Nora, I am so sorry for all this shit. It drives me crazy that in most cases to be considered for a refi, you have to stop making your payments. I don't know if you ever watch Suze Orman, or listen to Clark Howard, but they address these kinds of situations all the time. You might find some guidance in one of those places.

I am having chocolate cake for breakfast. Cheers to you, Bill Cosby!

"THAT'S nutrition!"

Jilli, knowing your fabulousness and having witnessed the snarkfest with you and StuntHusband online and in person? Slam dunk, methinks. I know I'd listen to it.

Cheers to you, Bill Cosby!

We are going to see him on stage in less than a month.

Nora,

I am with you in spirit. Also owe more on the house than it is "worth" and also want to refi and I'm not sure what my options are. Both times I have attempted to refi with another bank I couldn't because of mortgage and home value.

I don't understand why banks just won't let you refi for the amount owed if you have been paying on the mortgage for X years and still have a job. I do not get it. It cannot be worth it for either party to hate the bank and pay more per month than you should be paying.

It cannot be worth it for either party to hate the bank and pay more per month than you should be paying.

Well, considering we're both still paying more than we should be paying to both banks, I'd say it's worth it to one of the two parties (HINT: not us). I don't think they give a tiny rat's ass if we hate them. And since we're underwater on our mortgages, we won't move anywhere else. And since we've proved to be total suckers who play by the rules, they probably aren't too worried about us walking away from the mortgage.

heh. I read that 10% of the US populations changed banks in 2011. I guess that's what I mean. The banks aren't inspiring loyalty for short-term returns.

Charge me a fee so I can get a fixed rate mortgage. I'll redo the paperwork, drive by to make sure the house is still standing. That's all I want.

And since we've proved to be total suckers who play by the rules, they probably aren't too worried about us walking away from the mortgage.

Tim has said that before -- our house is underwater, due to the shitty market AND last year's county-wide appraisal by the Auditor's office (in which virtually everyone saw their property value drop like a rock). He's said, "You know, I could just walk away from this house, but I think that's wrong, so I won't, but then I see other people doing and and it makes me feel like I got conned."

"You know, I could just walk away from this house, but I think that's wrong, so I won't, but then I see other people doing and and it makes me feel like I got conned."

However, when companies walk away from their debt that will never recover (like American Airlines filing bankruptcy a while back) that is praised as a SOUND BUSINESS DECISION.

All the banks have on us to continue paying into an investment that is losing money like WHOA is projecting this kind of morality on us. It's the people playing by the rules that are getting the most screwed by this whole situation.

Tim's right. We got conned.

Tim's right. We got conned.

There was an article, I think in the Chron recently, indicating that the highest increase in percentage of people walking away from underwater mortgages were actually wealthy people. They could afford to keep paying the mortgage but it didn't make financial sense so they just took a hike.

A lot of social structures depend on having "the little people" being too hemmed in by expectations to put up a fuss. Don't rock the boat, worry about what others will think of you, etc.

I've begun to think that suicide was made a mortal sin because otherwise all the poor folk would say "Wow, heaven is great, all the horrible stuff in life is made right, I can't wait to get there--hey, why wait?" So the PTB had to quickly say, "No, no, if you jump the line you won't have earned it! You need to suffer poverty and starvation and oppression in order to be *worthy* of a decent existence."

(I may have been thinking bitter thoughts about "civilization" recently.)

Not to mention that owners of houses at $1 million or more were not immediately foreclosed on. One guy in the SF area has been in his house for more than 2 years and hasn't paid on his mortgage at all.