Do you know that there are only a couple of ladder manufacturers still in business in America? The rest have been sued ou
t of business or forced to headquarter in countries far superior to ours when it comes to litigous common sense. People would literally lean their ladder against a plate glass window, fall through, and then sue the ladder company! If you do not believe me take a look at the “stupid stickers” on a ladder in your local building supply store some time. Covered with labels that basically say “Hey, if you are so stupid that you would (fill in the dumbest thing you can imagine here), then please read this ‘stupid sticker’ and do not do that”.
Now I am watching the lending industry go the way of the ladder industry. We have a (very) small group of people going through a very difficult event: they are losing their homes due to their inability to pay their mortgage. It can not possibly be their fault – that would leave them no one to sue. So it is the lenders’ fault. Now they have someone to blame. The press eats this up. Brian Brady wrote a great piece over on BloodHoundBlog regarding the San Diego couple that appeared on Good Morning America to discuss their lawsuit. I have written previously about the two couples who appeared in the 60 Minutes segment. Kris Berg has a current piece on a California couple initiating their law suit. What do all of these people have in common (besides appearing in the media to tell their story)? Every last one of them refuses to accept the responsibility of being an adult. I am sick and tired of the lending industry being blamed for foisting “exotic” loans on an unknowing public. What geniuses those lenders must be, what masters of double talk, what scam artists… what balderdash.
I spent years talking to clients about the loan process and advising them on how mortgages work and how they fit into a family’s financial health. I gave countless presentations on full disclosure lending designed to save the client from themselves and you know what I learned? People do not want to be saved. They want the home they want and they want it now.
Can we please bring some honesty back into this discussion? I watch people put more research into a $40,000 car purchase than they do a $400,000 mortgage. Sometimes that abdication of responsibility comes back to bite you. I can not decide which should be more embarrassing: going on national TV and saying “this was the largest investment of my life but I did not read the paperwork, ask questions or pay attention to the specifics of the loan” or going on national TV and saying “this was the largest investment of my life but I made a mistake and now I want someone else to pay for it”? Maybe we should just create “stupid stickers” for loan packages that read “If you cannot afford to buy this home, do not buy this home.”
Filed under: BUYERS, INVESTORS, LENDERS, REALTORS , foreclosures, responsibility
