1% interest rates

[SquidGirl]

Sorry - my two cents of ranting.

I am currently 27. I bought my house when I was 24 on a impulse buy (I know, I'm a little odd). I was all alone buying the house, not even a boyfriend and I still pay the mortgage all by myself regardless of 'the boy' whose lived here for 1 year. Anyway...I was utterly dumbfounded on why all of these foreclosures were occurring. Hell, if I can do it...why can't others. Some days I don't understand HOW I can do it, but I manage and am okay. Then I realized what people (perhaps 'young people') were doing. They were trying to live out the American Dream in one giant step. People are no longer buying 'starter homes.' I actually saw one of my friends go through it pretty bad. They see what they qualify and MAX it out. Sometimes they get an additional mortgage/loan to fix up their house or make it livable. I drove past my house, thought it was cute (600 square feet) and 30 days later was living in it, no joke. I have no clue what I qualified for. I just saw a simple, starter home, good enough for just little me and bought it. People see they qualify for $200,000 homes and they go for it, because they can. I could be wrong, but that is my interpretation. Also, I think some hopeful/gambling homeowners got into signing onto a 'balloon' mortgage it does not have a set interest rate so as the economy struggles and there is a lack of control in the mortgage industry the interest rate goes up, resulting in more $$ and people can not pay it in the long run. I believe I am at 5.88% set. Just my thoughts.

Also - tw - I just gotta say....you are smart!