It’s not a housing/mortgage issue; it’s the economy stupid!

The main stream media, especially the cable new stations would have you believe all of our economic woes are attributable to the wave of home mortgage foreclosures. That ain’t it pal… oh, I will admit that the increase in foreclosures in the United States is a contributing factor, but it is certainly not the whole enchilada. The truth is that the financial crisis is real, but it can, for the most part be blamed on a lot of people who behaved poorly. Our elected representatives in Washington and the greedy corrupt scum on Wall Street are mainly responsible for the economic meltdown that will cost us (you, me, our children and our grandchildren) hundreds of billions, or most likely trillions of inflated dollars.

Some truths:

Until 2005 our annual mortgage foreclosure was about .7%, and that is just about the historic annual rate.

The percentage of American Home foreclosures today is about 2.75%

While 2.75% is about 4 times the historic rate, it also means that 97.25% of homes in America are NOT in foreclosure! The media would have you believe that every other home is being foreclosed upon. Pay attention people… that is just not the case.

A disproportionate percentage of homes in foreclosure are investor properties, or rentals. It makes sense that investors with a small investment in their rental property will let it go when things get tough and appreciation stops.

There are a few states that have much higher per homeowner foreclosures than the others. Some of the highest on a percentage basis are: California, Arizona, Florida and Nevada. These also are states that had the highest reports of house-flipping, predatory lending and fraudulent borrowers.

There are 42 states that are BELOW the national average foreclosure rate. 42! That is 84% folks! 84% of the individual states are below the national average foreclosure rate. Its a few problem states that make the situation look much worse than it really is.

Yes, the financial crisis is real, and even the foreclosure crisis is real, but foreclosures are a result of the economic crisis… not the cause.

It’s the economy stupid…

Wayne