Reply #24: there was no one to tell them no

[Neecy]

My sister has been a mortgage underwriter for 20 years.

Pre-Bush one had to actually qualify for a mortgage. And hey, people got turned down if their income/debt ratio wasn't sufficient to actually pay the mortgage. People knew the qualification process was rigorous and wouldn't even attempt to qualify for a home loan if they couldn't handle the payments.

Then the 'ownership society' came to pass, and suddenly you didn't even have to prove income to qualify for a home loan. A volunteer at the local animal shelter could state an income of 10,000 a month and good enough! Sign on the dotted line. My sister, who underwrote mortgages when sanity ruled, was appalled by the fast and loose free for all that was going on. She told me five years ago this crash would happen.

So, who's to blame? The people who had always dreamed of owning a home and tried to grab at the golden ring, or the companies that pretty much gave huge mortgages to anyone who asked?

Btw, my sister is now working at a phone company call center. Her industry is wrecked like she predicted it would be.