What do "falling home sales, falling home prices, tighter mortgage lending and refinancing" have to do with foreclosures? Interest rates adjusting upward on unwise loans and loss of income do but not your first four. They only have an effect on someone already in deep trouble from a higher interest adjustment, loss of income or just bad financial management.

Articles like this of doom and gloom have fueled the slagging R/E market issues. Buyers are waiting for fire sales and sellers have to give it up for several reasons. Little is moving. I want to sell but don't HAVE to.-won't get anything for it. I feel sorry for my neighbor who has 3 kids and nowhere to go now. GB IN FL.

If paople are irresponsible, by not readin the paperwork required when bying a house, then they deserve to lose what they shouldn't have qualified for in the first place. I'm sorry, but, a person working a $10/hr job just doesn't qualify for a $400,000 home and they should know that. I see people every day, from California, in Las Vegas spending money like it's water and they are in the process of losing their homes(Duh). Get a second job and pay your bills.

Re: 1 in 519 homes got a foreclosure notice...


So 519 homeowners are current while ONE is not...You do realize that figures up to a ratio of about 99.8% current while .20% is not...Thats scary? PLEASE!

Whats scary is people like you "headline grabbing" trying to create hysteria over an extremely minute percentage...

As a business owner, I would be THRILLED to have a loss ratio of less than one quarter of one percentage point...

SCS~ your percentage works out GREAT only IF there were 519 homeowners in the country. so if you look at ALL the homeowners in the country....1 out of every 519 are getting notices.

In my subdivision, we have about 700 homes...meaning almost two people here are getting foreclosure notices. And when that happens, the house falls into disrepair and further brings home prices DOWN, thus reducing our INCENTIVE for home ownership....PROFIT.

When mortgage prices went down a few years ago, many "tapped" into their equity by refinancing and getting into adjustable rate mortgages. On the short side it looked rosy...but what was REALLY happening was people trying to pay off HIGH interest credit cards with equity....it was a gamble that was a no win situation.

This country is founded on people making money on their homes for retirement...and with housing prices falling, many were "banking on"their homes to retire on...

I think High interest credit cards is the little start of our financial mess....many just don't realize just how much interest they are paying for things....29%..geez..and we complain about taxes eating our money....look into the interest on CCs!

SCS

Thank you! The sub-prime mortgage industry is a small subset of the overall mortgage industry. And of that small subset, a smaller subset are defaulting.

The real estate market is fine.

I wish people would stop headline whoring like the entire real estate market is going down in flames. Bloggers, get over it and do some research.

And while we're at it, stop crying about the COMING RECESSION! You've been playing that tune since January. Time to face the truth.

Now the people with no common sense think a black racist president will help them. George Bush didn't make these people sign bad loans, buy gas guzzlers, not set up a retirement plan...on and on..

financial literacy is more difficult than the abz's. There is self control involved. Good luck and GB to all those finding themselves in this nigtmarish situation. We will overcome as people and as a nation. Have faith & trust. Thy will be done.

Warren, I am glad to hear that the real estate market where you live is doing fine. Here it isn't doing so well. Foreclosures are up, housing sales are way down, housing starts are nearly non-existent, and property is losing value at an alarming rate. Some of this is due to the fact that the real estate market is self-adjusting, bringing properties back into line with actual worth as opposed to what the owner thinks it is worth, but much of it is because people over-extended themselves, thinking that our boom economy would last a lot longer than it did.

Not everyone going into foreclosure made stupid decisions for a subprime loan. There are lots of people who lost their jobs and can't find one to help pay for their mortgage too! Everyone who seems to be commenting about how they deserve to lose their house should think about what they would do if they lost their job. Most people don't get overpaid like you do. A lot have to work very hard for not so much money too. There isn't a lot of work out there unless you have a career in that industry or have gone to school for something. Millions of people are working paycheck to paycheck and if they lose their jobs they lose everything. Don't be so quick to judge. And who are you to say they deserve to lose what they have worked for because they didn't make "good financial decisions"? There are many homes that have been foreclosed on that only have about 1/3 or less of the original mortgage left on them. After 20 years.... they lose their home.

Okay let's review Kids...Looking at the first 4 comments it's pretty clear why G.W.Bush was allowed anywhere near the White House..Gregg asking what falling prices and tougher lending standards have to do with foreclosures is like asking what a empty gas tank has to do with your car not running.."I thought they put gas in at the factory"..DOH ! d. valentine unless you're living in your Grandma's garage hold down on the self-rightious chest thumping. People can't find a first job much less a second one. When you lose your's your mind will come to you reaaal quick ..

I know people that are losing their home but they continue to spend on such luxuries as cosmetic surgeries, trips to Hawaii, big screen hd tvs. etc. How do people do it?????? I have been conservative and watched every penny all my life, while i see others buy homes that the president and my doctor could only aford. Now they are paying for it. Do I feel sorry for them???????Duh!!!

SCS has it exactly right, 1 out of 519 given current circumstances is amazingly good news. My statistics professor said if one torutres the data long enough it will confess. If you start with a percentage so close to zero, any increase on the margin appears frighteningly large.
Despite current losses of financial institutions we rarely analize the ten years of record returns there or in the stock and real estate markets. Financial institutions screwed up by not saving part of the profits.
Meanwhile holders of stocks and real estate if they have held those assets for 10 or more years are in great shape. If I am up 300% in ten years and have a one year loss of 10 % to 30 % I am still way ahead, Be thankfull for the gains and don't panic at the ocasssional loss.
Having said that, if you took all your gains in real estate and used your HELOC to go to Hawaii and buy jet skis and RV's, please fell free to panic.

Thank heavens there are a few rational people are there, like those above, who recognize the crisis-baiting and fear-mongering reports that are going on in the media and with people like this analyst. Basically what the analyst is saying is about 1/2 to 1% of the entire mortgages held in this country are in default. That's a crisis???? What on earth is the matter with you people? Do you make money off this kind of rhetoric? There must be some reward for you to be constantly tearing things apart...

We have a recession every five to six years and it usually corrects itself...the gas prices will come down because of the simple rule of supply and demand...but most of the mortgage problems are caused by people who are in over their heads and irresponsible about paying their bills as well as by the irresponsible, reckless spending by the government along with our government trying to "fix" things...everytime they "fix" things they screw it up because they "fix" things that are not broken, just temporarily worn down a bit.....

It would be nice if once in a while there is an "analyst" out there who sees things clearly and correctly, rather than having his job depend on tearing the country down and making things seem so much worse than they are.....

Reading the comments of doom and gloom that excerbate Wall Street's greed and fear method of trading it reminded me of an very positive article buried in the WSJ that actually had a negative headline. The USA is experiencing a very severe contianer shortage and container rates have doubled and tripled because US EXPORTS are BOOMING. Why wasn't that on the front page with a positive headline ? Oh well.......

What is NOT pointed out on any of the reporting,
are the HUGE number of foreclosures on Black
and Mexican loans, that were extended simply due
to their race,and political correctness. As most
lenders were pushed to make them loans by the
"same" people that run the Democratic party.So
guess what!. Elect Hussien and they all get free
"everything",at your exspense of course. Why do
you think he gets 97% of the black vote? "THEY"
see the hand writeing on the wall.

John said...
Now the people with no common sense think a black racist president will help them. George Bush didn't make these people sign bad loans, buy gas guzzlers, not set up a retirement plan...on and on..

Gee John check your facts...Obama is not racist but apparently you are. You are hearing to much Hillary rhetoric. What does this have to do with home foreclosures anyway? The Bush administration and Iraq war is causing this depression. Stick to the topic or do you plan to vote for McBush and lose your home along with the rest of the uneducated.

wonder whos to blame for all this?the goofy jerk with the big smile stinking up the white house.forget people losing their jobs,how the f can people even drive to work?how the f can people heat their homes at 1000 bucks a tank fill.wake up/put the fault where it belongs.

Las you are absolutley right about people not deserving to loose their homes. I am one of those people and it's not because i am consumed by credit card debt and have so many bills that i can't afford to pay. I am a single divorced mother of 2 small boys and i work hard to support my family. I am not on government assistance and i do pay my bills. I was a first time home buyer and exceited to be able to provide a home for my kids. In January my rate increased to 10%; but i was unware of this change. My lender never notified me and i continued paying my regular payment, until i received a notice of foreclose in March stating that have not made a payment since Dec. I called my lender to find out what was going on, they did advise me of the proceedings. I wanted to know where my checks that they cashed and never applied to my loan. I advised that they were being held in suspense and not applied so there for making it appear that I have not been making payments.
These people who are being so rude and judgemental have no idea what I am going through. i can afford my mortgage and I don't owe 400.0000 I deserve to keep my home i have paid on time and i have made payments! I am really really scared and i don't know what to do i have appied for a loan modification with my lender. They are literally holding my life in the palm of their hands!

It is really tough in this economy, just think when i used to fill my gas tank with $25, 5 years ago, now it is costing $70 to $75 on a 22 gal tank. if you have children 2 children & food prices going up everyday, those posting comments about people deserving to lose their home are really out of touch. Go out & price food from week to week, electricity prices going up making a big dent in our pockets, the Northern states have to pay their oil to heat their houses & costing them almost $1k per month in some markets, the southern states with electricity going up due to oil prices every mohth & during summer. So please those of you out of touch, talk to your neighbors, your relatives & see how they have been affected..... and why not let people dream of owning their homes, no matter how to get there. It is the last tax shelter available to most Americans!!!!!