Review of 99 Homes (2015) by Mark L — 02 Jan 2016

Michael Shannon was outstanding as the callous, heartless real estate agent. Excellent story. My only issue is the political message this film was designed to send...that innocent people are robbed and taken advantage of by big business.

There is no doubt that the mortgage crises was created and caused by greedy unethical bankers, politicians and their abetters. Those involved in the creation of this scam, are the lowest of the low on the scumbag scale.

With that said...homeowners that took out loans designed with nothing down and low initial payments that escalated to a payment they could not afford were just as much at fault. I purchased a house in one of these neighborhoods in 2006. Unlike me, the neighbors on either side of me, were prime examples of people that could not afford the homes they purchased. I became friends with both and had open conversations with them often.

They had very similar backgrounds. Both were in their late 30's. Both were two income families with children that, combined, made about what I made as a single home owner. Both had never owned a home because they could never save enough money to make the downpayment. Both leased new $40K vehicles as did their spouses. Both frequently made large purchases on credit...TV's, riding lawn mowers, furniture, etc...delivery trucks frequented their homes. Both had taken out very aggressive no payment down ARM loans with interest only payments that ballooned after two years. Both admitted that unless they could negotiate the same loan again, they would not be able to stay in the home...nor did they really care. Both had done their research and knew how many days they had to eviction if they defaulted on their loan. Both timed this out to get the max time in their home for the least money expended. Both voluntarily left on the day before they were to be evicted and left their home's in very poor shape...holes in the walls, ruined carpet, etc.

My neighbors were good people with good hearts and would give you the shirt off their backs. However, they were totally irresponsible when it came to money. Such was the case with a large number of the homeowners in my neighbor. It was like a mass exodus in 2008 with moving vans competing for space on the streets on occasion.

So, although there were a few innocent people taken advantage of (primarily through their own stupidity), the real victims here are the rest of us that live financially within our means...our home values plummeted!

It's unfortunate the film chose to focus on the minority (victims) vs. the majority (the irresponsible).