I don't want to kick them when their down. It could have been me, maybe I just got lucky (more like smelled a rat). It was like 'one' of those voices in my head said, 'Be careful', of course that was only one of many voices...
