Do you think this is shitty or smart?

[Cracker]

It's kinda like if your wife gets really, really fat. You divorce before the big-time-alimony kicks in and get a better model for half the price because she doesn't eat nearly as much...

This is why people make bad financial decisions . . . fucked-up logic.

You divorce her while she is thin and will possibly be snatched-up by another, so you won't be required to pay alimony.

If you wait till she's fat and dump her, it shows your true character and again, not willing to honor a 'contract'.

Tiki, I just honestly feel the lending industry didn't live up to their end of the contract. They inflated the prices on purpose to get money from people. Why should anyone uphold their end of a contract when the other party doesn't? Why is that even remotely OK when most families have a majority of their wealth tied up in their homes? Step off the horse for a second and tell why that contract should still be valid.

[BlueTiki]

What's your expertise in determining credit worthiness? I simply can't believe that one is deemed "credit worthy" (except by the CC companies that charge you 30% interest)

I have no expertise in determining credit worthiness.

Haven't spent much time in Fed Bankruptcy Court, have you?

Tougher laws? Hardly.

It was a paper tiger.

[BlueTiki]

What would you advise a client? Keep paying on a house and throwing money away when you could be building equity?

It's like the old white people that live next door to a housing project. Move already. White flight and all that. It is a Georgia tradition.

None of my clients or family is in this type of situation. In fact, I paid off my current home in seven years. It's called strategic sacrifice.

My clients are buying these distressed properties like hotcakes. Some have flipped them, in less than a month's time, for a $25 to 50 K profit. And they are still buying.

Starting to see how this might be leading up to another "artificial" valuation problem?

The difference between my clients and your friends is they have the capital to play without dumping a piece of shit bad decision on the market. They don't walk away from responsibility.

BTW - Who's paying for all of these loans that the people are walking from? The walkers are part of the problem.

But since they want, I guess they're entitled.

[BlueTiki]

Tiki, I just honestly feel the lending industry didn't live up to their end of the contract. They inflated the prices on purpose to get money from people.

The lending industry inflated home prices and not market demand?

Really?

Or are you talking derivatives and not home valuation?

[Cracker]

Tiki, I just honestly feel the lending industry didn't live up to their end of the contract. They inflated the prices on purpose to get money from people.

The lending industry inflated home prices and not market demand?

Really?

Or are you talking derivatives and not home valuation?

I'm talking fucked up appraisal/lending practices so they could charge the newly-able-to-qualify more money for a subprime loan. It fucked everybody that bought in the last 12 years. The houses on my street are about ten years old. They are valued less than the original purchase prices. Can you call all the people who live here and pay their mortgage stupid? I just can't.

This can't be the first you've heard of the concept.

[BlueTiki]

Double post.

[BlueTiki]

I'm talking fucked up appraisal/lending practices so they could charge the newly-able-to-qualify more money for a subprime loan. It fucked everybody that bought in the last 12 years. The houses on my street are about ten years old. They are valued less than the original purchase prices. Can you call all the people who live here and pay their mortgage stupid? I just can't.

This can't be the first you've heard of the concept.

Sub prime is the first clue that you probably shouldn't be purchasing a home.

Why aren't you outraged and demanding satisfaction from the lenders? People who walk from a home because "it's not fair" are just like the fucking looters in London.

So . . . you think it's fair, since I own my home, I should be forced to subsidize these financial cretins who have buyer's remorse and now want better? I paid it off! Where's my reward?

Fuck them! Too fucking bad you felt compelled to purchase and not realizing that nothing is guaranteed. Like market valuation.

What? Now lenders and builders must guarantee a valuation percentage in contracts?

Gimme a break.

[Cracker]

I'm talking fucked up appraisal/lending practices so they could charge the newly-able-to-qualify more money for a subprime loan. It fucked everybody that bought in the last 12 years. The houses on my street are about ten years old. They are valued less than the original purchase prices. Can you call all the people who live here and pay their mortgage stupid? I just can't.

This can't be the first you've heard of the concept.

Sub prime is the first clue that you probably shouldn't be purchasing a home.

Why aren't you outraged and demanding satisfaction from the lenders? People who walk from a home because "it's not fair" are just like the fucking looters in London.

So . . . you think it's fair, since I own my home, I should be forced to subsidize these financial cretins who have buyer's remorse and now want better? I paid it off! Where's my reward?

Fuck them! Too fucking bad you felt compelled to purchase and not realizing that nothing is guaranteed. Like market valuation.

What? Now lenders and builders must guarantee a valuation percentage in contracts?

Gimme a break.

Seriously? People with conventional mortgages should be ashamed they bought a house? Like I said, I was a smart bitch the first few years...

It's not even about the whining. It's about being smart in a bad economy and not letting yourself get screwed. I condone that behavior. haha

[BlueTiki]

Honestly. I'd do it, too.

Hell . . . I stage a divorce to dump a house and then remarry.

Of course it's a smart LEGAL financial decision.

It's just that we'll be paying for it . . . for a long time.

BTW - You never did watch that Frontline I suggested, did you?

Be a peach . . . give it a view.

[Cracker]

Honestly. I'd do it, too.

Hell . . . I stage a divorce to dump a house and then remarry.

Of course it's a smart LEGAL financial decision.

It's just that we'll be paying for it . . . for a long time.

BTW - You never did watch that Frontline I suggested, did you?

Be a peach . . . give it a view.

K, if you will give me a link. I have the attention span of a seagull sometimes. haha

Yeah, I think I would do it, too. At first I was angry about it, but then I understood her point of view. I REFUSE to let others lower my standard of living. I don't want to get sucked into fuckupedness. If I go down, I will have fun doing it, not be paying for someone else's sin...

[BlueTiki]

It's all in the delivery.

"I want a better house" sounds selfish.

"We are making a strategic financial decision" sounds better.

But I still think your friends are dumbfucks and whiners.

And cheap bastards, too.

[Cracker]

hahaha. Not my friends, work lady. They don't let Cracker hire and fire or work would be a lot more fun. I mostly hate the people I work with. My fav is actually a big fat black lady. She thinks I'm going to Hell, but she still talks to me. haha

[thekid65]

What's your expertise in determining credit worthiness? I simply can't believe that one is deemed "credit worthy" (except by the CC companies that charge you 30% interest)

I have no expertise in determining credit worthiness.

Haven't spent much time in Fed Bankruptcy Court, have you?

Tougher laws? Hardly.

It was a paper tiger.

So, you're talking out your ass. Based on some type of perception. Understood.

Yeah, as said, I did declare bankruptcy circa 1997, and decided to let my house go into foreclosure. It was a piece of cake. My credit was fucked for a solid 7 years. And that shit STILL came back to haunt me a bit when applying for a loan on my current property, almost 3 years ago. Got turned down by several lenders, even though my credit/payment history had been spotless since the bankruptcy/foreclosure. Granted, the lenders 3 years ago were very gun-shy...but nothing much has changed...ask any small businessman.

I challenge you to relate from personal experience that it's just as easy nowadays to declare a chapter 13 bankruptcy, as it was 10 years ago. I'm guessing by the post above, since you have no background in determining credit worthiness... that either you're a court stenographer, a lawyer, or a bankruptcy judge....do tell, and I'll shaddup challenging your statements, and have a bite of crow along with my humble pie.

[Maggot]

Looking at the big picture, does it really matter how you gain financial freedom and security in this big ole modern world?

[Lady Cop]

boy does this guy suck!



TwinCities.com
MINN.
Eleven-year-old Sebastian Cross woke up July 18 to find his dad gone.

Left behind were two notes.

In the first, his father, Steven Alexander Cross, said there were no jobs for architects in the current economy. It went on to say their Lakeville home was in foreclosure and they would be evicted the following week.

Cross instructed Sebastian in the note to take his PlayStation and go to a neighbor's house.

The second note asks the neighbors to take care of his son.

"If this paper is wet, it's because I am crying so bad," the father wrote to the boy. "You know your dad loves you more than anything."

Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Cross, 60, who was charged this month with a gross misdemeanor of child neglect, according to a Dakota County criminal complaint.

Sebastian is in the custody of Dakota County Child Protection, said County Attorney James Backstrom. He is living with a foster family but soon will be placed permanently with a relative.

"For a parent to abandon a child under these circumstances - it is both unusual and disturbing," Backstrom said.

Cross' last known whereabouts were in California, but officials have been unable to locate him.

On Thursday, his two-story home was vacant. Foreclosure signs on the front door said the house is under new ownership and told where to go to collect any items left behind. A bank bought the home Jan. 25 for $336,925, according to county records.

The incident has left the neighborhood stunned.
"Heartbreaking," said Traci Radtke, a neighbor. "It's a sad story."

Radtke, 47, lives next to John and Joanne Pahl, whose home Sebastian went to after his father left. Radtke said the boy stayed with the Pahls for about a month.

Joanne Pahl told Radtke she was about to leave for swimming lessons with her younger child when Sebastian came to her house with the letters.

"He started to cry," Radtke said.

Pahl took Sebastian into her house and called the boy's father but couldn't reach him. Pahl reportedly then called the police. She told officers the boy lived about three blocks away and rode his bike over with the letters, one unopened.

Messages left for the Pahl family were not returned Thursday.

Pahl told police that Cross didn't ask her family to take in his son. He also didn't mention plans to leave town, the complaint said.

Sebastian told police he last saw his father the night before he left. The boy didn't notice anything wrong, the charge said. Sebastian told a social worker he knew little about his family, and his father had told him his mother was dead.

But in the letter to Sebastian, his father said his mother was actually alive.

A petition for child protection names Katik Porter, who also uses the last name Splitstoesser, as Sebastian's mother. Her whereabouts are unknown.

According to Ramsey County Child Protection, her parental rights for three older children she had with another man were voluntarily terminated in 1999 or 2000, the petition stated. Sebastian said he last saw his mother when he was 2.

Attempts to reach Porter were unsuccessful.

Cross, a licensed architect, was awarded legal custody of Sebastian in 2001, the complaint said. The mother received visitation privileges, which she never used; her privileges were suspended in 2002.

Police tracked Cross' credit cards and bank accounts after he went missing but found no activity, the charge said. Authorities also analyzed his home computer, which found a possible reservation dated Aug. 1 for a three-night stay in the oceanside southern California city of Morro Bay.

A week after his disappearance, Joanne Pahl received a call from a woman who said she was an ex-girlfriend of Cross', the complaint said. Cross sent her an email from a library in Carmel, Calif., saying he left his son behind and was depressed and sleeping in the streets, the complaint said.

California police tried to locate Cross.

In the email Cross said, "'I probably only have a couple of days...No one I called would help me...I didn't know what to do. I am scared and hopelessly depressed.'"

Authorities have heard of no further contact from Cross.

"Where he is now I don't know," Backstrom said.

Homeowners dealing with a foreclosure are under stress, said Sara Swenson, assistant director of administration for the Dakota County Community Development Agency. The agency offers people free mortgage foreclosure counseling but also makes additional referrals if people need emotional support.

This year, there have been 1,067 foreclosure sales in Dakota County, Swenson said. Of that number, 149 were in Lakeville.

Besides traffic tickets and minor violations, Cross has no criminal record, Backstrom said. The recent charge against him carries up to a year in jail.

Maricella Miranda can be reached at 651-228-5421.

THE LETTER

From a letter Steven Cross, 60, of Lakeville left his 11-year-old son July 18:

"To my son Sebastian:

"If this paper is wet, it's because I am crying so bad. You know your dad loves you more than anything. This economy got (illegible) there are no jobs for architects so I have to go because the sheriff...will take the house July 27. There will be no more me....Some good news is your mother is still alive. Though I do not think it is for the best. Give these letters to (J.P.). Do not open them. I hope they get to give you a chance. There are many, many great years ahead for you. Not so for me."

Source: Dakota County criminal complaint filed Aug. 12

[Maggot]

I might just have to print that and read it on the can.

[Cracker]

Looking at the big picture, does it really matter how you gain financial freedom and security in this big ole modern world?

Yeah. It matters. I'm usually a play-by-the-rules kind of person, but the people making the rule book fucked up on this one.

At first I thought it was stealing, but the bank gets the house back. I don't even know if the people will do it, it just really made me think about whether you should allow yourself to be victimized because the gov't/lending institutions fucked up. If you paid to live where you live, then pay to live where you want to live, I don't see the huge crime. It maybe isn't ethical, but it isn't exactly illegal.

I just hate the victim mentality. If someone screws you, don't lay down and take it. Do what you gotta do to make things right for your own family as long as you don't hurt anybody else in the process. If you hurt a bank a little bit, fuck them for allowing foreclosures to happen at the rate they are happening. It was their original sin.

[Cracker]

Dude looks like Ryan O'Neal. He's fucked up for leaving his kid behind to fend for himself.

[HairOfTheDog]

Geez, talk about fucking with a kid's mind.

Dear Son,

The bad news:
I am abandoning you.

The good news:
You have many years ahead of you to deal with the shit that I am now bestowing upon you. Oh, and your dead mom is actually alive (but, I wish she were dead).

Love,
Dad

[Duchess]

Poor little boy. That's very sad.

I'd get in a lot of trouble if I placed an ad that said, I'll take your kid if you don't want him.