Seattle Times
Sustainable homeownership, rather than just owning a home, is the new American dream.
Sustainable not in the sense of building houses with "green" materials, but in the sense of buying a house and keeping it for the long haul.
I found the phrase at the end of an interesting paper on "The Long-Term Value of Home Ownership in the U.S." by National Association of Realtors spokesman Walter Molony.
Sustainability means not having to worry about affording the mortgage or the taxes, or watching the mail every day for the court notice giving you 30 days to answer a lender's suit to foreclose on your house.
It also means that when you get into trouble, a government promise of help isn't the empty one it has turned out to be for hundreds of thousands of homeowners looking to modify their loans, who instead have been left hanging out to dry by their lenders.
Housing is, first and foremost, shelter and, second, an investment. That is something too many of us have forgotten for too long.
I've received scores of e-mails and phone calls from honest folks who didn't play the system and lose, but who experienced loss of income through unemployment or cuts in hours or an unexpected illness in the family.Lenders promised some that they were eligible for loan modification, but the process takes longer than necessary because the government program facilitating it depends on the goodwill of the people who created the problem — the lenders.I'm not going to single out just one homeowner. There are dozens I've been unable even to call because I can spend only so much of my day on the phone.
I also want to make one thing clear, one more time: I cannot advise you. That's why I let you tell your stories.
Walter Stimpf is writing a letter to the chief executive officer of Wells Fargo. He's been trying to have Wachovia/Wells Fargo modify his mortgage since May.
Stimpf was told three times that all his documentation had been received and was in an underwriter's hands. Then on Sept. 27, without prior notification, he was told that because some of his documents hadn't been received on time, his modification had been denied.
He talked to someone Sept. 30 who told him that "all he could do was reinterview me, and that he, too, saw in the file that all my documentation was complete."
When he called Oct. 4 for the status of his case, Stimpf said, the company's representative told him it would take 60 to 90 days more for the underwriters' decision.
Condo owner Kathy Farkas went as far as hiring a lawyer to help her get a mortgage modification.
She had bought her house in 2005 with an adjustable-rate mortgage and was unable to refinance into a fixed one. The variable went up to 10.125 percent, boosting the monthly payment $600.
Litton, the servicer, said the investors in her loan were unwilling to modify it, and her two-year quest for a lower payment has gone for naught.
"They are inviting me to move out of my condo," Farkas said, meaning it will become the lender's, and will likely remain empty because of the state of the market.
"This is insanity," she said.
Just two of your stories this time, because I want to get back to Molony and the concept he wrote about.
Sustainable homeownership "contributes to the vitality of communities," he said.
"People who are not ready for the responsibility and challenges of homeownership should not pursue it, particularly if they have short-term time horizons of only a few years, limited resources, or poor credit," Molony added.
That's something we all need to remember the next time a lender tells us we can easily afford something that we know we cannot.
Remember, they hold all the cards.
Sustainable not in the sense of building houses with "green" materials, but in the sense of buying a house and keeping it for the long haul.
I found the phrase at the end of an interesting paper on "The Long-Term Value of Home Ownership in the U.S." by National Association of Realtors spokesman Walter Molony.
Sustainability means not having to worry about affording the mortgage or the taxes, or watching the mail every day for the court notice giving you 30 days to answer a lender's suit to foreclose on your house.
It also means that when you get into trouble, a government promise of help isn't the empty one it has turned out to be for hundreds of thousands of homeowners looking to modify their loans, who instead have been left hanging out to dry by their lenders.
Housing is, first and foremost, shelter and, second, an investment. That is something too many of us have forgotten for too long.
I've received scores of e-mails and phone calls from honest folks who didn't play the system and lose, but who experienced loss of income through unemployment or cuts in hours or an unexpected illness in the family.Lenders promised some that they were eligible for loan modification, but the process takes longer than necessary because the government program facilitating it depends on the goodwill of the people who created the problem — the lenders.I'm not going to single out just one homeowner. There are dozens I've been unable even to call because I can spend only so much of my day on the phone.
I also want to make one thing clear, one more time: I cannot advise you. That's why I let you tell your stories.
Walter Stimpf is writing a letter to the chief executive officer of Wells Fargo. He's been trying to have Wachovia/Wells Fargo modify his mortgage since May.
Stimpf was told three times that all his documentation had been received and was in an underwriter's hands. Then on Sept. 27, without prior notification, he was told that because some of his documents hadn't been received on time, his modification had been denied.
He talked to someone Sept. 30 who told him that "all he could do was reinterview me, and that he, too, saw in the file that all my documentation was complete."
When he called Oct. 4 for the status of his case, Stimpf said, the company's representative told him it would take 60 to 90 days more for the underwriters' decision.
Condo owner Kathy Farkas went as far as hiring a lawyer to help her get a mortgage modification.
She had bought her house in 2005 with an adjustable-rate mortgage and was unable to refinance into a fixed one. The variable went up to 10.125 percent, boosting the monthly payment $600.
Litton, the servicer, said the investors in her loan were unwilling to modify it, and her two-year quest for a lower payment has gone for naught.
"They are inviting me to move out of my condo," Farkas said, meaning it will become the lender's, and will likely remain empty because of the state of the market.
"This is insanity," she said.
Just two of your stories this time, because I want to get back to Molony and the concept he wrote about.
Sustainable homeownership "contributes to the vitality of communities," he said.
"People who are not ready for the responsibility and challenges of homeownership should not pursue it, particularly if they have short-term time horizons of only a few years, limited resources, or poor credit," Molony added.
That's something we all need to remember the next time a lender tells us we can easily afford something that we know we cannot.
Remember, they hold all the cards.
