Then you are one of the very few. One of the ways loan officers were being deceptive that I ran into a few times, as a real estate agent, was not telling my clients what to expect 3-5 years down the road. I tanked two loans that I can remember, while sitting across the table from the lending officer with my clients, by making those lending officers tell my clients what was going to happen when their 4.75% ARMs reset. One couple I was working with had a $40,000 annual income and had come to me pre-qualled for a $350,000 house. Their monthly payment was going to be in the neighborhood of $1800 a month. I went with them to one of the meetings with this loan officer and after a few minutes I asked the loan officer to tell my clients what their monthly payments were going to be in five years. He started beating around the bush and shuffling papers. My clients looked at me with the look of, "what are you talking about?" I asked them if this loan officer had explained to them how an ARM worked and the ramifications of having one. From the looks on their faces I could tell that he had not. I could also tell the loan officer was getting quite hot under the collar. Then I just spelled it out to them, seeing as how the loan officer was reluctant to do it. I told them their $1800 a month payment would become a $4000+ a month payment and the sh** hit the fan.

The loan officer almost screamed that it wouldn't be over $4000 a month, which I knew it wouldn't, but I wanted him to get into the game. I said, "what will it be based on today's rate?" Again, lots of beating around the bush and shuffling papers. "Well, we can't know what the interest rates are going to be at that time!" "I know, but based on today's rate, what will their payment be?" Finally, after much prying I got a straight answer out of him that it would be in the neighborhood of $3600 a month, which was still way out of the realm of comfort for my clients.

Needless to say, that meeting ending not two minutes after that with my clients and I leaving and the loan officer saying he was going to report me to the board. Strangely, I never heard from him or the board.

I took my clients out to lunch, who were still quite shaken by what had happened and we sat down and I discussed with them their options. We ended up toning down the size and price of the house that they would look for and we would have them talk to a lender that I trusted quite a lot. We ended up moving them into a nice 3 bed 2.5 bath house, with a thirty-year fixed loan and they are still in that house and quite happy to be there. I had dinner with them during the last Christmas season and they couldn't stop thanking me for looking out for them, seeing all the trouble going on now in the mortgage industry.

Oh, but you are correct in laying some of the blame on the appraisers for this. I'd say about 10-15% of the blame lies at their feet. These people were giving whatever number the buyers and sellers were asking for, regardless of what the most recent market for those houses had been. I know of agents that would show up at the appraisal with lunch or a box of doughnuts for the appraiser, just to grease the wheels to get the number that they needed.

But, I stand by my original assessment that the loan officers and underwriters are the most to blame for this. If they had turned down even half the loans they approved, or at least, steered the clients to a more manageable loan package, we wouldn't be seeing the mess we are seeing now and I, for one, think the government is dead wrong in bailing out the mortgage companies and banks on this one. They brought this on themselves.

This is one big joke to me. The lending industry is 99% the cause of what is happening now and now we, the tax payers get to bail them out. This whole situation has been caused by the greedy lending officers that were just throwing money at people about 4-5 years ago, whether those people were in a good financial position or not. I personally think some of these loan officers should spend a little time in jail for the deceptions they perpetrated so they could buy their Lexus.

Gee, I would think it would be pretty easy to show that 100% of Americans want the troops brought home in six months. Hell, I want them brought home tomorrow. However, I also don't want the Iraqi people left defenseless, as they would be if the troops left.

So, in the real world, where Democrats.com don't seem to operate, I would vote to leave the troops right where they are and make sure they have the funding and equipment they need to do the job we've asked them to do. I'm sick and tired of hearing the left-leaning pu****s demanding that we cut and run every time there is a tough job that needs to be done. I can just imagine what would have happened if the Normandy invasion had been televised on CNN and reported on the internet at the speed of light as things are done today. The Democratic whiners would have demanded the troops be brought home immediately and they would have tried to bring the President up on charges. And most of Europe would be speaking German today.

As one person said, when we stand before Jesus and He asks, "where are your wounds?", if we reply that we don't have any, He will ask, "was there nothing worth fighting for?"

Something to think about. You can either sit in the grandstands and watch life go by, or you can get in the game. I prefer to be a player, not a spectator.

Well, I guess they're lucky that your opinion doesn't mean anything. It always amazes me that someone can say something like, "jeez, they need to be steralized." about a situation that has absolutely no impact on them whatsoever. Their large family is in no way affecting your life or existence. Yet, you feel it would be proper to force sterilization upon them. Just because you couldn't imagine living in a family that large doesn't mean others can't.

As for, "the parents aren't raising them. The other children are.", I highly doubt that. And there is nothing wrong with asking each and every family member to participate in the running of a family. It isn't just mom and dad's job to make sure things run smoothly around the house. The older kids have their responsibilities, too.

So, before you go around trying to force your views on someone that doesn't deserve it, get a life and let them live theirs.

113. In a 125cc shifter go-kart. Try that with your butt sitting one inch off the ground and your vision blurry from the vibrations. Of course, then comes the turns at the end of the front straight, so you end up doing a u-turn at about 65 mph.

I hate to tell you this, but you've fallen victim to an internet myth. It is not true.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/holocaust.asp