Real estate insanity

They’re In — but Not Home Free: Many Californians have ‘interest-only’ loans. They might be living on borrowed time.

It’s not just first-time buyers who are at risk of payment shock. Miseon and T.G. Kang just sold their town house in San Jose for $625,000 and bought a new home for $1.21 million.

“We paid a premium. We wanted this house. Without an interest-only loan, we couldn’t have afforded it,” said Miseon Kang, a pharmacist. “For five years, our payments will be OK. But after that, they’ll be a problem. My husband and I are concerned.”

Via Atrios

At some point, I really have to track down a copy of Matt’s book that’s apropos to the subject (Shaky Palaces: Homeownership and Social Mobility in Boston’s Suburbanization (Columbia History of Urban Life (Hardcover)), out of print)

Addendum: Loosely apropos, and for lack of a better place to put the link…. Meritocracy in America: Ever higher society, ever harder to ascend