Stephanie and Matt Valdez, "Buyers"
I debated whether or not to put these two in the Hall of Shame®, and concluded they belonged. When I first saw the 60 Minutes video and listened to them, I couldn't believe my ears. I understand their decision, but to announce it to the world on National TV? Crazy! Shameful! And I've always said that buyers contributed to this bubble by making a choice to overpay for homes, assuming double-digit appreciation, forever.
Stephanie, Matt, you didn't buy because "Suzanne researched it", did you? LOL I just wonder how much pressure she put on Mat because they would be "priced out forever if they didn't buy NOW".
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I call shenanigans on 60 minutes. I know these people personally and the show did not get their point across the way they intended. The entire interview was about two hours long and their point was not to legitimize "walking away" but to find help and do what they could to keep their home. This wasn't some quick scheme to cheat the system, they had done their research with brokers and real estate agents and this was a process that was drawn out through the market drop. Their own servicing company would not speak about alternative options (such as short sale), until they were past due. This backed them into a corner and were only given the option to "back out". With such a deep subject, how can anybody get their point across in two sentences? Matt and Stephanie deeply regret sitting down with Steve from 60 minutes because they feel they have let down the population of homeowners in their position that they represent.
Brandon,
Thanks for the inside insight.
As I said, I understand their decision, and would probably do the same thing if I were in their position. But even if the lender would/could refinance their mortgage, would it make sense to refi? The prices people were paying were outrageous, and honest people did get caught up in the frenzy, which is sad. At some point, however, you have to conclude that prices were unaffordable and that the homes were not worth it, and walking away is correct the economic decision to make.
You're probably correct about 60 minutes. Absent from their expose were any comments or discussion about Realors. Those whores are truly sick. These days, it's not worth it to talk to the media.
STATEMENT FROM MATT & STEPHANIE VALDEZ
At the time the show was taped, we stated to sixty minutes that "we could afford the payment of $3200.00 however that we would be completely strapped for money; unable to afford gas, groceries, etc.". The point we were trying to make was that we did NOT wish to walk from the property or go thru foreclosure but that we needed to get out of the home as we could not be strapped any longer. We were looking for other options, and the only advice we were given was to "walk away", which we were not satisfied with. When we bought, we thought we bought at the right time but now found that we obviously didn't. However, we bought the cheapest 3 bedroom (NOT 2 bedroom as the show stated) that we could find at the time. Plus we have been homeowners for the past 10 years, so we know how to be responsible. We don't have new cars, we don't have car payments, we don't have credit card bills, we NEVER refinanced and took money out....we are very conservative people, not living beyond our means. However, I did in fact get laid off for six monthes after we bought the house, and this changed everything! Then when I found a job, I did in fact take a $3.00 pay cut unfortunately. Which is when we realized, we needed to sell our home but we couldn't because it was already worth less than we paid. We bought the home hoping to stay here for 10+ years, so when we bought it to be honest, we didn't care how much it was going to be worth, we only cared that it was OUR HOME. At the time we filmed the show, our mortgage company would not speak with us as they said we were not past due and they couldnt do anything for us. We knew we could not put the home for sell because it would not sell for what we owe and we can't afford to pay the defiency balance, if it were to sell for less. THAT WAS WHY WE WENT ON THE SHOW!!! WE WERE LOOKING FOR ADVICE AND THE ONLY CRAPPY ADVICE WE GOT WAS TO WALK AWAY...AND WE WEREN'T SATISFIED WITH THAT ADVICE. If you think the show was word for word what we said, your sadly mistaken!! We don't blame ANYONE for the position we are in!! We don't blame the broker, the realtor that sold the home to us, the lender....we just needed to know how we could do this without ruining our credit, because I've always had a very high fico score and did not want to lose that. We don't blame anyone for what they are saying about us because again, the show was so cropped that our true story did not come across. We just want everyone to know that we DO NOT recommend walking away from your home because it will do more than affect your credit, you may also be liable for excess attorney fees, foreclosure fees, the deficieny balance, etc. What we DO recommend is trying to work with your mortgage company. After we filmed the show we were actually approved for a short sale by our mortgage company which we are in the process of now. In closing I would just like to add that sixty minutes approached us saying they thought our "good outlook" on things would help other people in our situation. We did not know that we would be representing people in our position, in a matter of two sentences. I also did not know that it was going to appear that Steve was going to play against us when all was said and done.....wish I would've been the editor/producer.
Holy Crap!!! $355K for that POS?? In Stockton???
They knew what they were doing???? What's that, winning a Darwin award? What a couple of idiots. Please don't breed.
It's all fun and games until it's time to actually service the debt, then it's No Fair, I'm a victim. Act like grownups, not spoiled children.
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