patrick.net

Sorry about the double-post --I didn't see Patrick's new thread until after the fact.

Yup, he has obviously blown his cash out refi. What an idiot. I love these losers who omit crucial facts like that from their hardship stories.

Muggy,

Very reasonable explanation, but...
...if Galindo had made any actual improvements to the house, wouldn't he be able to recoup at least some of that investment when he sold the house?

I think this might be a case for the Hardly Boys!

The SF Chronicle knows that the majority of their readers don't have the sense or curiousity to run the numbers of a 1995 mortgage as HARM did.

They also know that the majority of their readers think that capitalism and free markets are the problem with government control of every aspect of life being the solution. Galindo's situation is a prime example of the evil fruit of capitalism. It is meant to evoke sympathy and look to the nanny-state for answers. Of course, Galindo bears no personal responsibility here.

I am of the opinion that this and a number of sympathy stories like this are to set the stage for a tax-payer bail out.

For the bleeding hearts reading this and thinking that I'm a cold bastard, let me share with you that in the late 80s in another state, I purchased a home where the developer had lowered the interest to inflate the price. I later sold the home at 50% of my purchase price. I've been there and it's not fun. However, I signed the mortgage and had responsibility to repay it.

SFvulture, I sympathize with you, and I respect you. I am sick and tired of people paying things back when it works for them. In the end keeping your word and paying your bills is what really seperates out people of character. People love the idea of sticking it to someone else, or a bank, and they just can't grasp that it is only a short term boost, and they have shot themselves in the foot for the rest of their life when they do. I don't even need to ask, because I can tell that you pulled yourself back up.

And related to the story, why oh why do these people keep having kids they can't afford?

SFVulture,

There are very few bleeding hearts here. I don't recall any. Personally, I have no sympathy for stupid people, especially when I am the one who might get hurt because of their stupidity.

You know, I used to be bothered by that but then I realized, the more losers there are who don't pay their bills, and go around shafting people when they can, the easier it is to stand out as someone solid. What sucks is when the government tries to protect them at our expense. All of a sudden most employers aren't allowed to run credit reports on prospective applicants because of 'adverse impact' , so the government continuously tries to be the great equalizer.
I think if I am applying for a job of financial responsibility, the other guy's bankruptcy is a material factor in deciding between the two of us.

The Article said:

> Ruben Galindo, 44, Castanon's neighbor and a LoBue worker
> for 15 years, said, "Whatever little savings that we have, we
> are just not spending any. We are saving our pennies and nickels
> just to get us through the year.''
> Galindo, with a wife and three kids, also has a mortgage and
> thinks he can handle two months of unemployment, but no more
> than that. He bought his house in Lindsay in 1995

Then HARM said:

> Galindo bought his house in 1995, so that’s 12 years of (presumably
> continuous) mortgage payments, at a much, much lower cost-basis
> than today Has Mr. Galindo cash-out refinanced his house each year
> since 1995 and used the money to take his family on annual round-the-
> world luxury cruises? Unfortunately, this mystery is beyond my limited
> amateur-sleuth abilities to solve. Please help me out here.

Using the amateur-sleuth tool known as the internet I found that:

1. Lindsay is in Tulare County.

2. There are 51 homes in Tulare County owned by people named Galindo.

3. There are 3 homes in the city of Lindsay owned by people named Galindo.

4. There is one home in Lindsay owned by a Ruben Galindo Located at 745 Monte Circle.

5. The Ruben O. Galindo at 745 Monte Circle is 44 years old (so I probably found our man)

According to title records the 1,200 sf home at 745 Monte Circle was built in 1996 and Ruben bought it for $87,500 on 7/96 making a $326 (less than $500) down payment and getting a FHA loan (there is no other debt currently recorded on title).

Bay, that is a great point. In my opinion most people don't understand what being a real man means anymore. Ask most people of a profile of a real man, and you will get an answer resembling some loud mouth WWF wrestler, instead of someone of character who takes care of their business. I'm sick of going overseas and being embarrassed to be an American because these fat bellied loud mouths think they can treat the locals like crap because they have a credit card to wave around. I have quietly been rejoicing the downfall of these arogant turds.

Look, I'm as against living beyond one's means as much as anyone. I have made some sacrifices in order to strive to not be in Mr. Galino's situation.

But I have also been blessed. Nobody has had expensive health problems, and we haven't had lapses in medical insurance, in spite of job losses.

When I was in college, I had a roommate who was not a student. But he had to live with roommrates who were a lot younger than him, because he could not afford his own place. He had owned a small gardening business. He didn't bother anyone, and could support himself fine, thank you very much, with his little business.

Till an under-insured drunk driver crippled him. Sure, he could sue the drunk driver, who was by then, doing time in prison. How much do you think he'd get? And how far do you think the state mandated liability insurance ($35K) would go at the time? Life isn't fair, and sometimes bad things happen to good people.

Does M. Galino have medical insurance?

Did he or one of his dependents have a major health problem that ran into a lot of money?

I don't know, but I don't think you know either.

Sybrib,

I'm pretty sure they would have printed any medical problems as it would really have increased the sob factor.

Maybe.

Maybe not. We just don't know.

It said the employer recently dropped coverage for dependents.

Once, I had a colleague who, like me, had medical insurance. He also had a lien or garnishment or something like that because of a complicated Cesaerian procedure that his wife had before he'd got the job with the insurance. It was a debt they'd had hanging over their heads for a long time, slowly paying it off.

My point is that it is not impossible that even though the employer presently had medical insurance doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't made poor from something that had happened before.

The article didn't say.

We just don't know.

I agree.

But unless we know for certain, we ought not to assume that he made himself in trouble by borrowing from his house for round the world trips and things like that.

Maybe he did it to pay for medical bills. His, or someone else's.

So unless we know, we ought not to judge.

Sybrib, you have a point, even though I don't believe it applies in this case that is pretty much the only time that I sympathize with someone. A couple of thoughts for you:

Poor people are covered by different state programs, and yes, the lower middle class do get shafted because they don't have the means to buy insurance, and they don't qualify for the free stuff. I do support safety nets, and it pisses me off to hear stories of uninsured people being billed at a higher rate than the 'negotiated' rate insurance companies pay out. Point taken.

Another thought though is when people go through their whole lives blaming a medical bill for ALL of their problems. It seems like every deadbeat I have come across blames some medical incident from 8 years ago. I do believe that that a situation as you describe is a legitimate reason for a bankruptcy, unfortunately for these guys, they were so happy to screw the credit card companies for their cheaply made furniture that they used up that wild card of last resort.

It really is a tough pill to swallow but most people in these situations are there by their own doing.

One great thing about the media though is that they are always looking for a genuine hard luck case to profile. It is one of the pleasant things about living in this country at this time. I really like the shows like Extreme Makeover, and we do have a duty as successful people to be charitable. I give to St Judes because those diseases do randomly strike people, and they never turn people away for inability to pay.

Even the worst case of cancer wouldn't wipe out the equity of a home that was owned for 12 years.