Pregnancy & Mortgage Loans

[HouseofWool]

Gawd I hope so. It is a huge pay cut, but I should be able to sock away about 10-15% this year if I start working soon. Calgon take me away! Thankfully childsupport covers most of our living expenses.

[MrsK]

You must have missed my overwhelming cynical sarcastic tone on this - there really should be an emoticon for it. I'm fired up on this with you MrsK!!

Oh, I know. I was just expanding on your comment.

Remember, I've represented many borrowers and many lenders in mortgage loans and in foreclosures. And I practiced in Miami -- one of the worst housing/mortgage/foreclosure markets in the country right now where my firm handled over 700 foreclosures every month last year. I am certain that the mortgage crisis was not caused by women electing to be SAHMs. I saw many loans closed where lenders did not do ANY due diligence, or confirm that the value of the property was adequate to secure the loan, or confirm that the borrower had ever been employed, or consider the borrower's past debt history, and the like. I agree that borrowers over-extended themselves without considering life's contingencies and that, it part, was because they were misled to believe that they could make mortgage payments that represented half of their take home pay, that they could afford second homes/investment properties, that the properties they were buying were really worth *that* much, and that the interest rates would never rise and adjustable rate loans would easily be refinanced in three years. I also agree that lenders need to be more careful but I would never advise a lender to adopt a practice based on unfounded assumptions.

[scrub-jay]

I think you summarized it quite well MrsK. The mortgage crisis was not a resut of SAHM!! I really appreciate your opinion considering your experience in the field.
-C