While there are many situations where people did all the wrong things when it came to their real estate investments, here are some examples of  investors that simply invested their hard earned money, following all of the rules set before them at the time. These were not speculators or experienced corporations that where throwing their money around. They did full-doc loans with serious downpayments and invested in positive cash flow properties. They did what any RESPONSIBLE investor would have done.

So what happened?

The government screwed up the economy. – They let sub-prime mortgages and speculators take control.

The government changed the rules. – Fannie Mae changed their lending rules even for people already in the game.

The government put a band-aid on the problem that didn’t stick. – They said the bailout packages would solve the problem – it hasn’t.

The banks took advantage of the situation. – They rewarded their executives for bad decisions.

The banks refused to stop the hemorrhaging. – They took major losses instead of small ones by not working with homeowners and investors.

The investors in this story did everything right. They cannot be blamed for the situation they are in now. Especially when they asked for help before their problems started and offered less costly solutions to their lenders afterward.

We have lost a bunch of banks now, along with tons of jbos. Those banks and jobs might still be around if they had only been willing to work with homeowners.