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Comments

• [1] Paul Sussmann from Jersey City June 24, 2009 - 02:52AM

  I have seen this mania before and it has little if any basis in reality. A house is more of a liability than an asset. The single family home especially is really a money loser for the family who occupies it because of the cost of maintenance and taxes with no source of income to offset part of those costs [i.e. a tenant] Another problem with the mania this time is that it came with a decline in real industry and manufacturing. The "new economy" that attempted to replace it is a bubble that deflates unpredictably and violently.

  
  
• [2] Ana from NJ June 24, 2009 - 10:55AM

  I am a happy renter! Back in 2004 I suffered from anxiety because everyone was getting a home, except me. I listened to my gut and declined to get a 100% financing mortgage. My daughter is going to college next year and I feel confident I will be able to help her much more now as a renter than if I had a mortgage and house to deal with. I would have ended up in forclosure for sure being a single mom with no husband or child support to help.

  
  
• [3] Ana from NJ June 24, 2009 - 10:55AM

  I am a happy renter! Back in 2004 I suffered from anxiety because everyone was getting a home, except me. I listened to my gut and declined to get a 100% financing mortgage. My daughter is going to college next year and I feel confident I will be able to help her much more now as a renter than if I had a mortgage and house to deal with. I would have ended up in forclosure for sure being a single mom with no husband or child support to help.

  
  
• [4] C.G. from Manhattan June 24, 2009 - 10:57AM

  I'm not sure I follow Ms. Katz's explanation about the Community Reinvestment Act. If pro-CRA activists had to convince Fannie Mae to insure formerly redlined mortgagors, why would there be competition between Solomon Bros. and other sub-prime lenders and Fannie Mae to finance the mortgages?

  
  
• [5] JP from The Garden State June 24, 2009 - 11:05AM

  Here we go again. I'm so tired of this. It’s everyone’s fault except the person that took out the loan and signed the dotted line. The person that was asked to lie about their income, the person that only makes $30 grand a year and is financing a half a million dollar home, the person who took out a home equity loan and is spending the money on everything but their house. These are not all the people that are caught up in sub prime loans but they are a big chunk and need to be called out for what they are. For those that where dumb enough not to hire an outside lawyer to look over their contract, buyer beware….

  
  
• [6] brian from long island June 24, 2009 - 11:27AM

  the credit agency should be the centre of the blame, if they didn't rated those risky bond AAA grade, the situation wouldn't be that bad, and none of the people from the agencies were punished.

  
  
• [7] jason from brooklyn June 24, 2009 - 11:50AM

  i'm all for rent control when it comes to people of mid-lower income, but isn't there a significant portion of ny rent controlled housing occupied by people who make good money? a former co-worker's parents (a doctor and a lawyer - and not the the public defender and the gen practitioner) lived in a beautifully spacious five bedroom rent controlled apartment in tribeca... the type of apartment you see in the movies... paying 1,100/mo. meanwhile, i'm paying 2k for a one bedroom in brooklyn. what happened to the household income cap on rent control?

  
  
• [8] SET from NYC June 24, 2009 - 11:53AM

  I wondered if Ms. Katz had an opinion on the Black Rock-Brearley School deal, currently in negotiation, to sell the back half of 85 East End Avenue to the school for classrooms, evicting the tenants (all of whom are rent stabilized), under a loophole in the rent stabilization law, and removing affordable housing from New York City's stock.

  
  
• [9] Eugenia Renskoff from Williamsburgh, Brooklyn June 24, 2009 - 01:52PM

  Dear Brian, Ms. Katz spoke about the Ohio real estate market and the fact that it was a canary for the housing crisis. Has anybody ever researched the Atlanta, GA market? I believe that it was(maybe it still is?) among one of the top foreclosure places in the country.

  Personally, being foreclosed on in Atlanta hit me very hard. I still haven't recovered from it.To me, coming from a family of home owners in Russia, Italy, Argentina and the United States, it was like being paralized from the waist down. Eugenia Renskoff