It has been a wild couple of years, hasn’t it? I am not going to say I predicted it, by any means, but it seemed a little odd to me back in 2005 when an acquaintance with a 500-ish credit score and very modest income was able to qualify for a brand new $130,000 home. She eventually sold it short sale before it got really ugly (similar units are now selling in the $60k range – maybe a bit more).
If you have 15 minutes to kill, and aren’t planning to water your crops in Farmville, or whack anybody in Mafia Wars, check these out. We really like this explanation of the entire credit crisis. Check it out — it is not exactly the “Dummies” version, like I would prefer, but it boils it down fairly well for most folks. And we like the slick computer program they used to make this (you see the same thing used in the new Ford Truck commercials naarated by Dennis Leary (I think).
**Disclaimer: In this video, the folks that default on their home are portrayed as the family that is overweight, smokes, and has more kids — for the record, that is not accurate. I am aware of plenty of thin, nonsmokers with no kids that have defaulted on their mortgages!
Part 1:
Part 2:
