Central Texas Tiding Over Foreclosure Crisis
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007The foreclosure floods have not been able drown Central Texas according to reliable tracking sources. Two metropolitan areas and nine counties had been surveyed. Except for Bastrop County all the other showed a decline in listings as compared to last year. In Hays County and Williamson County the drop was by 22%. Comal County, Guadalupe County, Austin metropolis and San Antonio recorded 14%, 19%, 21% and 9% decline respectively. But in Bastrop County it was up by 19%.
In Hays County foreclosure rumblings have declined for the first time since 2003. In the language of numbers the decline is by 9%. Last year 710 numbers of foreclosures have gone down to 647 this year. The total value of properties posted this year amounts to $91 million. This is the lowest point since the last four years.
Austin is the only important city to see foreclosure weather conditions improve. It should be noted however that the betterment is relative because as compared to national figures the numbers are still comparatively high.
In 1989 a crisis had hit the nation. In some ways it was similar but there are differences. In 1989 the storm was stirred up by unemployment in the oil and financial sectors but today the reasons are extensive and all embracing. The main accusing finger points to the sub-prime mortgage sector. Easy lending had led to this fiasco. But this alone cannot explain 5,300 foreclosures during nine months. Coupled with it are other factors like increase in living expenses, credit card debts, spiraling of all round interest rates and difficulty in filing for bankruptcy. The situation is so complex that no easy solution can be worked out within a short span of time. It will need careful planning and years for proper execution of the same.
The main reason for the crisis, which has affected various corners of the globe, is the encouragement of a debt culture. It has become a fashion to be in debt – something to be proud of.
People borrowed today without thinking about tomorrow. It was naïve thinking to hope that tomorrow things would look up. Unemployment, unforeseen health emergencies, divorce and death – common stories of life were not taken into account. In the blame game everyone is trying to collar everyone else. But what is required is a comprehensive global outlook where no single cause can be the sole culprit.