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  Posted By:
  Peaches at 07/15/2008 2:20:31 PM
  Comment:
  Every home closing in New york City requires a lawyer paid for by the buyer that is suppose to explain the closing proceedure to the borrower/buyer. The amount of legal information in the closing statement is far beyond the reach of most college graduates never mind the average Joe. We pay the lawyer to explain to us what we are doing and what it means. If the people we pay to look out for our intrest are not doing their job How are we to protect our intrests.
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  Posted By:
  shawnaja at 04/04/2008 3:45:06 PM
  Comment:
  Brian,
  I really appreciated this article, and the historical perspective on the passage of the Fair Housing Act and its possible correlation with King's death. I would hope you elaborate in the future about the segregation and discriminatory loan practices that we are now seeing (two pretty big topics, for sure). As a recent first-time home buyer, I do feel that one needs to be able to trust financing professionals, and that it is imperative that they have a fiduciary duty to the buyer. From the current state of events, this needs to be legistlated. So, an underlying question of the article: will it take a catastrophic event to create impetus for change (negative)? Or perhaps a strong leader that inspires people, such as King or Obama (positive)? Thanks for the article, really enjoy the blog. Great idea to have a relationship with Slate.
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  Posted By:
  lawchick at 04/04/2008 1:02:26 PM
  Comment:
  It is unfortunate that ljdunn558's view of life is so limited that he actually thought the people to whom the predatory loans were offered had a choice if they were to purchase the "American Dream", a home. I am a lawyer and I was initally offered a 10% loan by a white mortgage broker before I finally purchased at a rate of 6% 30-year fixed. The problem with race in America is that Blacks have a greater understanding of Whites and how they live in America but it is definitely a view gained through a one-way mirror. The majority of whites in America don't recognize the subtlties of racism because they cannot put themselves in the shoes of their African-American counterpart at any soci-economic level. That is why racism continues and is so pervasive in American.
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  Posted By:
  fsilber at 04/04/2008 11:22:02 AM
  Comment:
  The selling of mortgages with "teaser" rates was legal fraud. The brokers deliberately sought out people who were financially unsophisticated, bad at math, unable to read legal documents and unfamiliar with the concept of a "family lawyer." These were people who responded to television advertising instead of relying on the recommendations of the bank or credit union holding their savings account; many of them probably didn't even have savings accounts. Sadly, black people are a large proportion of these victims.
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  Posted By:
  avocia at 04/03/2008 10:05:28 PM
  Comment:
  Let's see why Chicago housing is still fowl. It could be that the black politicians, including the Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, let the ball fall when they overlooked the needs of the black poor and did not vote to save the city's Housing Authority land for the people. Also, for a city that wants so deparately to have a black president, the preachers and politicians keep on jumping into Mayor Daley's pocekt.
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  Posted By:
  ljdunn558 at 04/03/2008 1:12:32 PM
  Comment:
  Is it not fair to say that "African Americans BOUGHT loans that are more costly and default-prone" since no one is forced to buy (i.e. "sold") anything in this country?
  
  I recently began reading The Root with great interest to better understand African American culture however misstatements like this lower it???s credibility and validity.
  
  What a shame.
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    Posted By:
    blessinggirl at 04/03/2008 11:47:27 PM
    Comment:
    Poster Dunn: The fact is that many homebuyers were steered into adjustable rate mortgages by unscrupulous brokers when these people's credit scores qualifed them for fixed rate loans. This scandal is not limited to African-Americans or Latinos. In most cases, these homebuyers relied on their real estate agent to find available financing. You need to read about the root causes for this crisis: the greed of Wall Street selling collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps all based on housing prices going up 10 percent each year in most markets--before you offer condescending comment on these transactions.