

Are you an idiot to keep paying your mortgage? - lnguyen
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/16/BUQR1442LQ.DTL

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Tichy
"your servicer will reduce your monthly mortgage payment - including property
taxes, insurance and association dues - to 38 percent of your gross income"

Yikes - I have never bought a house, but how much are these people paying? It
seems mad to me to sign away 38% of ones income indefinitely (like, for
decades), and this sounds as if people have been giving away even more. Is
that normal?

Time to invest in better maths education in school???

~~~
jrockway
_Is that normal?_

I think the rule of thumb is for your monthly housing expenses to be 1/52nd of
your income -- so around 23%. I, however, would gladly pay 38% if it meant I
could live in a 2 million dollar mansion for the rest of my life. Sounds like
a good deal to me.

The sad reality is that once you have a house and the government guarantees
your interest rate won't increase, you don't need to pay off your credit cards
anymore. So if you need to spend beyond your means, you might as well do it --
you don't need the credit for anything else.

(It scares me when I think what would happen if people didn't self regulate
with "moral beliefs" -- the only thing that stops me from buying a house I
can't afford and maxing out as many credit cards as I can get a hold of. If
everyone acted in their own self-interest instead of in the interest of a
stable society... well, it would be scary. Perhaps this "credit crunch" and
the associated bailout is the beginning. "Wake up, sheeple." :)

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bprater
Back in the old days, there was some honor in doing the "right thing". Not
just the thing that was most beneficial to self at the cost of everyone else.

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alexandros
keep in mind that the Peter Schiff they interview is the guy in this video:
<http://youtube.com/?v=2I0QN-FYkpw>

I would give his words a much larger weight knowing his record.

