I bought my new home in 2005 the height of the housing boom. Barely. The company that was building the house went through Countrywide. I actually had issues getting approved for the loan only because I insisted on a fixed rate. Seems like nobody was doing that during the time ;-) Well they finally gave in and I got qualified. I had no idea what was going on, I just felt that what they were trying to push didn't make a whole lot of sense. Although the house dropped to about half of what I paid I was never upside down and I still live in it. The house is gradually creeping up to break even.

I guess to answer the question I feel that ultimately the issue rests on the buyer. But hopefully people learned a lesson. Maybe not if they got bailed out. I enjoyed the article.