The Wall Street Journal had a recent article titled, “Default, then Rent”.   What is going on with people values?









One of the people highlighted is a School Teacher. Yes she is teaching your children. So what lesson is she teaching? She bought her big house on a “No Money Down” loan. Then she and her husband proceeded to spend thousands on upgrades.

Ms. Richey, the teacher, arrived in Palmdale in 1999. In 2004, she and her husband, Timothy, bought a two-story home on Caspian Drive, near Avenue O-8, with a no-down-payment loan. They took pride in the amenities they installed: a powder room with granite countertops, a backyard pool and play area, and the purple-and-turquoise fantasy playroom upstairs for their three daughters.

They had a $430,000 mortgage and their lender cut them a deal to offer them a payment of $3,300 per month. They felt this was too high. Maybe they should have thought about his before they bought the house? So they decided to walk away and stick the Lender with a foreclosure and the tax payers will pick up the bill.

However, before the foreclosure they found themselves a nice new house to rent.:

On one trip, they drove by the house at 3152 Club Rancho Drive. It was bigger than their house on Caspian, had a pool with three waterfalls, and boasted a cascading staircase that Ms. Richey says she could picture her daughters descending on prom night. The rent was $2,195 a month.


Showing a visitor the personal touches in her new home, including a $1,800 dining set she bought with some of her newly available income, she notes the advantages of being a renter rather than an owner.


"You take a risk for the American dream," she says. "I don't have to worry about paying property tax, homeowners' insurance, the landscaping, cleaning the pool or any repairs."

Remember this is a person that probably spends more time with you children that you do. What kinda values is she teaching?  She sticks the lender and taxpayers with hundreds of thousands in losses and goes out and buys a $1,800 dining set?

One of the other people they discuss is walking away from his $430,000 mortgage, $4,800 a month payment. His new rental payment will be $2,200 per month. The good news, he is keeping his BMW 6 series car with its $700 payment. At least I guess both stories have a happy ending.  One got a dining set the other got to keep his BMW.

While I understand that unforseen things happen, these types of people with little moral obligation is what is wrong with society today.   Oh, the school teacher, she thinking about walking away from her two rental properties as well.