Regardless of what you think the housing industry did to entice people, the homeowners were the ones who ultimately signed the loan docs and agreed to pay the mortgage. Now if they did that knowing they were living beyond their means by using a funny money loan well that is their problem. I nor anyone else should be responsible for their bad financial decision.

In fact, from my perspective these foreclosures are just part of the natural progression of people making bad financial decisions and having to live with the consequences.

Plus, this gives people like me a good opportunity to now pick up investment (rental) properties at a low cost. This is no different if someone had racked up a ton of credit card debit and could not affort it..just because its a mortgage its the same thing.

I was set out to do my own research on this character, after all you gave me some information that I could actually work with.

So, first of all I took a journey over to google and put in the words \’e2\’80\’9cDaniel A. Bailey\’e2\’80\’9d and \’e2\’80\’9cphotography\’e2\’80\’9d. Third down in the search was Dan Bailey Photography in Wilmington, NC\’e2\’80\’a6. If you click on this website it will lead you to Eventective and a thumbnail picture of Dan\’e2\’80\’99s website. It has a physical address of 111 Myrtle Ave. Wilmington, NC. 28403. I put this in Zillow and found out it was a residential address\’e2\’80\’a6.maybe Dan\’e2\’80\’99s house??? not quite sure just yet, will resume this thought later. Now, I went back to google the full name, \’e2\’80\’9cDaniel Bailey Photography Studio\’e2\’80\’9d Very first link on the page is the link to the site that you can see on Eventective. Went into the website because I thought I would get some more information about this photographer, unfortunately there wasn\’e2\’80\’99t a physical address like the one on Eventective, although at the bottom of the page there was a link that said \’e2\’80\’9cfeel free to contact us\’e2\’80\’9d So I clicked on this link and up pops a \’e2\’80\’9c@yahoo\’e2\’80\’9d address\’e2\’80\’a6 probably the same email address that xxxx@yahoo.com on your article.

So, to direct my focus back to the 111 Myrtle Ave on the Zillow search\’e2\’80\’a6it gave me two properties for the same address. One property was 2 bed and 1 bath with 1,368 square feet. The other property was 2 bed 2 bath with 864 square feet. The first property didn\’e2\’80\’99t exactly meet the description of the property Dan had expressed in his template email, but property 2 did sound more like Dan\’e2\’80\’99s place as he described , \’e2\’80\’9c it is a “shotgun” bungalow style of only 900 sq. ft. built in 1921. I moved into this home in May of 1992…this was the same year I got clean and sober from drugs and alcohol, and have been ever since, this home means the world to me.\’e2\’80\’9d Now it\’e2\’80\’99s time to google Wilmington, NC and figure out what county it is in. In my google find I was able to determine that Wilmington was in New Hanover County. So I ventured over to the New Hanover County Government web page and was able to do a tax search on this 111 Myrtle Ave. I really wanted to find out if I have the right home. What a great county website it was very user friendly and gave residential description, chain of title, and property legal description. This seems to match perfect. The home was built in 1921,936 square feet and it was bought on March 26th 1993. So, the year doesn\’e2\’80\’99t match the original move in date, but as we find further in our search our boy Dan doesn\’e2\’80\’99t quite remember things always the way they were. On October 6th of 2006 a refinance was concluded. Looks like it took Dan\’e2\’80\’99s partner Donna off the title and home. There was also a refinance done in Feb of 1995 and March of 1997 as well. He bought the home for $44,000 and says he has some equity in the home around 30k and county records puts the home at $145,000 which it might be a little higher, since most county records are off by 10%, thus it would be around $160,000 and that would put Dan at a loan probably between $130,000-$145,000. Since most people tend to think they have 5%-10% less equity then they really do. What that does suggest is that Danny Boy pulled somewhere between $80,000 to $100,000 worth of equity between 1993 and 2006. That would equate out to roughly an average of $7,600 a year. I\’e2\’80\’99m sure some was used for upgrades as Dan mentioned he had sweat equity into the home, maybe some trips, possibly starting his photography business, maybe he had to split some equity with Donna when she came off the property\’e2\’80\’a6whatever it was it was pissed away here and there\’e2\’80\’a6 OR just maybe some was used to pay off the judgments, federal tax liens, and collections Danny probably had on his credit to put him in a Sub prime B/C classification in the first place. Also, judging from the fact that he refinanced the home on 10/06/2006 and he got a sub prime ARM\’e2\’80\’a6the only B/C ARM\’e2\’80\’99s I\’e2\’80\’99ve heard that were offered were 2/28 and 3/27\’e2\’80\’99s\’e2\’80\’a6 He wouldn\’e2\’80\’99t be on any type of adjustment yet, because we haven\’e2\’80\’99t even reached 2 years since November of 2006. Therefore his loan payments probably have not increased because of rate but maybe his taxes went up\’e2\’80\’a6 OR more then likely he heard about Countrywide\’e2\’80\’99s issues, took a look at his pathetic life and saw another opportunity to blame everyone but himself for his troubles. He found your blog and your smiling face standing in-front of the American flag\’e2\’80\’a6such modest intentions. He fell for your patriotic propaganda and F.U.D. techniques (Fear Uncertainly and Doubt). Honestly, if your intentions are to help people, you should truly go into the American school system and preach about money management skills, savings plans, and the true value of credit.
The root of the problem isn\’e2\’80\’99t Countrywide, Wells Fargo, WaMu, etc\’e2\’80\’a6 It\’e2\’80\’99s the track record of late fees, unpaid bills, and poor money management abilities that has put \’e2\’80\’9cus\’e2\’80\’9d in credit crisis. Countrywide\’e2\’80\’99s biggest fault is they should have never created mortgage vehicles for the Dan\’e2\’80\’99s of the world, because the Dan\’e2\’80\’99s of the world very rarely change their poor habits for the long term. Eventually they fall off the wagon. They need more the \’e2\’80\’9cMortgage Modifications\’e2\’80\’9d
Moe, do you honestly believe that Dan sent an email to Angelo Mozilo and like Santa Claus he was sitting around for the Christmas List! Those bastards settled up with Angelo with a rather hansom but \’e2\’80\’9cdisgusting\’e2\’80\’9d compensation\’e2\’80\’a6 he\’e2\’80\’99s probably nowhere near a computer, especially to answer direct customer emails. We are talking about the Countrywide with 9 million customers right? Whoever did send that email probably meant \’e2\’80\’9cdisgusting\’e2\’80\’9d templates you create for your flock of sheep. It\’e2\’80\’99s not like we are talking about Ma and Pa Mortgage\’e2\’80\’a6 you just stroll in the door and say, \’e2\’80\’9cHey is Ma or Pa in?\’e2\’80\’9d Oh yeah they are in the back let me go get them. Mozilo more then likely has hundreds of emails a day that are answered by his elves\’e2\’80\’a6 not Santa himself. Do No Be Na\’c3\’afve! Stop preying on the sheep; you are nothing more then a \’e2\’80\’9cwolf in the wool.\’e2\’80\’9d
Word of advise if you are going to make Dan your poster child, maybe you should do some research on him and find out what his life pattern has been, what his mortgage parameters are, who actually did his loan\’e2\’80\’a6. WOW think of that\’e2\’80\’a6 you know Countrywide has roughly 9 million customers form what I\’e2\’80\’99ve read, which would be about 10%-15% of all the home owners in the US. That means 9 out of 10 people got their loan with another company or through\’e2\’80\’a6.do I dare say it\’e2\’80\’a6.BROKER or Correspondant Lender. Chances are Dan Bailey\’e2\’80\’99s loan didn\’e2\’80\’99t start with Countrywide it might have been bought in the secondary or wholesale. Maybe Dan should go back to his papers and see what he had, what he was charged and consult the mortgage professional.

Sure there are true tragic stories in this credit crisis, preditors that exist, but they are not as much as people might assume. Mostly this is a MOB mentality with people jumping on the train of sorrow and melancholy finding whomever they can to blame their problems. In real life NOT everyone get\’e2\’80\’99s a trophy or a blue ribbon\’e2\’80\’a6face it! When the housing boom started it brought a lot of mortgage programs driven by foreign investments/deposits on Wall Street that never existed prior. It created opportunity for some that would not qualify to finally own\’e2\’80\’a6very very few of that \’e2\’80\’9csome\’e2\’80\’9d took advantage of this opportunity through creating better credit decisions, money decisions, and educating themselves so they could get out of their unfavorable position. Instead the money was green, the house was big, the payment could be bigger if the right steps were not exercised\’e2\’80\’a6 but man that house was great\’e2\’80\’a6. and the equity was supplemented for more then what could and should be chewed.

Truth is Truth

It leaves those of us who borrowed within our means and struggled to pay off a, for example, $50,000 house paying taxes on a value of $150,000 to $200,000. The housing bubble created a wave of constantly rising home values and the accompanying ever-increasing taxes.

It leaves those of us who borrowed within our means staring at the possibility of having to pay higher taxes to fund a ‘bail-out’ for the irresponsible dolts who, for many years, swelled our weekend and holiday population then left their garbage behind for us to clean up.

Angry? You bet I’m angry. If someone borrowed out of their means, they should pay the price for their irresponsibility. And the American Taxpayer should revolt against the ever-rising costs of cushioning everyone against every possible pitfall in life’s bumpy highway.