While that might appear harsh, let me explain. I do feel bad for hard working Americans that are losing their homes....some of them. I feel bad for the good folks of Florida and other states that were in home they could afford and suddenly lost their job or got sick and could no longer afford to make their payments. This are the people we should be helping with any economic bail out package. This however is not the problem we are having today.

Here is the foreclosure problem we are having - at least here in sunny Florida - there are 2 scenarios:

1) A Homeowner has been living in their home paying a mortgage for years. The value of their home increases rapidly between 2004-2006. The homeowner then sells their home at a large profit, takes the money to buy a new car, go on vacation, etc and buys another home putting little to money down (or they refinance their existing home & spend the money). They happily continue to make the payments on this house even with the higher monthly payments because the value of their home is appreciating & theythink that they are going to sell it again & make more money.

2) Investors were buying multiple homes with little to no money down. Once again, they were happily making the payments on these homes because the values were going up.

NOW 2008 comes around and values have dropped in half in many areas of Tampa Bay. People basically say "screw it - I'm not going to keep making payments on a house that is not worth what I paid. I am going to live for free for 12 months while the bank takes my house back through foreclosure and then either rent for a couple of years or buy another house similar to mine for half price!" That is the reality of what is happening in the Florida foreclosure crisis.

You think we should help these people? You are crazy! The government should not give any money to any of these people or reduce their mortgage balance in any way. The fastest way to end the foreclosure crisis is to let is play out & be done. This is America, folks. We got into this mess & we can get out of it. I am upside down on my house by $100,000. It is a good thing that I made $100,000 on the last house I sold prior to buying this one. Should I let my current home go to foreclosure & instantly make another $100,000? Do you think the government should reduce my mortgagebalanceby $100,000? I have a hard time making my mortgage payment too - after all, I am in the real estate business.

I will tell you one thing. If the government starts reducing principal balances on mortgages to some home owners and not to others then we are going to have a real problem. What would qualify one person and not another for a reduction in mortgage balance? Maybe everyone should get a 30% mortgage balance reduction across the board? I am in favor of that! That seems fair!

Why prolong the inevitable? We are Americans. If the government stops helping we will solve the problem. When we rely on a crutch and wait to see what is going to happen next the problem will remain unsolved & just continue.