The Tension of Buying and Selling Foreclosed Houses is Telling on People’s Health
The tension and anxiety related to the buying and selling of foreclosed houses is telling on the health of the people. In this foreclosure mood of the economy trying to get a loan to buy a house is as difficult as getting a job. For the seller the scene is worse with no buyers in the horizon.
There are so many conditions attached to loans that it is a seesaw of luck – one moment the loan is about to be sanctioned but the next moment it is gone. The documents required are long enough to touch the poles. On requires proof of everything – life, good health and existence. One has to prove that the applicant is not a ghost or an alien from another world. This is what the foreclosure dominated economy has done to the mortgage world. The lenders are scared. The applicants are harassed. The sellers are in tears.
Things became so tough that one applicant landed up in the hospital emergency room and the papers were signed there. The final papers were inked against the background of beeping hospital gadgets. All this fuss over a house that had been begging to be sold for the last three years without any charitable buyer coming forward!
There is a sneaking doubt about political interests nosing in to make the waters murkier.
The sub-prime mortgages did the maximum amount of damage. These were played around with by predatory lenders and irresponsible borrowers. Practically anybody with a pulse was given a loan. Money flowed in and there was rampant speculation. Houses were bought and sold overnight even before the ink dried on one deed of sale. Brokers rolled in commissions. Mortgage companies bloomed and zoomed. But when the bubble burst everybody came down to reality. Foreclosures – millions of foreclosures began to rule the roost, humbling politicians and businessmen alike. The ordinary man was trampled under. It is little wonder then that the lending machinery is not moving and being extra cautious to advance loans.
The government at all levels is trying various measures to make the lending lobby start moving again. Without houses being sold there is no hope for the recession coming to an end. But if potential buyers are not given the proper treatment there is little hope of things picking up positively. The new government has started its days by focusing primarily on this problem.
