Strategy for the middle class

[Daveforliberty]

Given what is bound to happen in the next few years, which strategy or scenario is best?

1) Stick it out through the hard times -- stay in your (unsellable) suburban home, maintain a perfect credit rating, add no new debt, but dutifully pay off credit cards, car loans, mortgages, and try to save as much as possible, in gold, silver, etc. Hope inflation and depression don't take you down anyway in a year or two, but in the end, they might.

2) Dump the house now. Default on the mortgage or sell short. Use the money saved while waiting to lose the house to rent in the country (you don't have the cash to buy). Use your savings vs. a big mortgage payment to plant a garden and buy a cow and chickens. Generate your own power. Pay off the credit cards and car loans, but since your credit is blown anyway, this goes way down in priority.

3) Other (please specify)

[georgiapeach]

I guess it depends on what situation you're in now and where things go from here, but the plan for us is to stay in our house and trudge right along. If things get so bad that we can't keep the house, then we grab what we can and walk away. We have extended family with paid off land that we live on.
I certainly wouldn't want to be a renter right now, since there is no way to be sure if your landlord is paying the mortgage.

[satchelmcqueen]

be responsible. pay off your stuff. who cares if you cant resale your home. you have a home rather than no home right? every item in life shouldnt be looked at as a profit maker. i own my home (12K trailer) i payed it off in 9 months. i wont lose that. im fine with that. Contrary to popular belief, living in a trailer isnt bad or redneckish. For me, it was a way to have a home I could pay off fast and have a less stressful life.


bottom line, be responsible. pay for your stuff.

[Daveforliberty]

Interviewed by AIM before the House of Representatives on Monday afternoon voted down the “bailout” scheme, at a time when it looked like the plan would actually pass, Schiff had shocking advice for ordinary Americans.

“The first thing you do if you have a mortgage is you stop making the payments,” he said. “That’s the number one thing for people who have mortgages based on this plan. And use that money to buy gold or stock up on food. You’re going to need it. Meanwhile, no one is going to kick you out of your house. You’re going to be able to live in your house for probably a year or two before the government calls you up to give you a lower mortgage because nobody is going to foreclose on you right now. Why would you foreclose? You sell the loan to the government. This plan is a huge moral hazard and it’s going to lead to a surge in mortgage delinquencies.”

[LittleLightShining]

Interviewed by AIM before the House of Representatives on Monday afternoon voted down the “bailout” scheme, at a time when it looked like the plan would actually pass, Schiff had shocking advice for ordinary Americans.

“The first thing you do if you have a mortgage is you stop making the payments,” he said. “That’s the number one thing for people who have mortgages based on this plan. And use that money to buy gold or stock up on food. You’re going to need it. Meanwhile, no one is going to kick you out of your house. You’re going to be able to live in your house for probably a year or two before the government calls you up to give you a lower mortgage because nobody is going to foreclose on you right now. Why would you foreclose? You sell the loan to the government. This plan is a huge moral hazard and it’s going to lead to a surge in mortgage delinquencies.”This is the first time I ever really questioned anything coming from him. It seems like following this advice would exacerbate the problem... :confused:

[Johnnybags]

This is the first time I ever really questioned anything coming from him. It seems like following this advice would exacerbate the problem... :confused:

The government is exacerbating the problem now, you would just be protecting yourself from theft. The FEDS want you to pay for other peoples problems at 10k per family so let em offer you a better mtg rate and save for two years. Take back what they are taking from you. Its the only ammo you have to fight back. Either that or send the Senate Banking Committee your mtg agreement and ask em to put it into the toxic assets club. Its a revolution without a gun, its brilliant.

[Leroy_Jenkems]

bottom line, be responsible. pay for your stuff.


Bingo. Simple as that, people. Be a smart consumer. Don't play "keeping up with the Joneses;" it's a lot easier to avoid that pitfall if you don't fall sucker for what "popular culture" tells you that you should wear, read, drink, live in, etc.

When it all comes down to it, a man doesn't need much in this world. But the constant improvement of one's mind is the greatest satisfaction you can attain.

[Gong...]