The Economic Crisis Of The United States

The recent mortgage crisis in the US was unprecedented. It led to a massive clampdown of financial institutions, occasioning one of the worst financial melt-downs the US has ever faced (Jaffe, 2008). Quite naturally, it would be necessary to examine the cause of the crisis in order to draft prophylactic measures that would prevent the same financial disaster in the future. This paper will discuss the events that led to the mortgage crisis.

In 2008 the real estate market crashed because of the Graham-Leach-Bliley Act and Commodities Futures Modernization Act, which led to shady mortgage lending or “liar loans” (Hartman). The loans primarily approved for lower income and middle class borrowers with little income or no job income verification, which lead to many buyers purchasing homes they could not afford because everyone wants a piece of the American dream; homeownership. Because of “reckless lending to lower- and middle-income borrowers who could not afford to repay their loans many of the home buyers lost everything when the market collapsed” (Tankersley 3). Homeowners often continued to live in their houses for months or years without paying any

The dot-com bubble in 2000 was the start to the, still current, historically low interest rates – all thanks to the Federal Reserve. Since interest rates were so low, many Americans decided that now was the time to get the “American Dream” and buy houses, since the values were going up and mortgage and insurance rates were so low. By serially refinancing, people were quite literally treating their homes as a money bank, and not thinking twice of the equity they were loosing in the process, because they thought that the value would only go up, while their mortgages would decrease, and were blinded by the so called “American Dream”.

The mortgage crisis of 2007 marked catastrophe for millions of homeowners who suffered from foreclosure and short sales. Most of the problems involving the foreclosing of families’ homes could boil down to risky borrowing and lending. Lenders were pushed to ensure families would be eligible for a loan, when in previous years the same families would have been deemed too high-risk to obtain any kind of loan. With the increase in high-risk families obtaining loans, there was a huge increase in home buyers and subsequently a rapid increase in home prices. As a result, prices peaked and then began falling just as fast as they rose. Soon after families began to default on their mortgages forcing them either into foreclosure or short sales. Who was to blame for the risky lending and borrowing that caused the mortgage meltdown? Many might blame the company Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but in reality the entire system of buying and selling and free market failed home owners and the housing economy.

Low interest rates and the ease of borrowing money are two primary causes of the current recession. In 2007, 37% of the total home mortgage loans were considered a “liar loan” because the mortgage lender did not evaluate income or assests (Russo, Mitschow, & Schinski, 2015). The Federal Government sought to encourage home loaners to loan to risky homebuyers and they kept low interest rates for far too long. During this time mortgage brokers began selling home mortgage loans rather than a commercial banking system. They were not subject to the scrutinized federal regulations, and lent money to many individuals who were unable to afford the homes that they were buying. Many people overestimate their ability to pay debt, resulting in them buying expensive homes because they were approved regardless of their credit or income. The crisis occurred when homes values dropped due to the ability for individuals to buy expensive homes, which resulted in people owing more on their homes than the value of the house. It was nearly impossible for people to make a profit when selling their homes, so many homeowner’s felt that it would be best to default on their loans as they were losing money paying for a home with less value than the actual loan. The more foreclosures there was, the more home values diminished and causing more and more

The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was a set of events that led to the 2008 financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage defaults and foreclosures. This paper seeks to explain the causes of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and how this has led to a generalized credit crisis in other financial sectors that ultimately affects the real economy. In recent decades, financial industry has developed quickly and various financial innovation techniques have been abused widely, which is the main cause of this international financial crisis. In addition, deregulation, loose monetary policies of the Federal Reserve, shadow banking system also play

The financial crisis emerged because of an excessive deregulation of business operation of financial institutions and of abusing the securitization mechanism in the absence of clearly defined rules to regulate this area in the American mortgage market (Krstić, Jemović, & Radojičić, 2013). Deregulation gives larger banks the opportunity to loosen underwriting lender guidelines and generate increase opportunity for homeownership (Kroszner & Strahan, 2013). After deregulation, banks utilized many versions of mortgage loans. Mortgage loans such as subprime and Alternative-A paper loans became available for borrowers challenged to find mortgage lenders before deregulation (Elbarouki, 2016; Palmer, 2015). The housing market has been severely affected by fluctuating interest rates and the requirement of large down payment (Follain, & Giertz, 2013). The subprime lending crisis has taken a toll on the nation’s economy since 2007. Individuals who lacked sufficient credit ratings or down payments resorted to subprime mortgages to finance their homes Defaults on subprime and other mortgages precipitated the foreclosure crisis, which contributed to the recent recession and national financial crisis (Odetunde, 2015). Subprime mortgages were appropriate for borrowers with substandard credit and Alternate-A paper loans were

All the economy’s parts seem to be working together for a change: joblessness is under 5% - a 24 year low – yet inflation is holding steady at 3%, a combination that economists thought impossible” (Pooley). This article placed the economy in very favorable position, but the economy collapsed back in 2008 when Wall Street folded. In a video published by Johnathan Jarvis titled “The Cause and Effects of the 2008 Financial Crisis,” the video explains how the economy went from being healthy and vibrant, to desperate and helpless because investors were creating mortgages with people who were not financially stable, and those mortgagors were more than likely struggling to pay their debts prior to attaining a sub-prime mortgage loan. When these sub-prime mortgages defaulted, the house was reposed by the mortgagee and put on the market to sell. When the house went up for sale because of the default, the

In our closing section, we explain how government housing policies may have contributed to the subprime mortgage crisis using the report "How did we get into this finical mess" by Lawrence H White (2012). Overall, our results suggest that U.S government policy has proved ineffective in stimulating home ownership rates in the long run. Through the reinforcement of federal policy, improvements can be made by the Federal government to encourage and support homeownership in the future.

During the early 2000 's, the United States housing market experienced growth at an unprecedented rate, leading to historical highs in home ownership. This surge in home buying was the result of multiple illusory financial circumstances which reduced the apparent risk of both lending and receiving loans. However, in 2007, when the upward trend in home values could no longer continue and began to reverse itself, homeowners found themselves owing more than the value of their properties, a trend which lent itself to increased defaults and foreclosures, further reducing the value of homes in a vicious, self-perpetuating cycle. The 2008 crash of the near-$7-billion housing industry dragged down the entire U.S. economy, and by extension, the global economy, with it, therefore having a large part in triggering the global recession of 2008-2012.

The recent recession that began in 2007 and led to the stock market crash of 2008 was partly due to real estate and the mortgage market, and it was portrayed in the newly released movie, The Big Short, adapted from the book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. The book is about the creation of the housing and credit bubble during the early 21st century and how it burst, causing the 2008 recession. It sheds a spotlight on specific individuals who predicted the crisis before anyone else did. The book is important to read because it explains how housing mortgages and loans work, in addition to showing how critical real estate is to the U.S. economy. The housing crash had several factors, but members of the industry should have conducted more research to have avoided such problems. The American public should have knowledge about real estate concepts and terms, for they are important in purchasing houses, investing, and making better business decisions that hopefully don’t lead to another

Since the inflation of the United States dollar continues to rise every year, housing prices in relation to the peak of the market in 2006 are at a standstill, or even are decreasing in many cities. The housing market has fully recovered from the devastation of 2006. Currently, homes in San Francisco are worth, on average, almost 15% more than in 2008. Unfortunately, due to inflation the majority of the value in the housing market has decreased since the mortgage fallout, by 19.4% (“American House Prices”). The housing market peaked just before the collapse of 2006, mainly because banks became greedy and did not check the majority of their clients credit scores. As the time passed, banks soon realized that their plans were not unfolding as planned. The Washington Post estimated that at the time of the fallout 1 in 5 mortgage holders had below average credit. In many banks, whole empires were controlled by “subprime mortgages”. This meant homebuyers who had poor credit scores dictated the

Beginning in the summer of 2005 the U.S. suffered inflationary mortgage crises because low interest rates and adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) lead lenders to entice many lower-income people into buying homes they couldn’t afford. An article in the CQ Researcher stated “more than 2 million borrowers lost their homes to foreclosure” (Mortgage). This is because they were unable to make the payments on high-interest subprime mortgages. Further this resulted in mortgage lenders, banks and investors being left with bad loans to write off and eventually most needed a bailout and the economy sank into a recession. This is just one example of the economic extremes a full market economy nation like the

One of the first indications of the late 2000 financial crisis that led to downward spiral known as the “Recession” was the subprime mortgages; known as the “mortgage mess”. A few years earlier the substantial boom of the housing market led to the uprising of mortgage loans. Because interest rates were low, investors took advantage of the low rates to buy homes that they could in return ‘flip’ (reselling) and homeowners bought homes that they typically wouldn’t have been able to afford. High interest rates usually keep people from borrowing money because it limits the amount available to use for an investment. But the creation of the subprime mortgage

The American dream, most people want to live it, start a career, get married, have a nice family, buy a house, and live happily ever after, right? Wrong. For a great majority of people in America, it’s more like the American nightmare since a housing crisis occurred which has rocked this country and will continue for years to come. This paper will cover the housing bubble that inflated during the past several years, the burst of that bubble, and the negative effects that could last for many years.