The Foreclosure Catastrophe Involuntary

The bursting of the housing bubble, known more colloquially as the 2008 mortgage crisis, was preceded by a series of ill-fated circumstances that culminated in what has been considered to be the worst financial downfall since the Great Depression. After experiencing a near-unprecedented increase in housing prices from January 2002 until mid-2006, a phenomenon that was steadily fed by unregulated mortgage practices, the market steadily declined and the prior housing boom subsided as well. When housing prices dropped to about 25 percent below the peak level achieved in 2006 toward the close of 2008, liquidity and capital disappeared from the market.

It is evident that the housing deficit is just a layer of the many problems we are suffering from during the hard times in our economy. Foreclosure is indeed a horrific word that is haunting homeowners across the US. Because of the situation in the current economy, millions of Americans have been plagued by foreclosing on their homes and are left to find new location for themselves and their families to live.

In the gleeful times of 2005, my parents decided, like so many others, that it was time to “upgrade.” They sold our smaller home on the other side of town, which had appreciated nicely, and bought a 3700 square foot behemoth in a town with already exorbitant property taxes. My younger brother and I were thrilled to finally have a basement, our own rooms, and even a concrete basketball court in our backyard! All eight-year-old me knew was that things were going to be a whole lot more comfortable from there, and my optimistic parents seemed to think the same.

was August, and I was seven months behind on the mortgage. The house had now gone into foreclosure, and on the twenty-eighth, it was going to be auctioned. Despite what that letter said, I still trusted God to perform a miracle. That letter did not faze me a bit. My faith was solid, and nothing or any person was going to shake it. After all, I was following the direction of the Lord.

The foreclosure crisis that devastated our economy several years ago not only impacted the middle class wealth but also the upper class wealth. The upper class families who were not prepared for this crisishad to downsize their primary homes or utilize their investments and savings to keep their properties. The middle class families were hit the hardest during this crisis with losing there homes, depleting their life savings and investments. The middle class families who were forced to foreclose on their homes due to their loss of income and financial security moved into rental apartments or moved to a family members home to regroup from this crisis. Areas that may have added to foreclosures or short sales were the lost of many jobs due to a corporation downsizing of their employees, or the over appraising of a property if the property was appraised higher than the true value or what a buyer was willing to pay for the property. Homeowners were forced to sale their property at a lower price if the homeowner was in the process of a divorce, relocating for a job or foreclosing because they had fallen behind on their mortgage payments.I have seen circumstances where certain peoplelived above their means by spending more for a home or nonessential items like luxury vehicles they couldnot actually afford to pay.

The foreclosure crisis that took over the United States a few years ago left many people facing economic hardships. This crisis happened because there was a huge housing bubble that was unsupported by actual home values. The bubble began bursting in spring of 2008 and the crisis culminated in mid-2009. Many lenders went out of business and many home owners began losing their homes. When the government became aware of this problem and began to implement new programs, it was already too late for many homeowners. Those homeowners are not at a point where they might be considering buying a new home. The housing crisis has created new rules, regulations governing the mortgage industry, and has also created a new agency dedicated to consumer protection. This consumer protection agency is called the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. These dramatic changes have helped to create more responsible lending. The improving market conditions such as low housing costs and competitive interest rates are allowing those affected by a foreclosure to become homeowners again. Prospective buyers have a multitude of programs available to them, so even those with less than clean slate have several options.

mortgage was due, and I had not paid anything since they sent the check back to me in March. I received a letter stating that I had to send them both payments, or they would not accept it. I had believed that if I was sending them a payment, everything would be okay until I was able to catch up. When I sent February’s payment in March, the mortgage company sent the check back. I explained to them that I wasn’t two months behind because I had until the 15th of March to pay them. They would not work with me, and now I had a problem of needing at least another one thousand dollars to catch up with my mortgage payments.

The insolvency seen in the Housing Market manifested in the large number of stagnant foreclosures caused a dramatic decline in housing prices, which resulted in many homeowners owing more money on their houses than they are worth. Market-level insolvency is caused by capital flight in a specific market in response to a scare during a decrease in solvency. During the scope of this recession, the initial, progressive decrease in solvency was caused by a negative Net Capital Outflow in conjunction with the cash-vacuum produced by the US Budget Deficit, and the scare was caused primarily by the failure of several significantly-sized corporations and a rapid increase in foreclosures caused by the loss of a large number of jobs.

I often used to watch a show called “Extreme Makeover” where a team of builders would come to a neighborhood, build a need worthy family a beautiful new home, and then just give it to them. “Wow! What a lucky family,” I would say. “How fortunate.” However, as time went by, that same family would be in the news again. Why? The house was in foreclosure. The people had gone to the bank and taken out a mortgage against the home, then spent all the money they got for it on other things.

The past decades have dictated our economic policies; the housing market was fed by the politicians instilling the thought that every person should be a homeowner. According to a speech by President William Clinton in 1995, he boasted about making homeownership a reality, “The goal of this strategy, to boost homeownership to 67.5 percent by the year 2000, which would take us to an all-time high”(Wooley). As a result of political ploys like this, banks and lending institutions came up with products such as the 107% financing, interest only loans, negative amortization programs which allowed loans to start at a 1% interest rate, sub-prime credit packages for those homeowners only 1 day out of bankruptcy, and the no document qualifier

The mortgage crisis we are experiencing in the United States today is already ranking as among the most serious economic events since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Hardly a day goes by without a story in the newspaper or on the cable news stations reporting about the increase in the number of foreclosures across the United States. The effects of this crisis have spread across all financial markets, where in the end all of us are paying a price for this home mortgage crisis. When the housing market collapsed, so did the availability of credit which our economy depends upon. The home mortgage crisis, the financial crisis and overall economic crisis all need to address by the

The foreclosure crisis in America has impacted everyone- even those who don’t own homes. Our nation is currently struggling with high unemployment, a relatively illiquid credit market, and a deficit that raises serious concerns about the value of the US Dollar in the not too distant future. With interest rates already at historic lows and the government pursuing an unprecedented policy of quantitative monetary easing, options for government intervention are limited. While there is no simple solution to this problem, I think that we must look at the reasons the housing market went into crisis, and based on that develop a regulatory system that will allow us to avoid another situation like this in the future. If Americans believe

There were many people affected by the most recent recession and therefore forced to foreclose on their homes. Losing a home due to foreclosure leaves a big black eye on an individual’s credit score and forces these people to be patient until they are approved to rejoin the housing market. “Boomerang buyers” are a group of potential homeowners who are re-entering the housing market after losing their homes due to foreclosure.

Foreclosure has become an outbreak affecting an entire nation. Realtytrac just reported in the month of April 2011 that one in every 593 housing units received a foreclosure filing. (N1) That statistic is for just one month! Some states such as Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada continue to be plagued with an influx of homes falling victim to foreclosure or some other form of default. Each home that is a casualty to a foreclosure, short sale or even bankruptcy is secured as collateral for the lender holding the promissory note. The consequences tend to come at a cost for the lender selling the property but a deal for the buying investor. The costs incurred and the losses experienced by the affected

Brooklyn, NY – December 30, 2009 Foreclosures continue to rise drastically across the United States due to the recession, and have effected, and continue to affect thousands of families and individuals every day. One aspect we must take into consideration is that most people are not informed of what foreclosure means, or the process, even those who are homeowners. I believe that one step to preventing foreclosure is to educate first-time homebuyers. In addition, first-time homebuyer programs should not only assist potential buyers with financially preparing them to buy a home, but to keep the home once