Communist Medical System has the highest satisfaction rating

[redrumloa]

Nasty. You could find yourself in a vicious circle in such circumstances.

True, I am completely stuck in my house for the next ~10 years or so until the real estate market recovers. I knew when we bought this house in 08 that the market would keep going down, but renting was killing us so we dove in and bought. Boy did the market ever keep going down! In 2008 Zillow showed my house worth ~240k, today it says it is worth 118K. I paid 179K for it in 2008, with the seller thoroughly distraught I how low it was selling for. Realistically, the house is probably worth $135K today. By way of comparison, at the height of the bubble in 2005 this house would have sold for >$350K.

The percentage of people under water in their mortgage in Florida is very high, I have heard numbers higher than 3/4. The situation is very grim. I have little compassion for greedy people who used their house as an ATM during the bubble, but the crash has gone far beyond that. It is a problem when employment is tied to credit ratings. I can understand to an extent when your work is in a government occupied facility, but even private employers look at credit score these days. There is something unsavory about that and it creates a vicious circle. Fall on hard times, credit score gets dinged and you may not get hired, further hurting your credit score.

 

[Robert]

Nasty. You could find yourself in a vicious circle in such circumstances.

True, I am completely stuck in my house for the next ~10 years or so until the real estate market recovers.

Well, that's only a bad thing if you want to move, I suppose.

I knew when we bought this house in 08 that the market would keep going down, but renting was killing us so we dove in and bought. Boy did the market ever keep going down! In 2008 Zillow showed my house worth ~240k, today it says it is worth 118K. I paid 179K for it in 2008, with the seller thoroughly distraught I how low it was selling for. Realistically, the house is probably worth $135K today. By way of comparison, at the height of the bubble in 2005 this house would have sold for >$350K.

I'm quite lucky in that I've been in my house for almost 11 years and am quite happy here. It's probably worth a good bit more than it was when I moved in but that's only a concern if and when I decide to move. Fortunately I used a lump of my redundancy money to pay off a slice of the mortgage, meaning I can afford to work for less. I'm currently earning just less than half of what I was earning in March and whilst I am of course feeling the difference, I simply wouldn't have been able to do so previously. It would have meant more going out than was coming in. (A situation I may willingly enter if I decide to go back to college next month....)

The percentage of people under water in their mortgage in Florida is very high, I have heard numbers higher than 3/4. The situation is very grim. I have little compassion for greedy people who used their house as an ATM during the bubble, but the crash has gone far beyond that.

I have a couple of friends in similar circumstances, i.e. their houses and flats are worth less than they when they moved in a few years ago. They can't move either.

It is a problem when employment is tied to credit ratings. I can understand to an extent when your work is in a government occupied facility, but even private employers look at credit score these days. There is something unsavory about that and it creates a vicious circle. Fall on hard times, credit score gets dinged and you may not get hired, further hurting your credit score.

Agreed, there is something unsavoury about that. Seems like an unnecessary intrusion into your private affairs. It also seems a bit unfair.

 

[ilwrath]

Yeah, so I hear... My credit score is pretty good these days. I have to always keep this in mind. I can't even consider something like a strategic default on my mortgage, because the hit to my credit score could leave me unemployed.

Technically, they can't ask you to leave because of the credit score, but magically, you'd probably get declined for an extension of your clearance after your next SSBI review. So while you can't be asked to leave, you wouldn't be allowed to enter, so yeah, effectively, credit hit = unemployment. It's definitely worth while to make sure all your records are in order and the banks haven't made any mistakes...

The percentage of people under water in their mortgage in Florida is very high, I have heard numbers higher than 3/4. The situation is very grim. I have little compassion for greedy people who used their house as an ATM during the bubble, but the crash has gone far beyond that.

Yeah, it's high everywhere. I bought my house responsibly at a price I could afford and a nice fixed 30 year loan and put enough of a down-payment on it to (in my mind) never be close to being underwater... And yet, after about 7 years in this house, and after numerous upgrades I've made, I don't think I have enough equity to make a down-payment on a new place, so effectively I'm fairly locked in, too. :/

It is a problem when employment is tied to credit ratings. I can understand to an extent when your work is in a government occupied facility, but even private employers look at credit score these days. There is something unsavory about that and it creates a vicious circle. Fall on hard times, credit score gets dinged and you may not get hired, further hurting your credit score.

Well, I don't know about the "these days" part. I think it has always been this way, ya know? How do you build credit score? Well, you need credit. How do you get credit? Well, you either need a credit score, a wad of cash, or a strong co-signer. Ah... So if you've got a responsible middle-class family member who will co-sign you, you're all set. If your family lives in the trailer park or projects.... You've got yet another tough obstacle to clear before you can get out.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

It's definitely worth while to make sure all your records are in order and the banks haven't made any mistakes...

Yet if they DO make a mistake and you lose your job and consequently your house and perhaps a marriage ... good luck getting damages out of them. It's hard to fight a court battle when you're having trouble getting enough to eat.

Well, I don't know about the "these days" part. I think it has always been this way, ya know? How do you build credit score? Well, you need credit. How do you get credit? Well, you either need a credit score, a wad of cash, or a strong co-signer. Ah... So if you've got a responsible middle-class family member who will co-sign you, you're all set. If your family lives in the trailer park or projects.... You've got yet another tough obstacle to clear before you can get out.

And by tying employment to credit score it means that to get a job you already have to have the handicap of owing. They don't want to be paying money to you when they could be paying money through an employee to the bank.

Besides, someone with a mortgage is more likely to need to keep the job. It's tougher to get someone with nothing to lose to work unpaid overtime.