*Michael Hyatt* - Homeless In The Year Zero? -

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

Homeless in the year zero?

One question I am sometimes asked is, "What if I lose my job because of Y2K and can't make my mortgage payments?"

If Y2K-related failures are widespread, there will be many people in the same boat. I do not think banks will act to re-possess homes -- at least not for a good, long while. Here's why:

1.They won't be able to do anything with it once they get it. If we're in the middle of an economic recession -- or worse -- who are they going to sell your home to? There will not be many buyers relative to the number of homes for sale.

2.The home will hold its value better if it's occupied. Vacant homes decline in value much more quickly than occupied ones. The bank will want to protect its investment. Keeping you in the home is a better alternative to kicking you out.

3.The government may protect you. In the event of a national housing crisis, Congress will most likely step forward to prevent creditors from foreclosing if the borrower's ability to pay is inhibited by Y2k-related failures outside of his control.

At worst, even if you can't make your payments, you will likely have housing for a good long while. If you are particularly worried about this, you might want to save up enough cash to make a couple of extra house payments.

---

URL: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_hyatt/19991130_xcmhy_homeless_y.shtml

---

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), November 30, 1999

Answers

Disagree with Point #3. The Y2K Act providing liability limitation adopted last summer includes a short grace period if a mortgage payment can't be *processed* for y2k reasons. This was considered a *major* concession to the consumer. I think Congress has already squarely decided against any further protection.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), November 30, 1999.

---if thousands and thousands of folks are losing their homes, I predict that eventually they'll have to use heavy armor to evict them. I don't see some county deputy or six strolling into neighborhoods for mass evictions, once a few deputies get the high speed "word" that the evictions will be resisted. I'm not in that boat, thankfully, but if I had a family, and we had a big crash, and some armed agents of the banking power elite couldn't see that this was a highly unusual situation, that thousands of people were being made homeless for no legitimate reason, and they couldn't see it was an emergency situation, and were going to put me and my kids out into the snow homeless, I would consider it an act of violent, pre meditated assault, at a minimum. And I imagine a lot of other doods would too. There comes a time when just following "orders" is just plain wrong, according to common sense and human dignity. I sincerely hope that it never comes to this in this country, I really do. And, frankly, I believe that the vast majority of civvie LEO's are decent people, and wouldn't participate in mass evictions. Think about it, they'd most likely be put into the position locally of eviciting THEMSELVES, and their friends and family. I don't think it will happen for very long and at any large scale before it stopped. Let the mortgage holders and big banks just cool their jets until the infrastructure and economy crawls back. And any politician who even remotely wants to get reelected anything again will figure this out, too.

I would advise anyone to not worry about evictions on a mass scale. A smaller scale, like what happens today, sure, it'll keep happening, I've seen dozens of families in the atlanta area put out on the curb, all weather, anytime, it's quite common now. So, anything more than a 5, I don't think so, less than a 5, be prepared to go camping if you don't have the loot to perpetuate the fractioanl banking/lending system

zog

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), November 30, 1999.


zog Just another reason they "must" get the firearms away from honest,law- abiding families....

-- matt (whome@somewhere.nz), November 30, 1999.

Brooks, I think Michael may have been thinking of widespread defaults of all types of mortgages, a high percentage of which would be US Govt backed FHA & VA loans.

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), November 30, 1999.

What if I lose my job because of Y2K and can't make mortgage payments?

If debt is repudiated, that is the end of credit. Ya all know what happens if there is no credit available to the masses......nothing moves, except the menacing millions.

-- earl (ejrobill@pcpostal.com), November 30, 1999.



I see where zog coming from and in MY heart I agree that some sense needs to be used in possible mass evictions.

However, There have been times of BAD economic downturns where people were being laid off left and right and --you could not get a job. You would apply to a place and they have had 111 applicants. You feel fortunate to even be in the top ten to get an interview. Even with such odds against everyone the bank clerks don't question, they just follow their rules and start the foreclosure proceedings. No matter what anyone has told anyone -- bankers do not care about your hard circumstances -- they ONLY want to know when they are going to get their money. They even say things like can't you borrow the payments from a relative? They only care about their bottom line.

It would take an act of congress to change them. From my view congress does not support the little guy to often so don't count on it.

If things are really bad then the banks will be gone anyway. If only part bad then there are going to be major problems with the average guy losing his home. It does generally take three months missed on a payment before they foreclose.

-- Obo (susanwater@excite.com), November 30, 1999.


I could be wrong, but my memory is that 90% of downtown Detroit was foreclosed on for nonpayment of loans during the Great Depression. This is a possible indication of the bank's likely reluctance to foreclose in 2000.

my site: www.y2ksafeminnesota.com

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), November 30, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ