SOCIETY UNITED STATES
30 percent higher in price, and I kept telling her no. She kept One of these homes belonged to Linda, a 44-year-old
R. Galbraith/Reuters
saying that the interest rate was locked in for three years, mother from Tampa, Florida, who asked that her last name
but I wanted a classic 30-year [fixed-rate] mortgage. Most not be used. Typical of those who got caught up in the hous-
House of cards
people who got into this [adjustable-rate mortgage] believed ing boom, she and her family put no money down and
that they would be able to pay their bills on time and that bought a larger, more expensive house than they could af-
real estate would continue to appreciate. Many also believed ford. When the bank called them earlier this year to tell
M
they would be able to refinance and get into a conven-
tional mortgage.
“Two problems: real estate didn’t continue to appreci-
ate, and people didn’t keep paying their bills. The other side
Just walk away
of the coin is that no one talks about the role of investors Dan Pinto of Youwalkaway.com describes the options of home
in this situation. They did it to earn money, of course, but owners facing foreclosure.
did they ever stop to think, ‘Can this person make house
payments when the rates go up?’ This was a disaster wait-
ing to happen,” Pinto says.
Some homes ceased to be affordable — just as suddenly
as they had become affordable in the first place. The buyers
backed out, and the banks foreclosed, taking the houses
back. Now there are 18 million empty homes across the
country — one million more than a year ago. In August, one
in every 464 homes was reported to be in foreclosure.
accountant [ə kaυntənt] Steuerberater(in)
adjustable rate [ə d stəbəl reit] US variabler Zinsatz
affected [ə fektid] betroffen What does your company do to help people who are about
appreciate [ə pri ʃieit] hier: im Wert steigen to lose their homes?
assigned [ə saind] zuständig We offer counseling to people at various stages of foreclosure.
attorney [ə t ni] US Rechtsanwalt, -anwältin
back out [ b k aυt] einen Rückzieher machen
We’ve also just started giving seminars on loan modification
backyard [ b k jɑ rd] N. Am. Garten programs, and we’re touring across America. People from all
catch [k tʃ] hier: Haken walks of life and income levels are affected by foreclosure,
counseling [ kaυnsəliŋ] Beratung and this is a very traumatic time for them. Many of these peo-
credit repair system Möglichkeit, seine Kredit-
[ kredət ri peər sistəm] würdigkeit wiederzuerlangen ple had no intention of being in the position they’re in right now.
credit report [ kredət ri pɔ rt] etwa: Schufa-Auskunft We step in and generate a timeline for them to tell them just
delegate [ deli ət] Sachbearbeiter(in) how much time they have — days, weeks, or months — until
down payment [ daυn peimənt] Anzahlung, Eigenkapital
they have to leave their homes.
End of a dream: eligible: be ~ for sth. [ elid əbəl] zu etw. berechtigt sein
about a million foreclose [fɔ r kloυz] eine Hypothek vorzeitig
kündigen What happens then?
Americans have
lost their homes from all walks of life aus allen gesellschaftlichen Once we establish the timeline, we offer consultations with real-
[fr m ɔ l wɔ ks əv laif] Schichten/Berufen estate attorneys and accountants. They [the home owners fore-
generate sth. [ d enəreit] etw. erstellen
Aus der Traum: Viele Amerikaner haben durch die Kreditkrise Haus und Hof und oft auch ihre get caught up in sth. in eine Sache verstrickt
closed upon] also have an assigned delegate — a member of
[ et kɔ t p in] werden our staff — on their case. This person is able to guide them and
Zukunft verloren. LISA FOSTER beschreibt, wie es dazu kommen konnte, fragte Betroffene, wie
get sucked into sth. [ et s kt intə] in etw. hineingezogen werden answer questions during the process of foreclosure, which usu-
sie damit umgehen, und Experten, wie es weitergehen wird. difficult US
hogwash [ hɔ wɑ ʃ] ifml. Quatsch ally takes between six months to a year. We also refer them to
house in order: get one’s ~ seine Angelegenheiten in
[ haυs in ɔ rdər] Ordnung bringen a credit repair system so that they can immediately get to work
locked in [ lɑ kt in] fest(gelegt) on restoring their credit and can get back in the housing mar-
D
eep in the psyche of nearly every American is the made it possible for millions of people who didn’t qualify mortgage [ mɔ r id ] Hypothek ket at a later point in time.
dream of home ownership. Ideally, it should be a for credit to buy a house. multitude [ m ltitu d] Vielzahl
ten-room house with a large backyard and a two- There was just one catch: the mortgages had an adjustable on time [ɑ n taim] fristgerecht How soon can those in foreclosure realistically become
predictable [pri diktəbəl] vorhersehbar
car garage. But actually any home will do — a rate, which would start off very low, then increase to a stan- qualify for credit kreditwürdig sein home owners again?
home in which you feel safe, secure, and free to do dard amount after three years. They might even go up af- [ kwɑ lifai fər kredət] We don’t guarantee anything, but we give them the counsel
what you want. No one should be able to tell you what to do ter that, depending on economic factors; but they could also rate of interest [ reit əv intrəst] Zinssatz they need to get their financial house in order so that in two
real estate agent Immobilienmakler(in) years they could be eligible. With the multitude of foreclosures
or take anything away from you. go down, the buyers were told. [ ri əl i steit eid ənt] US
It’s a dream that young couples can’t wait to fulfill. “The media loves to vilify the mortgage industry and realtor [ ri əltər] US Immobilienmakler(in) we’ve got going on nationwide right now, there are good peo-
Once they’ve saved some money and found a way to bor- claim that people had no idea their payments were going refer sb. to sth. [ri f tə] jmdn. an etw. verweisen ple who at any other time in history would not have to deal with
row the rest of what they need, they’re off to the realtor to to double after three years,” says Dan Pinto, communica- restore sth. [ri stɔ r] wiederherstellen this; they simply got sucked into the boom of the housing
sign sth. [sain] etw. unterschreiben
see what they can afford. tions director of Youwalkaway.com, a company that advises step in [ step in] einschreiten, eingreifen
market. Usually, anywhere from two to five years is what it
A generation ago, a house could be bought with a 20 per- customers affected by the housing situation. “I’ll tell you the other side of the coin die Kehrseite der Medaille takes, depending on the situation of the family. Bad credit stays
cent down payment and regular payments over 30 years. A what: that is hogwash. There were so many documents peo- [ði ðər said əv ðə kɔin] with someone anywhere from three to ten years; but there are
timeline [ taimlain] Zeitplan legitimate credit repair companies that can legally have things
fixed rate of interest kept everything predictable. In the ple had to sign, and it was stated everywhere,” he says. vilify sb. [ vilifai] jmdn. verleumden
early 1990s, however, banks began to make special offers. The Californian bought a home himself in 2006. “My real waiting to happen: be ~ nur eine Frage der Zeit removed from a credit report in a matter of months.
A small down payment and low interest rates suddenly estate agent continually showed me homes that were 20 to [ weitiŋ tə h pən] sein
26 Spotlight 11/08 11/08 Spotlight 27