Mortgage Blog

I got the following from a magazine I subscribe:

In the past I’ve joked about a 30-year fixed-rate loan at 2% and
I’m starting to believe that it could happen. In short, we’re in
unchartered financial territory now. But will a 2% FRM entice
home buyers to get off the fence and buy a house now? I can almost
hear the conversation between couples now:
Honey, I know I have a job now, but what if... In other words,
consumers as well as mortgage lenders fear the great economic
unknown and Friday’s stock market carnage did nothing to ease
the clouds that are forming. Yes, Europe is to blame.
With the exception of Germany, France and a few other nations, t
he economic news there isn’t good. It’s not that the hole is
so deep (it is), but few investors feel that the moves taken
thus far will solve the problem.

Which leads to this: the social safety net that many European
countries enjoy is the reason for their woes. Having government
paid health care, early retirement, and lengthy unemployment
benefits may look nice on paper but in the end it boils down
to this: How can we afford this?