I have been around financing most of my life. The No. 1 rule is you finance at a reasonable rate and you finance the item for the life expectancy of that certain item whether it be a farm tractor, an automobile or a person's home.
 
Houses are constructed so well these days and insured to last close to 100 years, so the solution to our housing problem is to refinance homes for 50 years instead of 30 years. This will drop the payments enough to stop foreclosures.
 
Variable interest rates and balloon payments should be outlawed. This would slow down and possibly stop speculative buyers causing inflated prices. Refinancing a home should be done only under heavy guidelines to stop homeowners from using a home as a piggy bank to buy beyond their means and jeopardizing the American dream of a secure home.
 
That's my opinion. I hope to hear more on the subject from readers, not politicians and overpaid CEOs and directors of failing banks and corporations who are paid salaries and bonuses on sales and not profits.
 
The result is stockholders are left without dividends. Remember this even if you don't buy stocks directly because money from pension funds are in stock and bonds.


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ROCKY GEROCK
Foothills