NYT: CA County Considering Radical New Policy on Underwater Mortgages: Seize Them by Eminent Domain

[MattH]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/us/a-county-considers-rescue-of-underwater-homes.html?src=recg

I'm not sure what I think of this idea!

[Watchmann]

It's bad news .... another effort to prop up the market when it needs to find its true level.  Many homeowners just can't afford their homes, they have to move out so someone else can buy the property at it's true value.  This new plan will not work.

[MattH]

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@Watchmann wrote:

It's bad news .... another effort to prop up the market when it needs to find its true level.  Many homeowners just can't afford their homes, they have to move out so someone else can buy the property at it's true value.  This new plan will not work.

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You may well be right.

[drkaje]

First things first: we have to kill, and bury 6' deep, the idea that one's home is their retirement savings. Reality changed and people can't buy more house than they can afford with the hope of growing into it, cashing out at retirement, take out equity, the market going up, or whatever other rationalizations people used in the past that semi-legitimized the practice.