Report Says Foreclosure Crisis Worse Than Ever
12/07/09
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), has reported that record number of loans- 1 in 7 - is delinquent, up from 1 in 10 a year ago. The numbers also show that 1 in 22 families in the U.S. is in the process of losing their home, up from 1 in 34 a year ago.
Based on those figures the country is on track for 2.9 million foreclosure starts in this year alone.
John Robinson, a management consultant, got a pink slip nearly a year ago and he is still unemployed. For him it was the beginning of the end of things as his family knew it. With his job gone and his wife still home on maternity leave he tried everything he could to get another job.
"I'm still unemployed so when the foreclosure notice came I wasn't surprised. It was just another nail in the coffin of our middle class life." he told The Final Call.
"I sold my car, now we take the bus and the train. We don't eat out and we don't shop. The holidays won't be merry. I'm doing all I know how to keep my house. The American Dream for me has become a nightmare."
The MBA is quick to blame this worsening trend of foreclosures on higher unemployment levels. But that just speaks to the here and now. It ignores the fact that reckless lending precipitated the economic crisis and prolongs it each day with every new foreclosure, which forces down surrounding property values.
_______________________________
