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Comment by wfjackson | Hacker News Reader

>Additionally, go fuck yourself.

I am sorry that I am a little biased. My grandfather died in middle age because he couldn't afford medical care. My mom once picked up a snake instead of a pen while she was studying in the dark by candlelight because they couldn't afford electricity.

So, yes, fuck me for thinking someone should've saved money for the future by buying a cheaper car instead of driving around in a Mercedes and then expecting hardworking taxpayers who themselves are struggling and making do with an old Kia, to foot the bill when hard times roll in. I am surprised you're not advocating the government giving them a Tesla so that they can get out of their depression and feel better about being suddenly "poor".

If there was no WIC or food stamps, would they have sold the Mercedes to feed their twin babies and tried to use only their Honda?

People should be more fiscally responsible.

But, yeah, fuck me for thinking so.

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You don't save money by trading in the highest-value capital good that you own and using the proceeds as operating funds.

You dump the house. The glaringly obvious best move in the story is to yield the deed to the house to the creditors, get bankruptcy protection for any deficiency, and use your former mortgage payment on a smaller apartment and upgraded renter's insurance. You get rid of everything that doesn't help you make money or help you keep it, and keep everything that does until someone comes and takes it from you. Never eat the last of your seed corn.

The car is still worth more to them than any money they could get from selling it, and they didn't have to pay extra to keep it.

I wouldn't say "fuck you" for your suggestion, but I do think that it was ill-considered, and that a depressingly large number of people would agree that it was a good idea.

I am also curious to know if your mother was ever able to train the snake well enough to produce recognizable writing with it.

Just thinking out loud. If they sold the house, could they afford to rent (1st and last month deposit) and would it be any cheaper than the house payment?

Definitely not cheaper than no house payment. In NV for example there are thousands of homedebtors who haven't made a payment since 2008. They're effectively protected by state law until 2017.

They don't sell the house. According to the article, they cannot sell it at a price high enough to satisfy the lienholders. Rather than shouldering the entire burden of a bad property investment alone, they can force the bank to take some of it.

If you have negative equity in a property that has negative cash flow, you really should get rid of it as fast as humanly possible, by any means at your disposal, no matter how much beans and rice you typically eat in a month.

Or keep the house and let the bank eat it until you get forced out, which could take many years. The bank took the risk too. Ideally (not reality unfortunately) it's a private deal between you and the bank, no taxpayer money involved.

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