What We're Up Against

I've written a fair amount about the malfeasance of lenders, bankers and the financial community. But now let's take a moment to look at borrowers. This is what banks are up against these days:

A Discovery Bay man who asked not to be identified said he is "upside down" on his house by about $260,000. Instead of bemoaning the situation, he plans to capitalize on it.

"I refinanced a couple of years ago and pulled out $100,000 and put in a fabulous pool," he said. "Now I've got this fabulous pool and fabulous house, but it's not worth anything. Why shouldn't I be building equity over the next four to five years instead of playing catch-up?"

The man said he has not made a mortgage payment for five months.

"I'm playing the bank game," he said. "I'm playing chicken with them. I already got them to agree to put (the unpaid) payments on the tail end of the loan. What I'm really pushing them to do is to (adjust my mortgage) for the current market value and write off the rest. I'd love (to have it) lopped down to a $450,000 basis rather than $710,000."

If the bank won't negotiate, he'll walk away, the man said.

The man chose to remain anonymous. Wonder why?

There's plenty of greed to go around, and I'd like to reach into the computer and slap this guy. He's proof that loan underwriters have to be tough and government regulators need to insure that lending standards are stringent. That way you don't have every free-spending spoiled idiot out trying to flip a house and make a million.