Mi Casa Su Casa
My House Is Your House … literally.
I was just reading up on foreclosure rates [which are skyhigh these days] in the US and found out that one can actually lose their house if a homeowner is behind in mortgage payment for 90 days or so. Three months! Three months and bye bye housy. Won’t that make you flip and have a dog day afternoon. Yeah.
I know somebody back home who’s on foreclosure for years and years and years and they still have their home. And over there, unless the rules have changed, if you put up your property as collateral for a loan and you defaulted leading to a foreclosure, you have the right of first refusal, meaning you have the right to place the first bid and buy back your house before anybody else can.
Which leads me to another truth about Filipinos, we build a house only when we can afford it. For the most part we own our home and no mortgages need to be paid for FOREVER. Well, we need to pay property tax, but ask how many actually does. We do. The other 70% probably don’t.
Back to the current US housing market. Apparently, the lender industry hit is not contained in the US, across the pond there is also a credit crunch. But unlike the US, the Bank of England cut rates to 5.25% and lenders are actually following suit. Remortgage is therefore easier and there is a jump in the buy-to-let mortgages, easy enough to understand since you’ll get your money’s worth if you rent out the property.
I’m still blown away by how fast foreclosure happens here. But the big lenders are preparing a “rescue” package for beleaguered homeowners which will allow them 30 days to renegotiate their mortgages with these big lenders. Hokey. What about if your lender does not subscribe to the “plan”? Pray.
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