I was simply wanting to know if the percentage of conventional mortgages in foreclosure had spiked, and to what degree. I suspect that a higher percentage of subprime foreclosures, which a reasonable person would expect, is driving the “all-time highs in a survey that goes back 29 years”, as quoted.

Justin,
You said, “Right now people can buy a home at a decent price because the market has begun to bottom out, but they shouldn’t expect its value to go up.”
If the market is bottoming out, doesn’t that mean that values should start to rise in the relatively near future? If they don’t, then it hasn’t “bottomed out” yet. If you look at a *home* as a long term investment and not a get-rich-quick scheme, as I stated previously, then they will see a nice return on that investment over the next decade or two.

I would not call the property owned by “the speculation market and those people bought dozens of homes and tried to flip them” *homes*. People do not own dozens of “homes”. I know a few people who own dozens of “houses” or “properties” that they rent or otherwise purcahse as investments, but they did it responsibly. The speculators took a risk, it paid off for a while, then it fell apart on them. Too bad, so sad. Why should I, as a taxpayer, shoulder the burden of thier losses when I did not benefit from thier previous profits?

Is the goverment 100% responsible? No, I don’t think so, and I didn’t intend to imply that it was. But the Fed and Treasury, along with their congressional oversight should’ve seen this freight train coming a long time ago. Fools like Barney Frank (and others) made statements a year ago that there is no problem, nothing to see here, keep moving along….now they need >$700 billion to fix a problem that wasn’t there a year ago?? Do you really think this crisis completely blindsided them?? They had, at least, an inkling that there was a problem and they did NOTHING to try to minimize the damage.

Really….quoting Wikipedia as an indisputable source on economics? I look things up in Wiki that are trivial – info on my favorite rock band and such. Not to “hang my hat” on a debate of more import, such as this. See, I generally try to gather several points of view, then try to decide for myself what the real story is. You know the old saying – three sides to every story…? However, I will take a look at it. Heritage Foundation has some good information…Personally, I’d trust it more that Wiki!

Lastly, I do feel for the INDIVIDUALS who played by the rules, purchased homes responsibly and are now in a crunch because they lost jobs, had their hours reduced (like me), or are otherwise experiencing financial difficulty. I do think they should have avenues to recieve some kind of assistance so they can keep their *homes* from going into foreclosure.

It’s a buyer’s market, but the days of buying a home “because it’s a good investment” are over??? What an oxymoronic statement!!

No, it’s not.

Right now people can buy a home at a decent price because the market has begun to bottom out, but they shouldn’t expect its value to go up.

As far as %s go, I don’t have that for you. And yes, I bet you’re right that subprime mortgages have a higher rate of foreclosure, but I wouldn’t assume there’s a vast gap. After all, you yourself talk about the speculation market and those people bought dozens of homes and tried to flip them. The ironic part is they can renegotiate the terms of their loans so they can keep their homes. Individual home owners can’t.

One last note, to blame this entire thing on the government is not only unfair, it’s also not accurate. I suggest you go to Wikipedia and read about the subprime crisis and the community reinvestment act to get a clear view of what happened.

I’d revise your last statement to say that the days of buying a house (not a “home”, but a “house”) that you can’t afford because you are speculating that you can do a little remodeling to and then flip it a couple of months later for an overinflated price to make as a get-rich-quick scheme are over for the foreseeable future.

Secondly, I’d like to know what the percentage of homes in that are in, or are approaching foreclosure, broken out to show the foreclosure rate for conventional vs subprime mortgages.

In other words, what is the foreclosure rate for people who could actually afford their payments? I’d bet it is FAR less than 10% for conventional mortgages and WAY OVER 10% for subprime mortgages.

Everyone should expect a higher rate of default on mortgages when the applicants have no $$ for a downpayment, buy bigger houses than they can afford or otherwise don’t qualify for conventional mortgages.

The whole mess is the fault of government MANDATING that banks lend to unqualified people (community reinvestment act, etc.). If the people would not have been given mortgages that they could not afford, we would not be in this mess. Now everyone is expecting the same govenment that created this mess to fix it all?? Unbelieveable!!