It's not just the interest. It's the prices of new houses. Thet are way too high. the real estate taxes are too high. the upkeep, insurance, energy use is too high. Interest is just a small part of the problem.

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If people could afford the monthly mortgage that they are offering, we wouldn't have this problem in the first place. The Toll Brothers aren't giving away a deal they are making the problem worse. Enticing people into something they cant afford! With the job market falling by the waist side who has the credit anyway!!

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I agree. My husband and I bought our first home two years ago. We were approved for a $150,000 loan, which will buy a very nice, big house in our area (Northeast Ohio.) We purchased our house for $59,900. It has everything we need, including a new furnace, central air, hot water tank, roof, and a 2 car garage, and was newly remodeled. It is not big, or fancy, but it is nice, in a nice, quiet neighborhood, and the mortgage payments are well within our budget. We have three small children and I would have to work full time to afford a $150,000 home. I can stay home with my children and not worry about foreclosure looming over us. Just because a bank says you can afford a high payment doesn't mean you actually can. Banks and mortgage brokers only care about the payout they will get-not your budget.

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I HAD TOLL BROTHERS BUILD MY HOME AND I HATE THIS HOUSE!!! THEY BUILD THE HOUSE WITH STICKS AND GLUE. I WOULD NOT PURCHASE ANOTHER TOLL BROTHERS HOUSE IF THEY SOLD IT FOR A DOLLAR!

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dont blame it on the builders. quit being victim s.

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Instead of trying to get people into 400 thousand dollar homes, why don't they build nice 100 thousand dollar homes?????

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I go along with what the majority are saying here. Buy what you can afford not the biggest. All those other things that go along with a home,heat electric insurance upkeep inside and out all are expenses you incur . Children need parents available for them not just a big house. I think America needs to go back to a better time when thiings were better because we didn`t expect so much from our parents,or expect so much like NOW! things that took our parents sometimes years to get ,the younger generation wants instant gratification for earning a living. Well they need to earn a living ,just don`t spend it before you earn it!

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I bought a 4000 sqft single story so called McMansion and couldn't be happier, love the 3 car garage and the extra large yard. It is just my wife and my dogs and myself, still at times it seems too small when the kids show up. No one froced me to buy it I chose to buy it and will continue to live there until we get tired of it. You can blame the bullders,the banks, the mortgage brokers etc but the bottom line is it was your choice to purchase it no one held a gun to anyones head. Take responsibility for your own actions and live with the consequences.

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What a scam !!
Look at California to see where this sort of "new idea" leads.
People who never should have qualified to rent a $500 per month apartment were encouraged to sign on $400,000, 30 year mortgages ..and when they got in trouble with making payments, they were offered home credit lines, and / or re-financed "home equity" loans ..even when they had existing credit card debt (hurry folks !! Pay off those credit card debts with new loans from us !!!! Get further and further in debt ..more debt, more debt !!!!
I do not know of any country in the world that encourages these insane levels of indebtedness..except for USA.
US government has been "financing" social and other giveaway programs with non-yet-to-be-earned money for 70+ years ..Uncle Sam set the stage for stupidity to be glorified and emulated by taxpayers ..and look now at the results nationwide ..financial disaster !!! So ..what do these ignorant taxpayers do ? Elect someone who "sympathizes" with them ..and who they believe will somehow bail them out of their dilemmas with yet more taxpayer money !!! Follishness begets more foolishness..while the country flushes itself down the toilet ( I am certain the toilet is not paid for either).

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Last I checked, you don't pay my mortgage or my $10K in property taxes or feed my kids . And being a SAHM, it's none of your business what I spend my money on or who finances and builds my home or how many spare bedrooms I have to fill. If you have to buy a home based on you AND your wife's income, then you shouldn't have that home if you can't make the payments when your hours are cut back. I get so sick and tired of hearing people belly ache at how bad the economy is while they buy a house that's too big for their budget or they forgot to figure in taxes. *slaps head*

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THe only people to blame for this mortgage mess is the stupid buyer and lender who both had no brains. Lenders were greedy and now they are on the street. Losing those fancy cars and houses they should never have bought.

The buyers were equally to blame signing something without reading it. I do not believe them when they say they did not know it was an adjustable rate when that is smeared all over the paperwork.

In Las Vegas where I am, the houses are less than half what they were 2 years ago and there is a year supply. Heck of a time to buy something in this meca. I work for a RE firm and people are holding off thinking pricing will keep going down. Well folks interest rates are about as low as they will go so I am finally buying a home. Toll brothers is a good builder and maybe just maybe the KB's the Pultes, the Beezers will match this rate. Yep the resales will set there because the banks have not quiet gotten to the give away pricing, but I bet the banks will soon meet or beat that 3.99% to get rid of the supply of their homes.

Blame the lenders, but blame the dang buyers too. Those idiots should be on the street knowing they could not afford a house. Here the lenders are paying anyone 7500 as cash for keys to move out including renters. Surprised that is not the new way to earn money. move in a house rent it and wait til the bank offers up money to move out.

Ok but put the dang blame on the buyers themselves. That is where the blame should be placed. Lenders come in a close 2nd. Builders nope they have to earn a living too.

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Wow! Low financing on an oversized pile of poorly constructed formaldehyde-offgassing particle board, built in a destroyed rural community by rofitmongers. What a deal. If someone took the greedy Toll Bros. execs, shot them all then dug a hole in these lots, dumped them in and put dirt over them, THAT would be a property improvement.

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A 400,000 dollar house? That must be huge! I see others here posting from California and must agree. 1,800 a month is not a decent apartment in LA, you're slumming for that much , and most dont have a stove or fridge, you have to buy your own. Also There is no such thing in California as home worth 400,000. Illegal laborers are working for 4 and 5 dollars an hour these days, and these guys have skills! You can build a new home for 75 dollars a square foot, and at 400 g's thats a 5,500 square foot home or so. I am going to add on to my home to increase my loan to value ratio. These days with me working and a few imported workers I am adding 1,100 square feet which will cost about 55 thosand bucks. The homes in my area still go for 400 per square foot. toll bros is known for building crap anyway, just like Carr homes and beezer homes.
I'll build yer house! 2,000 sq feet for 100 grand! Thats what they will be going for by March I guarantee it!

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comment 4 & 7 on the ball. in fact these hould be part of the govt. campaign to get responsible borrowing off the ground as a solution to the current problem and to help prevent future ones rather than focus on the lender - who has an incentive to lend - as gecko said greed is good for business but not for the consumers!!

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There is a price for everything and so now it is time to pay the price for excessive, stinking, unparalleled greed from the president on dow .

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We were on top of the corporate world, living the American dream. We had two homes, two pools, a sports car and a whole lot of stuff we didn't need. We sent our kids to out of state colleges, paid for fancy weddings and looked forward to someday retiring on the beach. Then our dream became a nightmare. My husband was living in another state to work for a company who owned us. He had vacation time, but he dare not take it. His boss called us on Christmas, the middle of the night and while I was having surgery to bitch him out. But we had stuff. Then the 18 hour days, 7 days a week finally caught up. He got sick, lost his job. He is now blind from Diabetes, nearly died from heart failure and he is only 53. We now have one home we can't afford and can't sell it either. Our 401K is just a 101K. He will be on disability. We will have no life insurance. I drive a car that I am grateful starts every morning, but I am not sure how long that will last. I work for $9 an hour and will have to work for the rest of my life.

Do not get caught up in the search for new, bigger and better things. It is not worth it. Live well below your means. Spend time with you kids, not money on them. Visit your family and friends and be thankful your bills are paid. Help your neighbor. Live a better life. It doesn't matter who is to blame. Blaming the government won't do anything, but hurt the morale that we are just starting to build.

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You all are retarded. Don't blame the home builder, Toll didn't force people to buy more than they could afford, yes the mortgage companies got greedy and extended credit to people that otherwise shouldn't have been approved, but the consumer is to blame. Stupid People. Do you blame an auto dealer for selling someone a car that ends up being repo'd? And Toll's craftmanship is the same as any other production homebuilder in the same market, because it's the same subcontractors building their houses as NV, KHov, Ryan, or whomever else. Stop running your stinking mouths about stuff you don't understand, mr. sticks and glue. dumb ass.

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