[Porsche-O-Phile]

Problem is most people will have re-fied those loans by then into something else probably equally craptastic. I suspect a lot of these so-called "homeowners" will simply flip from one schit McMortgage to another over and over and over every few years. They'll never default, but they'll never put anything into equity by paying down principal either.

In the meantime, that keeps properties occupied and keeps prices artificially high, which banks, developers, mortgage brokers and realtors all like to see. Doesn't matter if they can really ever afford it, just put warm bodies in there and extract whatever you can for as long as you can. It's rent, basically. These people are being hooked with the word "homeowner", but they'll never REALLY have any ownership stake in the properties. It's simply a rent payment to a bank.

Kinda' pisses me off really, since this crap keeps other people (like myself) out of the market because I look at a $350,000 property as a $350,000 property - not a $1,600-a-month McMortgage like most of the scholckers out there today do. What they don't realize is they're going to be paying that $1,600 (later $2,200+) per month "mortgage" for the rest of their life in return for maybe a couple of grand worth of "equity" due to appreciation in 10 years that might barely cover closing costs for their next refi.

So much for the American Dream.