Boston Gal's Open Wallet has an interesting article about people borrowing more and more on their credit cards because they can no longer get equity out of their homes. Especially hard hit areas are California, Florida and Nevada. It saddens me that we, as a nation, have gotten to the point where we don't know how to save, only borrow. The last thing I want to do is borrow more money (although I keep having these horrible, nasty thoughts of refinancing our mortgage to fix up our outdated home!). I will instead keep socking some "security" away and not look at my house as a piggy bank. And since I mutilated all of my credit cards, the only thing I'll be able to tap into is my savings account. And that's a blessing.
Weekending
10 months ago
4 comments:
Most of the people I know that have lost their homes used them as ATM's. My parents used to have a affordable house but they cashed out their equity and won't be able to sell. I don't know what they will end up doing.
Maggie,
I'm so sorry to hear that, but I have to say, some of the blame has to go to the mortgage industry for allowing it. It's pretty scary!
Hi Sharon - I share your views on this. We pulled money out of our house several times, and finally stopped 2 years ago, consolidated it to a 10 year HEL and we have 8 years left. We've turned into savers, not spenders, but that change only really happened over the last 2 years, and sometimes I wonder how things would have been different if we'd gotten our financial act together much sooner. My sister has traded up her house 3 times, and already has pulled money out a couple of times since they moved in 2005. I worry about her every once in a while - it all looks good from the outside, but they are losing their financial flexibility by incurring more and more debt.
Keep going as you're going ... it takes longer and it's hard to wait until there is enough in savings to do what you'd like to do, but you'll be the better for it. Have a good weekend!
CT Mom,
Thanks! I have all my blogging friends to keep me on track. Seriously though, I do use this blog to keep me on track. Sometimes it's so easy to think of your house's appreciation as a piggy bank...
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