Homeless family

[ivan salis]

remember not making a choice -- is a choice --and making a dumb choice is still a choice ---sometimes being dumb or acting dumb leads to pain-- pain teaches folks not to be dumb "next time"

 

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[ECS]

...and when the good road closes, the bad road opens- Lenny Bruce

 

[Peyton Manning]

I only buy beer for Patriots fans! GO PATS!

you will be a sad man when Freeney gets to brady

 

[RGINN]

You have to remember, they had a choice to get up off their *ss or not.

You do have a point there.

 

[Clay Slayer]

I had a job when I was younger(early 90's) where I spent many, many hours on the road traveling between various cities along the gulf coast( both day and night). I worked telecom for the oil and gas industry and 70 hours was a "slow" week. I would drive all night, show up at the heliport and fly offshore to do what had to be done. Flew back in...and off to the next job.

Anyway, one evening about 10pm between jobs at Port Fouchon and Venice, LA I stopped at a rest area to relieve myself. A quietly distraught 30 something year old guy walks up to me and says how 20 bucks could help him get his truck repaired and his family back on the road...which is broken down just out of sight of course. Well...I was young and full of good-intent. I gave him a $20 and watched him jump in a van and speed off with a few other people(obviously not his "family") to their next "sucker".

Sorry, but it changed my opinion on that type of person, and now I am wary of them all.

 

[Keppy]

I had a job when I was younger(early 90's) where I spent many, many hours on the road traveling between various cities along the gulf coast( both day and night). I worked telecom for the oil and gas industry and 70 hours was a "slow" week. I would drive all night, show up at the heliport and fly offshore to do what had to be done. Flew back in...and off to the next job.

Anyway, one evening about 10pm between jobs at Port Fouchon and Venice, LA I stopped at a rest area to relieve myself. A quietly distraught 30 something year old guy walks up to me and says how 20 bucks could help him get his truck repaired and his family back on the road...which is broken down just out of sight of course. Well...I was young and full of good-intent. I gave him a $20 and watched him jump in a van and speed off with a few other people to their next "sucker".

Since then...screw them all. Simple as that.

Yes i know that Fla. has a lot of them in there rest areas that use that scam. I lived in Fla. for a few years to many people for me so i moved back up north here never went back not even for a visit .

 

[aa battery]

I almost died of a heart attack came back with surgery , been to the bottom more than the top, not religious but have an idea. My wife is the most giving woman i know cause she grew up with nothing. Our world is so @#$! up its hard to not think of yourself and have an answer for everything. Iam sorry that i posted this thread cause in some ways it caused problems but thanks to those who saw that we all need help in some ways.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

FreeBirdTim:

That lady should take a long look at a reverse mortgage to pay off what she owes. As long as she can show she has the income for taxes, insurance and upkeep she will probably qualify. Over time she'll eat into her equity but she will never lose her home because she owes more than it is worth.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo, CM

 

[Old Bookaroo]

KirkS: The post was about equity stripping by greedy lenders. You post was about people buying homes.

Applies and kumquats. For the record, however, many predatory home equity loans were sold - not bought. You can blame the victims. I'll blame the swindlers.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo, CM

 

[Honest Samuel]

When I used to attend church, people would come in looking for money and gas and they never received money. I am sure that most were liars.

 

[kcm]

Well I am going to disagree on some of this. I do believe in helping people. God says help the needy. I don't need to know what he does with it. That's between him and the good Lord, i'm just doing my part.

Second, I do believe that where we are at this point is because of a choice we have made in the past. But i do believe that everyone on this forum has made wrong choices and has came out okay, some not okay, Thing is everyone makes mistakes some maybe worse than others, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve another chance. I guarantee if a man can up to me stinky and using a rope for a belt, i would find some kind of job for him because that just means he is at least trying, not out there with a sign that say feed me please. I'm not saying that all those people out there with signs are lazy either. God says not to judge one another, tells us to get the log out of our eye before trying to get the speck out of theirs. Christians or not, that is good advice. We can even begin to know why those people are there, Its not for me to judge, if I feel convicted to do so I will, if not I wont, My wife on the other hand does most of the time, especially if a child is involved. Do i tell her no you cant do that, no way, that is her convection, not mine. I seen when we didn't hardly have anything to eat, and just leave a dollar store and make me pull over and give them the bag of food we just bought for us. Of course God took care of us and we came out just fine. This is why I love my wife the way I do, she loves with her heart, not her head.
And as for your son,He ended up with 4 scholarships and numerous grants, and now gets to go to a private university at no cost. That's an awesome thing, But not everyone has that chance, not everyone is smart enough to do that well in school to do that. I had a very hard time in school, couldn't pass a test to save my life. Not everyone was made to be the same, think the same. If that was the case, who would work in all the other fields in the world, fast foods, mail, trash pick up, mow your lawn, WORK FOR YOU, Guess what I am saying we shouldn't be judging others, we should do what is in our hearts, and not judge those who do and don't do, That is why God gave us free will, and will be judged on how we us it. (THIS IS MHO).....

Have only made it this far in the thread, but I'm actually part of KirkS and Earl's answers. I was raised to help people in need, but not by giving cash. Instead, find chores for them to do; find them a job; find them ways that they can work in helping other people. In short, don't give money - give opportunity. From there, it's up to them where they take it. If they're lazy and only looking for a handout, then they end up with nothing from me but a chance. If they take the chance, they end up with pride, my respect, and anything else I can do to help!

With some people, the best way to help is not to.

 

[kcm]

Yes, they trusted some scumball bank who gave them a high rate mortgage they couldn't possibly afford to pay back. Or they gave them a home improvement loan that they couldn't even begin to repay. It's called predatory lending and it happened a lot in the mid to late 2000's.

I know a elderly woman in her mid-70's who's in danger of losing her home. Why? Because a lowlife banker gave her a 50k home improvement line of credit a few years back. She used it to fix her roof, buy a new furnace and so on. But now she owes them 75k because she couldn't keep up on the payments. She has an income of 18k a year and they gave her a 50k loan! That's a perfect example of predatory lending. They know they'll get a 250k home by loaning her 50k, so they have nothing to lose. Not right...

Sorry, but I don't agree with that one bit.

From 1997 - 2008 I was a home inspector, and watched that real estate bubble and burst happen.

The homebuyers during the bubble/burst weren't convinced or screwed by the banks/realtors or anyone else to buy that house. Those homebuyers were GREEDY. They thought they could buy something they couldn't afford because they thought they could get rich quick in doing so. The mortgage rates may have been high compared to other rates at different historical times, but it was each and every one of those buyer's choices to accept that mortgage or not. They bought something they couldn't afford because they wanted to be 'in' on this fantastic upward market that everyone was getting rich on. Then when the bottom fell out, all those how CHOSE to accept that mortgage, and buy that house that they COULDN'T afford, blamed everyone but themselves. So what happened? Some of those people lost their homes to foreclosure (rightfully so in my opinion), some of those people got bailed out of THEIR BAD DECISION with MY TAX DOLLARS, and some (the smartest of the bunch), stayed in their home until the market settled (and now they're doing ok). I seriously could go on for hours about what I saw, and the decisions I witnessed being made during that time. But one thing is for sure, each and every one of those buyer's weren't forced, and made those purchases (and the accompanying responsibilities) of their own free will.

As for your elderly friend. Who told her to spend all of that line of credit? Did the bank force her to use it? No, she chose to, albeit out of necessity, but she also could have decided that with a roof needing to be replaced, and a furnace on the fritz, maybe it's time to sell. But in either case, a new roof and a furnace on an average sized home in 99% of the country wouldn't cost $50K. So, it sounds more to me like she needed a roof and a furnace, but realized she could also buy things that weren't necessary because of all this new found money. When she signed those papers she knew exactly how much the line was for, she knew exactly how much she made, and it was also made very clearly to her that defaulting on this loan can result in the loss of the collateral. Again, she had every opportunity to find a different means to address her needs, but she chose to take out a $50K line of credit so she could do $15k worth of repairs to her house.

I know this makes me sounds like a right wing whacko, or some unforgiving SOB, but in reality, it frustrates me to see people making these horrible short-sighted decisions that will not be beneficial in the end. People don't think about a lot of things when a carrot is held out in front of them, and that's when things can go wrong. But in each case, it was their choice to put themselves where they ended up.

Wanna hear something funny? YOU'RE BOTH RIGHT!! Think about it - how many people have bought a used car, only for it to be a lemon? How many people have been lured into buying a new car that isn't a good fit for their needs? How many people have been encouraged to take out a loan for more than they "should"? How many people have trusted someone, only to find out it was a lie?

Wake up people!! It's not Right vs. Left. It's not Right vs. Wrong. It's not Good vs. Evil. ...It is simply life!!

 

[KEYSHUNTER]

location...trying to find a missing diver,no cash for you cause you choose to live in mangroves....they think there pirates...but no

 

[KirkS]

KirkS: The post was about equity stripping by greedy lenders. You post was about people buying homes.

Applies and kumquats. For the record, however, many predatory home equity loans were sold - not bought. You can blame the victims. I'll blame the swindlers.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo, CM

I understand your point, but, no matter what the lenders/realtors/etc did, each and every one of those people chose to buy. Yes, they were fed bad information like the rest of us, but not all of us bought into the hype. If those buyers were honest with themselves, they would have known that they truly couldn't afford to buy that overpriced home, but they did it to feel good about themselves (Look Ma, look how great I am with this expensive house!).

Maybe in regards to the housing bubble I'm jealous? I could've lived in a McMansion for a few years, then not paid my mortgage, lived in it for a couple more years, then have John Q Public bail me out of (what would have been) my bad choices.

I know that 85%+ of the buyers I did inspections for (about 11,000), were average hard-working folks that thought it was their chance to get rich quick. They thought they were smart enough to beat the system, and well, we know how that worked out.

I dunno... having been in the middle of it, the whole time period left a sour taste in my mouth.

 

[KirkS]

I almost died of a heart attack came back with surgery , been to the bottom more than the top, not religious but have an idea. My wife is the most giving woman i know cause she grew up with nothing. Our world is so @#$! up its hard to not think of yourself and have an answer for everything. Iam sorry that i posted this thread cause in some ways it caused problems but thanks to those who saw that we all need help in some ways.

No need to apologize for opening up a good debate. I (and some others) may not have done what you did, but you had every right to do what you did, and if it made/makes you feel good, then it was worth it. I do believe that in your heart of hearts you felt this family truly needed it and they probably did. Kudos for going with your heart!

Every instance is different, and each warrants it's own evaluation before making a determination. There is a guy that I see every so often on a major roadway here. He has no legs below the knee. He has been denied disability. WTF? I give to him when I see him.

When I was in my early 20's, I worked in Brooklyn, NY. There were all these crazy window washing guys that would spray some cleaner on your windshield, then clean your windshield for some spare change. I hated these guys. Most were drunk or high as a kite. But there was this one guy who was decent, and we started talking. Long story short, he willingly told me that he used the money for booze, and a Big Mac. He also told me he gets about $150 per night. this was in the early 80's, and I was making about $500 per week working 40 hours, before taxes. That's when I realized there is no justification for me to give up my hard earned money to feed this guy's (or others) alcohol/drug addiction, when they're 'taking home' more then I was (doesn't matter that their chosen home was under a bridge or on a park bench). But that ended Mr Nice Guy for me. Obviously, your life experiences have been different, and that's what makes us all great!

 

[Honest Samuel]

It is hard to deterred if people outside big stores if they really need money. Why cannot these homeless people move into homeless shelters?

 

[Chadeaux]

It is hard to deterred if people outside big stores if they really need money. Why cannot these homeless people move into homeless shelters?

If you've not been in one, try it one weekend.

Not as nice as it sounds.

And if it's a family, they likely want to stay together. Back in 1980, that never happened. Father in one shelter, mom in another and kids in possibly a third (rare, but does happen).

I doubt it's gotten much better.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

As for your elderly friend. Who told her to spend all of that line of credit? Did the bank force her to use it? No, she chose to, albeit out of necessity, but she also could have decided that with a roof needing to be replaced, and a furnace on the fritz, maybe it's time to sell. But in either case, a new roof and a furnace on an average sized home in 99% of the country wouldn't cost $50K. So, it sounds more to me like she needed a roof and a furnace, but realized she could also buy things that weren't necessary because of all this new found money. When she signed those papers she knew exactly how much the line was for, she knew exactly how much she made, and it was also made very clearly to her that defaulting on this loan can result in the loss of the collateral. Again, she had every opportunity to find a different means to address her needs, but she chose to take out a $50K line of credit so she could do $15k worth of repairs to her house.

She was 70 years old when she took out the loan. Do you really think a 70 year old woman knew what she was getting into? Get real. Her case is a perfect example of predatory lending. No one on earth could pay back 50k with an income of 18k a year.

It wasn't "greed", but necessity that forced her to do it. The leaking roof was destroying the house. And you can't live here in New England without a furnace. She also had a water heater installed and upgraded her 60 amp knob & tube wiring from 1935 to 200 amp service. She did that because they wouldn't insulate the attic with the old wiring exposed. And of course, the lowlife contractors she hired charged her ridiculous prices for the work. She didn't tell me all the costs, but she said they charged her $2,000 to install the water heater! Talk about a rip off. Banks and contractors are the worst of the worst when it comes to ripping off the elderly.

So the next time you feel the need to come here and accuse some old lady of being greedy, get your facts straight. I know a lot of people did that, but that wasn't the case with her. She didn't add on a 2 car garage or an in ground pool. She did what she had to do to keep the home she's lived in for 50 years livable. End of discussion.

 

[tamrock]

Good man FBT. After many years on the road I've had my run ins with folks in a predicament. The couple who locked their keys in the car, The drunk Indian laying in the highway out in the middle of nowhere. There was this one time I was in down town New Orleans and walking on a crowded sidewalk to a convention and this hard luck looking old bum hit me up for a couple bucks, so he could get him some Popeyes chicken he said. Thinking I had some ones in my wallet I got it out and found I only had a hundred and two fifties. I said what the heck and gave him a fifty. The man looked shocked and just gazed at the bill for moment saying nothing. After that I got on my way and heard someone yell out, Hay! really loud. I turned around and saw the old bum holding the fifty up over the crowd of people and he yelled back to me "I'll see you again in Heaven".. Well that certainly changed my thoughts of indecision of giving away fifty bucks to a stranger on the street.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

KirkS: Unfortunately, many people who lost their homes had a great deal of equity. They were pushed into high interest refinances or 2nds.

I will agree with you on your final point - a very sour feeling all around!

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo, CM