Going To Be Laid-Off? Buy A Condo In NYC!

Hyundai offers their Assurance program, where if you buy or lease a Hyundai vehicle and lose your income in the next year, you can return it. They have recently expanded on that program to include 3 months of free payments before returning it in case it’s a short stint of income loss. Well, Toll Brothers must have seen the advertisement because they are offering a similar deal.

Toll Brothers, a Pennsylvania-based real estate developer, is offering hard-times mortgage insurance to first-time home buyers. If the buyer loses their job, the developer will make the mortgage payments for up to one year at all of their luxury condo developments in New York City. The annual cost of the insurance is free for the first year, but 3% of the monthly mortgage payment after that. They’ll do anything to sell these things after a 40% drop in sales in the 4th quarter. While two of their completed condos are mostly occupied, they have no contracts signed for their newest project and were in the process of expanding their two completed projects. Ugh!

I don’t think I’d invest in the insurance company that’s offering this plan, but criticism of the insurance industry is a whole other post. What about the real estate taxes, monthly condo fee, and utilities? I doubt they cover that and there’s no way I could keep up those payments either if I lost my job.