Hello!!!! If someone can't get the loan in their name, that means their credit is really really bad. Most people use to be able to get a home, but not be able to get a washer for it, cause a home can be taken back. This mom was a total fool to do this for her son, and she has no one to blame but herself. I am just tired of all of us taxpayers having to pay the price for people that bite off more than they can chew. I am sure that this was not the first time she got burned by her son, I bet her borrowed money and never paid it back, there is a saying, "burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice, shame on me". Parents need to stop enabling their children and may I add, also churches, young families need to learn how to take care of themselves.

All you renters | 12:00 p.m. -

"Boy, if ever you do think it wise to buy a house now is the time!"

The secret is simply this: Go into a neighborhood that you think you'd like and find a house there that you think you'd like. Offer a ridiculously low price for the house. You will likely get turned down. Then find another house and do the same. This will scare the bejeebers out of the sellers and soon the word will get around and prices will drop even more. Keep doing this (offering ridiculously low prices) and soon you'll find a motivated seller... someone that has to get out now and will jump at anything. And you can pick it up for a song.

It's a buyers market so take advantage of it. Prices are set by what people are willing to pay. No one need know what you're truly willing to pay... so you play the bluff game. This works best in a depressed market. When housing starts to climb again (and it will) all bets are off.

Adjustable means adjustable. When you take out a home equity loan or do a reverse mortgage and want to remain in the home you actually need to pay it back. They are loans. This isn't complicated. The sky isn't falling. Yes, it's tough to be in the 3% of folks who are in forclosure but 3% is hardly reminiscent of the Great Depression. Many within the 3% took a gamble and used their homes as ATM machines. Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. I'm glad there are organizations to help people look over their options.

People lived for years without cable tv, cell phones, and two cars per household. When my husband and I bought a house we considered the mortgage based on his income even though I was working. My income was used to build up nest egg and make more costly improvements to the home before we started our family. We didn't need to take on any debt to make those improvements. Your home improves slowly over a long period of time. You can't get rich quick.

You do not have equity and won't for many years because of the lending practices that occured and provided artificial appreciation. You have bought at the peak. The itemized deductions are fools gold. Preservation of capital is more important at this time.

People(Realtors, Lenders) are telling me it's a buyers market and the best time to buy. So I've put in offers for homes for about 20k less than list price, and the sellers come back laughing and counter back only 2-5k off of list price. So is it really a buyers market? I think it's neither right now. The market would not be slow if sellers would humble themselves and realize there home is not really worth what their Realtor promised them it was. Accept the offers. I am a renter, and would be a home owner, if any sellers would accept my offers.

In most cases it's greed on all sides. The sellers, the lenders and the buyers. Everyone sees $$$ signs and are blinded to reality.....life throws curves to all of us, accidents, serious health issues, unemployment etc. and those things must be factored in when making big purchases....we have to have enough money in reserve to cover these unavoidable, for most of us, events....and if they never happen we're still ahead of the game. When those of us who "play by the rules" hear of people who just jump blindly into dangerous waters it stings because we are then the people who have to pay for their carelessness with our tax money....nevertheless we should have sympathy for those who legitimately fall upon hard times, who followed economic admonitions to have reserve cash, no credit card debt etc. and still suffer serious reversal of fortune beyond anything preparation could cover. I suspect the only way we could really avoid economic declines would be to pay cash for everything, with a house that's hard for most of us to do.

That dog is probably eating her out of house and home. I also want to know why someone is not going after the head guy of Franklin Squires. He has million dollar homes, cabins, off shore bank accounts, expensive cars, while he left young couples, older couples, widows and the poor with double mortgages on their homes that they handed over to him. Doesn't he have any conscience at all?

What about those who bought in a market that was shooting upward? Owning a home offered us a $1,000 a month tax break. Now that the downward spiral is equally severe, buying at all could have been as much to blame as any of the other concerns. We had to move for job reasons and now we're left with rent and a house payment because we can't afford to sell. We live in California and people here are selling their homes at $40,000-$80,000 less because they bought years ago and can afford the drop. This tendency is impacting prices as well. Not sure how much longer we can hang on. Doesn't look like the market will make up the $100,000 drop (in 2 years) on our home any time soon. Wish people were more considerate of how devastating the domino effect has been on so many folks well-intentioned or otherwise.

Oh my gosh! I just realized I'm not even middle class after reading this article. Oh woe is me. (But I do own a home)

I made just under 200k last year. I've made over 100k the last 5 years. My wife doesn't work. I can't see how people that make as much as me dare to buy a house over 200k. I have no other debt but about $44k on my house left. I bought a house with no garage, no sprinkling system, and the cement isn't pretty. But it's all brick, and we love it. It's in a culdesac near the schools in a less desirable Utah city. It will take us a while to get it to where we want it (or we'll just continue to suffer) while we save for a bigger house. By the end of the year I should be 100% Debt free. I credit my church and paying tithing for being where I am. I wouldn't be where I am in my early 30's without the lessons I learned in church and from my parents. Just 10 years ago I didn't have a clue about anything. 10 years ago I never dreamed I'd be able to buy a house like this one and take care of a wife and 3 little kids. It really is a miracle!

All I can say is that everyone should care about foreclosure prevention and helping to keep people in their homes. If a bank forecloses, this cost is then spread to the rest of us. Foreclosures drive down all of your property values and invites crime to your neighborhood. No one wants this; not you, not the homeowner and certainly not the banks.

Furthermore, losing a home, is much like losing a job; it can happen to anyone. Life happens - people get sick, give birth, lose their second income, get divorced, and die! People are not perfect! So end your judgemental nonsense - you never know when you will be knocking at the doors of these organizations looking for the very same help.