The "subprime mortgage mess"

For selfish reasons, I have been following this issue in the newspaper
very closely. I can understand the point of view from people who say
"why should we be penalized" by having to "bail out" people who got
into this mess through greed, but I have to wonder how many of the
foreclosures are caused by people over-extending through greed, versus
being sucked down this rathole unintentionally, or inadvertently.
Also, should reality shows such as "flip this house" bear some of the
burden of fault as well?

In the very late 1990's, I moved from a relatively low-cost area of
the country (Ohio) to a relatively high-cost part of the country
(Colorado). I did not move because of a great new job, or to make a
huge amount of money, I moved because I wanted to be near my family.
Talk about sticker shock! My old house in Ohio sold for 95K, in order
to move to something compareable in Colorado, I had to spend almost 3
times that amount! Obviously, my new job didn't pay 3 times as much,
so I had to stretch to fit into a new mortgage. I remember that when
I was driving to the closing, I was almost panicking thinking about my
new mortgage payment and the only thing that kept me from running away
was thinking "if I couldn't afford it, they never would have approve
it". That was almost 9 years ago and I have never missed, nor been
late on a payment, however since then I have had to re-finance NOT to
take a "dream vacation", or "buy a new car", but because of a divorce
I had to buy my ex-wife out, and the mortgage officer came up with a
"dream loan" that was interest-only with a second so that I didn't
have to pay PMI. Her reasoning: "don't worry, values are going to do
nothing but go up and you can get into a 30 year fixed when your
financial situation improves". Little did I know...

So my loan is still current. I still stretch to make the payments,
but my home lender is always the first person I pay every month.
Other debt may go up, but my mortgage is always current. Do I think
the government should bail me out? NO! Do I think the lender should
help? NO! Do I think the original loan officer should be held
accountable? Perhaps, however I am a big boy and I went into this
with my eyes open. I do resent being painted with the same brush that
is used to paint people who bought multiple houses just in order to
flip them, or people that took huge amounts of cash out to do
something frivolous. I am fighting to keep my head above water, I am
doing every thing I can to honor my obligations, and I am not looking
for a bail-out, so stop treating me, and people like me, as if we are
greedy SOB's.

Now I live in terror of they day in May when the rate on my loan
readjusts. It may go up, it may go down, it may stay the same. Last
year, my lender gave me the wonderful option to do a temporary
modification of my loan from an adjustable to a fixed rate for a mere
$400.00, which I took. I sure hope they do it again this year, but
who knows. Will I get credit for being current, or will I get
screwed? Who knows.

The only thing I know for sure is that I will not be one of those
people who mail the keys back to my lender and walk away. I may be
upside down, but this is my home and I will fight for it.