I was watching The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch earlier, and there was some discussion about whether the automakers should get bailed out, if there should be another stimulus package, and cutting capital gains & dividend taxes.  Larry Kudlow was a guest and had mentioned that he would rather see the individuals keep more of their money to spend rather than the government doing the spending in order to jump start the economy.  It got me thinking about what consumers would do if they had more money available, and whether they actually learned something from this financial mess the country is in, or if they would simply fall back into their bad spending habits.  This last idea got me thinking about all of the people who have gotten into trouble by overextending themselves with mortgage payments they never should have taken on in the first place.  Back to when I was looking to buy my first home, how the state-sponsored down payment assistance programs required each applicant to complete a course on home ownership, and I am now left wondering if that should be applied to all future mortgage applicants. washburn rural hgh school topeka ks does cymbalta cause rashes

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Education is a major key to success in any undertaking, and finances is no exception.  The problem is that many first-time home buyers think that they only have to pay the mortgage payments, along with the regular set of bills such as gas/electric (or both depending on the region), food, cable, and phone just like they did when they were renting.  Unfortunately things like insurance, upkeep, homeowners association dues (again, depending on the region), property taxes, special assessments, etc do not even cross the minds of many first timers, especially those who do not have a support system around to warn them of such expenditures.  The point of the homeowners course was to make aware all of the applicants in an effort to prevent them from getting in over their heads with these unplanned or unforeseen costs related to home ownership.

Granted, not all people are ignorant to these facts, but it is always better to be safe than sorry. All drivers are required to take exams, both theoretical as well as practical before being licensed, regardless of prior experience and as it turns out, some people just are not meant to be licensed to drive a car.  Owning a home is a responsibility just like driving a car; it takes certain knowledge and skill ie: being able to budget for all necessary expenses.  Equally, not all people are cut out to own a home.  Once they are made aware of the responsibilities and potential ramifications associated with failure in this regard might cause some people to realize (for the better in some cases) that home ownership is simply not for them.  And, the same way that a drivers license can get revoked for violating traffic laws requiring drivers to go through additional courses and re-certification, perhaps the same needs to be done for those who have gone through prior foreclosures as well.

After all, wouldn’t it make sense for the governments-local, state, or federal, either one(s)-to take preventative measures to ensure that all mortgage applicants are educated as to the responsibilities of owning a home rather than waiting for problems to arise before being forced to deal with these issues.  It would certainly reduce the chances for this type of housing crisis to emerge in the future, and prevent the federal government from having to bail out both the lenders who were blinded by profits in giving mortgages, as well as those who had no business even accepting a mortgage who couldn’t possibly afford them.  There can be no finger pointing here, the blame goes to both parties in this instance.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 am and is filed under general. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.