Stupidity and greed are not valid excuses for bailing these morons out:
“The sales person was saying that they (homes) were going up $1,000 a week,” Dave Gustafson recalls. “So ... we signed right away.”
Builders made it easy. A downpayment of $2,000 to $5,000 was all it took. Buyers could borrow at low teaser rates, requiring payments of nothing more than interest.
As promised, prices were going up faster than the houses themselves.
By the time the family’s new home was completed, the $179,000 base price had climbed to $220,000.
The Gustafsons opted for Corian counters, a pool and whirlpool, adding more than $50,000 to their loan. Payments were fixed for only two years, but they didn’t worry. With prices rising, they’d refinance. In five or six years, the Gustafsons figured, they’d sell for $500,000.
They were hardly the only ones feeling optimistic.
Kris Rowberry, ecstatic when the value of his home in nearby Gilbert took off, bought a second one in the Villages as an investment.
“I was thinking, man, if I could have 10 properties, I could just kind of retire ... and kick back and live off the income,” he says.
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