Had lunch with one of my sons today. He's got a secure job as a civil engineer with the state highway department, his wife is a "stay at home mom", with son 2 years old and expecting daughter next month. He has "80-12-8" financing- 80% first mortgage, 12% second mortgage, and he put 8% down when he bought the place 2 years ago. I haven't specifically talked to him about the "mortgage crisis", so just for fun, I quizzed him a bit:
"So, what's the status of your loans, as to value of your place?"
"Well, judging by the similar house down the road that just sold, I'm upside down on my first mortgage, so my second mortgage isn't worth the paper its printed on."
"Soooo- what do you plan to do?"
"Whatya mean, 'What do we plan to do?' We're just gonna keep making the payments like we always have."
Still testing, I noted, "You know, you could just walk away."
"How stupid would that be? Then we go live in a shelter? Its our home. If we walk away from this deal, how long before we can buy another- 10, 15 years? No thanks. Value will come back, probably, but even if it doesn't, its a lot more comfortable than a tent."
Not holding son up as a paragon of virtue- but he and millions of others doing the same thing show that "middle america values" are still alive and well.
It should be noted that he did not offer to pick up the lunch check. . .
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Today's Featured Article - Grain Threshing in the Early 40's - by Jerry D. Coleman. How many of you can sit there and say that you have plowed with a mule? Well I would say not many, but maybe a few. This story is about the day my Grandfather Brown (true name) decided along with my parents to purchase a new Ford tractor. It wasn't really new except to us. The year was about 1967 and my father found a good used Ford 601 tractor to use on the farm instead of "Bob", our old mule. Now my grandfather had had this mule since the mid 40's and he was getting some age on him. S
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