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Unemployment has been hovering around the 9% mark since the recession ended two years ago. The report on jobs released last September shows the clearest indication that the crisis will continue into the 2012 elections.

The suffering is not limited to those 14 million that are officially unemployed. There are many who are compelled to become underemployed and work part-time. However, those that are underemployed are not included in the numbers suffering from lack of decent jobs.

Even looking at those with jobs, the picture is bleak. Their salaries, the values of their houses and their prospects of better employment have become severely diminished. Communities have been impacted by the slashing of public services. Small businesses are somehow surviving with sales at an all time low while college students are suffering because they can’t find work.

The sick job market can be taken to be both one of the symptoms and causes of many economic troubles – from raging foreclosure action, cash-starved governments to weakened consumer spending.

The hobbled job market shifts the power of bargaining to employers. Workers have no leverage to help them in asking for wage increases. Adjusted for inflation, the pay of the average worker was about 2% than last August’s average pay, according Labor Department findings.

Carl Van Horn of Center of the Workforce Development (RutgersUniversity) said that, “People are much more complaint and willing to take extra work assignments because they’re afraid”. Many are afraid to lose what little income they have.

High unemployment, impacts government funds negatively in two ways.  Job loss means less revenue coming in for the federal government. Secondly, the government has to contribute more dollars towards unemployment related benefits, such as food stamps and other social support plans.

The tax collection of the federal government this year is anticipated to be the lowest since 1950. Over 40 million people, one of every eight Americans, are surviving on food stamps. Enrollment in disability plans (Social Security) has increased by 1 million; this is an increase of about 16% since the onset of the recession in 2007. This increase in dependent Americans is partially because so many people are seeking jobs, resulting in them having little to no income coming in.

If the economy had the strength to bring down the unemployment to a healthy 5.2%, then the budget deficit in 2012 could be decreased by a third less than what was predicted recently by the Congressional Budget Office.

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The company named American Builder has continued to fatten itself even during the foreclosure crisis. It had started putting on weight during the time of the housing bubble. D.R. Horton, the captain of the company together with his crew spread out across the country, opened new branches and swallowed up lesser fry coming their way as they went into a frenzy of acquiring and expanding.

The housing sector reached its peak during 2006 when Horton sold 53,099 houses. The captain predicted that by 2010 it would cross the magic figure of 100,000. But it is obvious that this will not take place either this year or in the near future. In 2009 Horton managed to sell 16,703 units. From the time of the bust that started from 2007, the firm has endured losses worth over $3.9 billion. 53% of its workers have lost their jobs.
Ironically in one section Horton has maintained growth – the pay of executives. D.R. Horton pocketed $17.6 million from the time of the start of the bust in 2007 till 2009. His yearly bonus shot up to $7.6 million from $2 million according to a firm named Equilar that focuses on salaries. The CEO of the firm Donald Tomnitz also gained from the same type of increase. Both are well set to see salary hikes each year.

The same story of the top brass in the building industry benefiting disproportionately while others languished has been repeated with other firms. The industry as a whole retrenched half of its working strength and lost over half their capital in the market.

Ironically while the brokers of Wall Street have been subjected to far more investigation and pain for their fat purses, the executives of the house builders have been doing very well. During the two consecutive years of 2007 and 2008 the CEO’s of the top ranking homebuilders in the country earned approximately 6 million annually – the amount being the total of their bonuses and compensation.

The banking sector and the automobile manufacturers got fatter bailout from the administration the homebuilders too were not denied their share. It came as tax benefits for the purchasers, tax refunds for the developers and policies followed by the government that kept the mortgage rates on a low key. It also kept foreclosed units off the shop shelves for long stretches of time.

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This is an interesting tidbit of information from the New York Daily News. It seems that in the investigation of people who have gotten help in restructuring their loan terms, end up missing another payment. It seems that over half of the loans that were checked that had gotten some form of adjustment during the first half of the year have already missed or fallen behind on at least one more payment. In a time when people and lenders are all supposed to be doing what they can to make things work this news comes as a bit of a shock. Although for those that had significant payment adjustments the numbers were not nearly so high.

Even though the number of foreclosures seems to be turning slowly in the other direction, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the damage has been done not just for the next few years but perhaps even the next generation or two of Americans. The Akron Ohio News gives us a story where they look in depth at the effects that the foreclosure crisis is going to have on the children of parents who are facing foreclosure today. The story gives us food for thought as to why the Canadian mortgage system is in a lot better shape than our own.

This next story is not going to do a lot toward fostering good feelings about mortgage attorneys. But it is a story that every homeowner needs to take a moment to read. It tells about how the specialized attorneys are popping up all over trying to make money by saying that they are going to help the mortgage holder lower the payments and modify the loans. They take the money and that is as far as it goes. Most people feel like if they are dealing with a lawyer that they should be in good hands and not have to worry about being taken.

If you are one of the many people in the country that wonder how good a foreclosure can actually be if you purchase it. This story is one that you should take a moment and look over. The people that own this home bought it in foreclosure for $118,000 and by the time they get it all spruced up and all the low carbon footprint upgrades done they figure the circa 1901 brick should have about $300,000 into it. They used a lot of recycled components in it and the article gives people some ideas that perhaps they might enjoy trying out when doing a remodel in their own house whether it is the own they own now or a foreclosure that they buy.

Some people have decided it is time to fight back against the foreclosure, the job loss and the loss of health insurance benefits. The city of Chicago was the recent sight of a rally attended by Unions and Activists that said it is time for the voices of the people to be heard and that we need to take a stand as a people to stop the money being funneled into the banks and not the social services systems in the country. While it is a bit on the extreme side, it is an article that bears a quick reading so you can keep your finger on the pulse of the malcontent in the Americas.

What do people who have been purchasing homes for the bulk of their lives do when faced with foreclosure? The only option they are left with is to rent.  With about 1 million homes in foreclosure at the close of the second quarter, according to a Treasury Department report released last week, the American dream is going backwards at bewildering speed for homeowners across the country. Many are finding themselves in the position of having to find a place to rent for the first time in their lives. While nearly all of the people who have been interviewed for this particular article are there for various reasons they almost all say that they will again own a home someday. Parts of this article are uplifting and parts are depressing but it is still worth the time to read.

Florida has some bad news and some good news on the list this month. The bad news is that the foreclosure rate is still one of the highest in the nation with a jump of 25 percent in the third quarter of the year. The good news is that the trend, while still high is slowing by a bit so there is cause for a cautious breath among people that live in the troubled state. While this article is not going to be particularly interesting to anyone other than the folks that live in Florida, it certainly gives us cause to think that maybe the worst is over and things will slow down and ultimately reverse in the somewhat near future.

This one is going to strike a raw nerve in most Americans whether they have been personally touched by the foreclosure crisis or not. It seems that during the Bush administration Federal regulators blocked attempts by state governments to prevent the exact same predatory lending practices that ultimately gave rise to the current lending and mortgage crisis that we are experiencing in the United States today. It seems that a rather obscure agency called the Office of the Currency Comptroller, which has been burdened with making sure that the banks in the country were fiscally sound, invoked an old law from 1863 law to give itself the power to override state laws against predatory lending. The OCC told states that they could not enforce predatory-lending laws, and all banks would be subject only to less-strict federal laws.

This story is good reading if you are a lower income family and looking to pursue the American dream of homeownership. It outlines what plans and strategies are out there for lower income folks who still want to own rather than rent. Good reading though not a lot of new information.

We know that things are bad but exactly how intense is the foreclosure crisis still facing the country today? Well, according to this article it is pretty bad. It seems that by the figures they present that every 13 seconds there is a foreclosure filing in the United States – that is over 4 per minute. That means that if you are an average reader, in the time it has taken you to read just this paragraph to this point two more foreclosures have been filed. That is not only bad it is downright scary for most of us. You can take a moment and go over the depressing news here:

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Even in today’s market where foreclosure property can be great buys there are still some rules that you need to abide by and some things that you need to know. We’ll call them home buying tips. This article goes over the six biggest mistakes that homebuyers make from getting pre approved for the mortgage before shopping to people who focus in more on getting a great deal while overlooking a lot of other important aspects of the whole buying a house experience. These tips work great for people buying foreclosures but they are also good tips and points to remember after the market rebounds and you are out looking to just get a home.

Long Island’s Newsday paper brings us this story on how after four solid months of increased sales in the housing market as a whole across the nation has dropped back 2.7 percent over last month. This is not a huge setback and one that was almost expected and they feel that the sales will again head upwards but that the pricing structure is not going to be so quick to follow suit and that the market is finally predicted to hit bottom, at least according to this particular article writers opinion, some time early next year before the prices begin to also slowly rise. It is not going to be a fast recovery but the outlook according to Newsday is looking up.

Sticking with the State of New York here, the New York Times has a bittersweet story on a drive by residents to try and raise money to help save the animals that have been left behind due to foreclosures which forced families out onto the streets and into situations that did not allow them to take the family pets with them. It is called the Brooklyn Bridge Pup Crawl and it is a sad part of the foreclosure story that we as humans sometimes tend to over look our four legged friends while we focus on the plight of the people and the issues that they are having. The bright side is that by calling attention to it and getting the larger corporate sponsors that have signed on board to help out financially, it should help save a lot of animals lives that would have otherwise been cut short by this tragedy.

The influential Boston Globe newspaper posted this interesting diversion on people that are taking action in a rather odd way to try and get the banks to do the right thing and get people into houses rather than throwing them out of them. It is a very thought and emotion stirring bit of writing that should be looked over by anyone that has an opinion on banks, mortgages and foreclosures. In other words, it is a bit of writing that each and every person reading this ought to take the time to read through. You will come out with stronger feelings than when you started and there is a good chance that some parts of it might even make you question what you actually thought that you believed on the issue before you started reading. Now that is what a well-crafted piece is supposed to do.

Everyone knows that a great motivator to get you off the couch and looking into purchasing a home is that tax credit offered by the government. I mean who would not like a credit of $8,000 towards out already too high taxes? The problem is that people tend to see the finish line of $8,000 and in the process of racing to get that carrot at the end of the race, they miss some of the other things along the way that could potentially cost them more. In other words they might pay too much for the house to get that credit in time or they may just settle on a higher mortgage rate than they should to get the deal closed by the 30th of November. This article is a must read for anyone that is out there thinking about that credit and looking to shuffle into something before the time runs out.

A little uplifting news is always welcome though not always easy to find when you are discussing foreclosure news. This one comes form the website of the Dallas News and it is about a, who runs a yard of rock, borrowed against her dump truck to purchase a house that was going one auction block and then she  returned it to the woman who had just been standing there crying because that home was being sold in foreclosure out from under her. The new owner arranged some do-able terms on a note for the auction value, which was about $50,000 less than what had originally been owed on the property.

According to a story in the USA Today newspaper, is you are looking to but a foreclosure and want to get a great deal then Daytona Beach in Florida is the place to take your money and run. It seems that sales there are up by about twenty percent while the average price is down by nineteen percent. Do the math and it’s pretty easy to see why this area of the country is an enticing area to shop if you are seriously looking to buy in this market. The story is here:

The recent rains and flooding in Atlanta have added some new concerns to the foreclosure problems there. The empty and foreclosed property there as a result of the flooding ahs gotten to the point that they are more than just eye sores and are now becoming health problems and causing the people in those neighborhoods to have more than just a little concern about safety and well being. The article on Fox News is located here:

The final story this week is a sad one from the city of Phoenix in Arizona. A man there opened the door to two people who had just purchased his house at auction and were there to arrange the moving of him out so they could take it over. The man shut the door and returned with a beer in one hand and a gun in the other and as the men ran away he fired at them. They were not hurt but police and SWAT team members returned to end the situation which came to a conclusion when the man fired at the officers and they returned shots hitting him and killing him. The depressing details of the altercation are located here:

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With the situation slipping from bad to worse the people are taking the matter into their own hands. More foreclosed vacant houses are becoming homes to the homeless. The movement is often headed by organized groups.

Women in Transition in Louisville is one such group. They hunt out properties that can be occupied after being frustrated in their efforts to find affordable housing. The over supply of empty houses are the perfect answer to their problems.

Metro Atlanta Task Force for the homeless is represented by Anita Beaty. Her group has been asking the banks to hand over buildings that have been abandoned so they can refurbish it and have them occupied without breaking the law.

Cheri Honkal leading Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign in Minnesota was herself once a squatter. She recalls that previously neighbours used to raise a hue and cry about breaking the law but that attitude has now changed. Now the neighbours come forward to help with bedding and food.

Ben Burton of Miami Coalition for the Homeless said till recently squatting was an unknown thing in the city.

Max Rameau of Take Back the Land said competitions are surfacing between organized and non-organized squatters. There are squatters taking over their squat. Rameau said that his group openly operated sifting out the sand from the sugar – the insane, drug addicts and the like. The people moving in would have to sweat it out by doing the repairs and paying utility fees. They replace the locks when they drive in through the front gate. The families are given the key. Most of these happen in poor localities where the neighbours are not likely to protest.

Kelly Penton the Director of Communications said that the police needed a signed affidavit from the owner of the property, usually a bank, before they can evict squatters. If this happens the group starts looking once more for another house to shift the floating population.

Rameau and his peers hunt through foreclosure listings to find the suitable properties. Then they inspect the damages. Often they find that even locks are not in place. Inside all the fittings have been stripped off and the floors full of ashes – remnants of a fire made with a discarded telephone book to fight a cold wintry night. So far Ramneau has shifted ten families. Per moving in the cost is $200.

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As the foreclosure clouds darken one cannot see any jobs peeping through. Although there is strong talk about recovery of the market the unemployment picture continues to be bleak. A day after the Federal Reserve announced the ‘leveling out’ of the economy, the government released a depressing data about unemployment having reached more than what had been feared and that retail sales too had slightly fallen back.

9 million Americans are receiving unemployment benefits. There are growing figures about the recovery of the market. Henry Farber of Princeton University who focuses on labour said, “I don’t think it’s going to be a jobless recovery. But I don’t see any real signs of a recovery in the labor market yet.”
For the first time after 15 months the rate of jobless fell to 9.4% sparking hopes about the situation taking a turn for the better. But there are gloomy predictions from experts and also the White House that it will go up to 10% before the year comes to a close. Mary Daly of Federal Reserve Bank, San Francisco said, “It’s too early to call it a peak just yet.”

All pundits agree that the growth of jobs always trails behind other economic activities like GDP. In 2001 there was a recession. Job gains started 18 months after recession had ended noted Ken Matheny of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC of St. Louis. But he is more optimistic about the current situation and is expecting jobs to pick up growth one or maximum two months before the year closes. He said, “What we suspect will happen is that this recovery might be kind of sluggish early on, but all in all, it will be a pretty decent recovery, particularly as we get into next year. Next year, we expect a more sustainable recovery and a firmly rising trend for employment.”

But there are many who do not share this view. Lawrence Mishel of Economic Policy Institute, Washington said, “We’re stuck with very high unemployment in spite of the continuing stimulus over the next year. Jobs will continue to decline for many months to come, and unemployment will be rising over the next year or more. I estimate that a third of the workforce will spend some period of time unemployed or underemployed in the next 12 months.”

A private research firm – The Conference Board has come to the conclusion that there will not be any noted growth in jobs during the forthcoming 12 months. For the past three months its indicators reflecting the labour market has been flat.

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If you are like countless Americans in the world today you have credit card debt that is possibly choking you. The obvious solution has always been when the credit cards get high you just roll them into the mortgage with a debt consolidation loan. That was the way things were done and the way that was accepted. This article takes a look at whether the solution of consolidating the debt is the best option for you.

It absolutely had to happen. Everyone has heard of the “Dummy’s” series of books. You know ”Computers for Dummy’s”, Tax Preparation for Dummy’s”, etc. Well now with the market being flooded with options and people looking to do loan modifications and other things we have the newest entry into the book of “Dummy’s” books. “Loan Modification for Dummy’s” The book that promises to teach you everything that you need to know about what options are out.

If you are having trouble getting out of financial issues and are thinking about selling your home as a for sale by owner, keep in mind that putting a sign at the corner can be a good way to get business. Though if you read this article you might want to do some more research before you actually push the sign into the dirt. The St. Petersburg Florida area has an ordinance, as do many cities, about this type of thing and the city of St. Petersburg is enforcing the regulations. The fines can run from $125 to $00 per sign. If you are considering this option you really owe it to check out this information and then do a little investigation before you put it up. It might just save you some heartache and money.

With the market where it is, many people with a little extra cash are considering buying property, fixing it up and then reselling it for a profit. This is known in the real estate market as flipping the home. You might think that with the prices of some homes being at the historic lows that they are now that there is no way in the world that you can get hurt and lose in this situation. If you are even mildly entertaining this idea please take a few moments and look over the article at the following web address. It gives you the truth about the market and the difficulty that you might encounter trying to turn the property from a flop to a flip and what pitfalls you might encounter and how to avoid them.

This is a joke, really! But if you know anything about Wal-Mart, you realize that it is not all that far fetched or too far removed from the truth. So since I think everyone needs a little comic relief from time to time, this is one that you absolutely have to take a couple moments and read.

Everyone seems to think that the loan modification programs that are out there now are going to be the answer to the problem and that if you apply you will have all of the issues solved and then things will be better for you. In a perfect world this is the way that it should work and in a perfect world that is the way that it would work. Unfortunately, these programs are set to help people that are late or delinquent for the most part. People that are not having a recorded issue with being late are actually being turned down and many have ended up losing their homes. This is good news if you are already having trouble making the payments but not so good if you are getting things done the right way and actually pay the mortgage as the primary bill each month.

For those of us that are looking to restructure our loans and to try and take advantage of some of the options that the feds have given us in the various mortgage programs this article should prove interesting. Some of the new plans allow you to not pay more than 31% of your income and provides for interest rates as low as 2%. SO if you have been interested in finding out about the nuts and bolts information and would like to see if perhaps you qualify to get in on some of these savings you need to go and read this article. It is full of information and web links to go to and check and see if you qualify for them.

The headline on the story is enough to get you to stop by and read it. “Foreclosure Purchase Keeps Tomatoes Alive” it reads in bold letters. While it might not be the most helpful story to someone that is about to lose a property to foreclosure proceedings it is certainly an article that shows how community involvement can make a difference in the blight and plight of the American neighborhoods that are smitten with the ugly scars of foreclosure that have in some areas of the country taken whole areas of towns and relinquished them to the unsightly stain of boarded up windows and vacant overgrown yards.

If you are one of the people out there that is looking down the barrel of the foreclosure gun then you need to read this article. Most of us know that these kinds of things can affect your credit. This article shows you the many ways that it can have an adverse affect on the rest of your life. How long and how hard that impact is can be determined by a number of factors that are all outlined and gone over here in this very well written and informative article. Even if you are not having issues with payments today it might be worth reading so that you have the knowledge in the back of your mind as you travel down the road to you future since you never know what is lurking around the next bend.

The Long Island Press brings us a story about a movie called American Casino, which basically is a film about the issues on Wall Street and how it has affected the mortgage and real estate industry among other areas of our life. The story gives a nice overview about the film and it might just make you want to go give it a view as well.

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Across USA legal action is being initiated against consultants falsely cheating those seeking help to avoid foreclosures. So far 189 suits have been filed. The Federal Trade Commission’s chairperson Jon Leibowitz and the Attorney General of California Edmund G. Brown announced that these steps were part of a national move against false consultants covering 18 states. Utah is not one of the states.

The announcement served the purpose of sending out a warning to the con artists as well as a word of caution to home owners to be wary of the breed. These fraudsters approach their victims with hollow promises to line their own pockets without delivering goods.

FTC filed legal suits against Lucas Law Center of Aliso, for taking as fees $3,995 while telling them not to pay their mortgage dues. Suits were also filed against US Foreclosure Relief Corp of Orange, Loss Mitigation Services of Santa Ana and Appoy2Save of Idaho.

The legal suits were filed in the counties of Orange and Los Angeles roping in the five companies, their branches and members of their staff. Brown said, “We are going to do everything we can to stop it, realizing that there are more rats to come out of their holes than we can stomp on. But we will keep doing the best we can because it is horrible to take advantage of somebody who is vulnerable with their family exposed to foreclosure.”

The CEO of Loss Mitigation Services, Dean Schafer had his sympathies for the steps being taken by FTC to sift out the black sheep but failed to understand why his firm had been especially marked out. He had no comments to make about the suit and was still going through the allegations.

The suit seeks millions in penalties, compensation to the victims and a permanent stay order to keep the companies out of the mortgage advising and consultancy business. One of the accused, US Homeowners Assistance of Irvine has been charged for collecting fees amounting to $3,500 for each of the victims faced with foreclosure. One of the victims alleged that her signature had been copied and false information given in the documents that had been submitted to her lender.

The FTC is combing through rules that will put a ban on mortgage help services from accepting upfront fees. He is hopeful to have the regulations in effect before the end of this current year.

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The South Carolina judiciary has stepped in to apply brakes to the foreclosure engine. In the second quarter of this year lenders accelerated their foreclosure activity in Charleston region. At this point the Supreme Court ruling slowed down the pace causing lesser number of foreclosures.

A survey undertaken by The Post and Courier covering June – it being the month following the court order, shows that in Charleston region 284 foreclosure proceedings were initiated. This is the lowest number since more than one year.

Across USA foreclosures increased by 4.5% during June but in Charleston region it fell by 32% compared to May. During the second quarter the number of foreclosures in Charleston was 1,242 showing a drop of 11% from the previous quarter.

Those lenders that have started taking foreclosure action are expected to give an explanation to the court as to why their borrowers were not considered eligible for assistance. Many owners were disqualified because the houses in question were not their primary places of residence. Rented and second homes are not qualified for help from the Obama plan. There are other owners who would not be able to manage their reduced mortgage amounts. There were some who did not respond to the enquiries being made by the lenders. Loans not covered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do not come under the purview of the plan either. It means lenders are at liberty to proceed with foreclosures.

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Let’s start off the foreclosure recap this time with some good news, which is something we could all use in the dismal housing market today. The good news came from the Miami Herald. New home foreclosures in south Florida have dropped by over fifty percent between May and June of this year while statewide numbers are down just over nineteen percentage points. Now as with all good news, there is a slight catch.  Unemployment numbers are up even though the housing market looks like it’s improving. Florida isn’t out of the woods yet.

Another area of the country that is experiencing a shift in numbers this week is the San Francisco bay area where prices of homes are a full fifty percent lower than they were three short years ago. This has spurred an explosion of sales in the bay area; sales are now up to 20.4 percent and in Solano the sales were up 66.5 percent. These numbers are encouraging and, if the trend continues, it could bring some consumer confidence back, which could spur even farther growth. This could make buying easier for consumers as well.

And just because I like good news in a series of threes, the state of New Jersey says that home foreclosures were down thirty percent in the fist six months of 2009, which is a far cry from the last six months of 2008. That means that only one home out of 146 were in foreclosure during the first six months as opposed to the national average of one home in 84. Isn’t good news nice to hear from time to time? Sort of makes you want to smile. You can research this here including other links to associated stories from New Jersey:

If you were a child of the sixties then this story might be particularly poignant to you. Watergate is now going into foreclosure. For those of you that might not remember Watergate is the famous hotel that was in the news during the Nixon administration where there were some less that scrupulous things going on that eventually caused the downfall if a United States president. That’s all the background I am giving on that one, you can research the details yourself if you don’t remember it.

Fox News reports that the states that seem to be the hardest hit in this crisis oddly enough also seem to be the states getting the least amount of help. Back on the 17th of February when the stimulus bill was signed into law President Obama said that the stimulus bill “includes help for those hardest hit by our economic crisis,” President Obama went on to say that “As a whole, this plan will help poor and working Americans.” The analyzing of the latest data by Fox News shows that the exact opposite has been true and found that States with higher bankruptcy, foreclosure and unemployment rates got less money. And higher income states received more.

This is an interesting article on using the loan modification process to help stop foreclosure and the impending financial disaster that can follow you for a long time after that legality happens. It gives some details that most of us already know but it never hurts to review those details and refresh our thought patterns. We all hope that it never happens to us but in the event that we get in dire straights it is better to have the knowledge and a cool head to make the decisions that are best for the situation than to wait until that time to research and end up making the wrong decision that can haunt us for a long time.

Long Island in New York has long been known for being the opposite with some counties being populated some not, some rich and some poor. This story shows that even in this real estate crisis things remain much like the yin and yang. In comparison to the same quarter in 2008 it seems that Nassau County saw a decline of foreclosures to the tune of 33 percent, which is huge considering the population on the island. However Suffolk Country saw an increase over that same period of time in the amount of just over 62 percent.

Do you have a thousand bucks lying around and ready to buy a house free and clear? Ordinarily, I would say good luck. However, this is  a strange little story about a guy who lives and works in Fort Meyers Florida just recently won a house at auction free and clear for one thousand dollars. The house he won was a 1,300 square foot home, which he kept just under three weeks, and sold for 18,000 when the actual market value of the home was $88,500. Even though this may sound too crazy to be real, it is. Most people are spending more than that every month on mortgage payments while these crooks are in the clear.

The state of Oregon is nowhere close to being free of this crisis. In the first six months of 2009 the foreclosure rate in the state rose a staggering one hundred and twenty two percent and the average or median sales price for the foreclosed homes dropped over 26,000 dollars. These numbers foretell the misfortune that will create chaos in this west coast state.

If you were perhaps thinking about buying a foreclosed property and flipping it to gain some great profit potentials, I would recommend checking this story from Atlanta’s Fox News. It is a very well written story about the benefits and risks in flipping houses. It also points out potential issues and pitfalls that can happen. If you are considering it and have money to put aside for investment, then this article is worth reading.

The Miami Herald gives us yet another thought provoking story of how some lenders appear to be holding on to foreclosed properties. These lenders believe that if they slow down the market, prices for these types of home will go up. This is basically an attempt to keep the prices higher than they would normally be under the same situation. This Miami Herald article is worth a quick look over, especially if you are a resident of Florida.

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