I thought I’d spin this off from my recent post Housing Crisis, House of Cards on CNBC.
Let me start by saying that I DO sympathize with people who are in financial trouble now, and who had been financially responsible all along. There are plenty of hardships that can cause financial turmoil, and I only hope that I never experience it myself.
This post is directed at those who were financially reckless and got themselves in over their own heads. I have zero sympathy really. Whether they were “victims” of predatory lenders or not.
I think the whole bailout notion needs to take past into consideration. Those who were financially responsible get help. Those who weren’t too bad—go rent somewhere. How the heck anyone would judge could only be a dream of mine.
This brings me to the title of this post. When are you considered a homeowner anyway? Seems to me that a lot of the reckless “victims” of predatory lenders have no equity in their home even before housing prices fell, so essentially they just rented space they thought they owned–but never remotely did.
Personally I take pride in my home, which is a work in progress (but that’s another story). The work going in is an investment to the value for the future. It won’t be until it’s 100% paid off that I’ll feel like a tried and true home “owner”.