Hi Sara,
Excellent commentary from all regarding the subject matter (re:mortgage loans)
As a sidenote and only as a point of reference, I have to wonder how many people would have signed mortgage papers to buy a home if the entire 49 WORD TEXT of the lending agreement were as follows...
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For purchase of said property, borrower agrees to pay lender a payment over the next 90 days as follows:
On day one, borrower will pay lender one penny.
On each of the following 89 days, borrower agrees to pay lender a sum equal to the prior days payment twice.
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WOW! This APPEARS fantastic somehow...
...until one does the math.
A NEW HOME in ONLY 90 days, paid and clear?
Yes, but at what cost exactly?
(I challenge anyone reading the above lending agreement to calculate and post the total purchase price!)
Ironically, I believe that the vast majority of people would still complain that they did not UNDERSTAND what they signed.
Even in a very short lending agreement like the one above, (vs. a long unreadable one) it does not and should not ever exempt the borrower of simply "misunderstanding" what they are signing.
