Growing number of foreclosures in Colorado
Re: “No money down: a high-risk gamble,” Sept. 17 news story, part of The Post’s “Foreclosing on the American Dream” series.
After reading your series of articles concerning foreclosures and the mortgage industry, it is easy to come to the conclusion that unscrupulous used-car salesmen have now become mortgage brokers. It seems a lot of these brokers don’t care if you can afford the mortgage, if you have any equity or collateral, or even if you have a decent paying job. Their objective is to get you to take out a mortgage, take the fee, and go on to the next poor sucker. It would also appear from the information in the articles that just about anyone can qualify for an adjustable-rate mortgage or a mortgage with no money down. It makes one wonder what it takes not to qualify for a mortgage these days. From what the articles expose, it appears the unemployed and homeless will be buying a condo in Vail soon.
L.W. Hunley, Grand Junction
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Data from CSAP and other tests show that for many years now, thousands of students have been leaving our education system with only minimal reading comprehension and virtually no understanding of basic math. Now, we are seeing many people facing foreclosure on their homes because they agreed to loans that they did not understand and with repayment requirements that can easily be calculated to be completely beyond their financial capability. Hmm – I wonder if there could be any relationship between these two circumstances.
Leo H. Smith, Denver
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Greedy mortgage brokers certainly bear a large responsibility for the high number of foreclosures in Colorado. However, I also wonder about the extremely unrealistic choices made by some of the buyers. You described one couple who purchased a $220,000 house in Jefferson County although their annual family income is only $30,000. Furthermore, they have three children with a fourth on the way. Dare I suggest that a couple with such a limited income should have fewer children?
Will Mahoney, Denver
Congressional votes on conservation issues
Bob Beauprez and Marilyn Musgrave claim to be in favor of protecting our environment, but their votes in Congress show their statements to be deceptive. It is easy to make feel-good statements about clean air and water, public lands, and wise use of energy, but a close look shows that Beauprez and Musgrave don’t follow their own words.
Each year, the League of Conservation Voters contacts 20 environmental groups to identify key votes made in Congress on important issues. The LCV then tallies how each senator and congressman voted, with a 100 percent score showing full support for environmental measures. In 2005, Beauprez and Musgrave each had scores of 0 percent. Key measures included bills dealing with such issues as fuel economy, renewable energy, selling off public lands, and clean air and water.
Colorado has abundant natural beauty and resources, and these should be protected and managed with care. We can surely do better than to have Beauprez and Musgrave managing our state or representing us in Washington.
Steve Johnson, Lakewood
Eight Colorado students’ perfect ACT scores
Re: “Eight whiz kids make perfect score on ACT,” Sept. 13 news brief.
The Post prints every gory story possible, including pictures of terrible car accidents, and every inane story possible, including much, much more than we ever wanted to know about John Mark Karr.
But when eight Colorado high school students made a perfect score on their ACT, all they got was a very, very small mention on page 2B of your paper. Shame on you! How nice it would have been to have an article telling who they were and where they lived and a little more about each of them. Only eight made perfect scores out of 74,000 students who took the test. That is quite an accomplishment, and we in Colorado should all be very proud of them.
Alice Blevins, Wheat Ridge
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