Central Ohio Real Estate Market News

In the past year, much has been written in real estate blogs or newspapers or on media web sites, about the HOUSING CRISIS and who is to blame for THIS MESS. Some say everybody shares some blame, and perhaps that’s true.

Ultimately, the buck stops with the buyer. They were the ones that wanted a house that was more than they could afford. They were the ones who decided to take on a mortgage payment that represented too high of a percentage of their monthly budget. They were the ones who didn’t plan for a rainy day with a savings account, or who didn’t consider what they would do if one of them lost their job or if they didn’t continue to receive increases to their salary.

When people ask me about how we got into this mess, I recite a situation that occurred several years ago. It really illustrates what occurred then and how it set the stage for so many failures.

A couple purchased a modest home for $137,000. They put 10% down leaving them with a mortgage of $123,000. Six months after living in the home they went to a major local bank to get an equity loan so they could by a new SUV - one that would have cost over $30,000. The appraiser for the bank said the home was worth $185,000. Based on this appraisal, the bank gave the couple a $50,000 home equity loan. So six months after buying a $137,000 home, they now owe $173,000 on it.

A year after they purchased this home, the husband had a new-job opportunity in another state. They set up an appointment with me to list their home. I always do a Net Equity Estimate to show sellers what their proceeds will be if they sell at such and such price. If the Estimate comes in negative, I make sure they have the funds to bring to closing, otherwise, because without those funds, the home won’t be able to close.

Naturally, the Net Estimate came in substantially negative. I covered the results with them. The first thing the wife said was that the equity loan was really a car loan. She didn’t understand that it was a lien against the home and would need to be paid off when the home closed. I then asked them if they had the thousands in cash to bring to closing. They didn’t. At this point the wife began to cry because it finally dawned on her that they were “trapped”.

• They couldn’t take the new job because they couldn’t sell their home because they had no extra money to close.
• They could sell the big SUV, but would be in the same situation of owing more than it could generate in trade-in value.

So what did they ultimately do, you ask? They took the new job in the other state along with the new SUV and walked away from their home leaving behind all the debt on it.

Who is to blame for this mess? Do you blame the buyer for being ignorant of good budgeting practices and for making poor financial decisions? Do you blame the appraiser for overstating the home’s value so he can continue to get jobs from the bank so he can make his own mortgage payments? Do you blame the bank for being greedy in wanting to make loans, so they perform well for their stockholders? Do you blame the stockholders who want to see increases to their portfolios and retirement IRA’s?

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