Helping out my neighbors in mini mansions

Well, looks like we get to bail out our neighbors who sprung for the five-bedroom, 4,000 sq. ft. homes.

A year ago I could have gotten an ARM. I could have bought a $300,000 home for under 4%. I could have been living the good life in a beautiful neighborhood with a fountain in my private lake. I could have pretended that I didn't know my mortgage rate would reset, and I could have cried for help when my mortgage payment doubled.

But I didn't. Because I'm not an idiot.

A year ago I took out a traditional mortgage on my reasonably priced townhouse. I make my payments on time and I know that my payments (minus taxes) will remain the same for the life of my mortgage. This is security that I owed my family. This is a responsibility that I had to you.

Because I didn't want to screw you over. Why should I get into a situation where I couldn't make my payment and where I would go into foreclosure? My foreclosed property would be sold for loss by my bank, effectively screwing my neighbors with an immediate drop in property values.

And now, the collective million homeowners out there with these jumbo super-duper ARMs are screwing us all. Honest homeowners cannot sell their properties in many areas without taking a loss, due to the number of cheap, foreclosed properties on the market. And now, President Bush wants to freeze the rates on some of these ARMs. Our idiot neighbors are practically stealing from their banks, and in return the banks will raise the interest rates on new traditional mortgages to offset the expected losses.

So when you are paying 9% on your next mortgage, you know who to thank.