MSNBC posted an article online today called “A Rising Tide of ‘Underwater’ Homeowners”. For some reason, this just toasts my buns. Why can we not be positive? Upbeat? Happy? Thankful? I could go on….
I really think that the media, not just MSNBC, but all the media, is only capable of printing news that makes people depressed and negative. I seriously wonder if they get a percentage cut from the antidepressants that the pharmaceutical companies make…
If I were a station owner, I would host a “Happy Channel”. Something with children and puppies and flowers and rainbows and…. Or not! But seriously, something without the 24/7 doom and gloom.
Just to show you I am capable of that, I am going to rewrite the entire article making it upbeat and positive WITHOUT changing a single fact, just adding a positive spin.
5 in 6 Now Owe Less on Their Mortgage Then Their Property is Worth
The limited appreciation of home prices has left nearly five in six homeowners owing less on a mortgage than then home is worth.
About 75.5 million U>S> households own the homes they live in. even after a housing slump that has pushed values down 30 percent in some areas, roughly 63 million households, or 84 percent, owe less than their homes are worth, according to Moody’s Economy.com.
Among people who bought in the past five years, only 71 percent had equity according to an estimate by real-estate Web site Zillow.com. (Authors note: given the fact that building equity generally takes time, this a positive sign.)
Bailout may help homeowners a little
The majority of homeowners still have equity, and even among those who don’t, many continue to make their mortgage payments on time. The financial-bailout legislation could at least “keep things from getting much worse” by helping banks avoid the need to tighten credit further, says Celia Chen, director of housing economics at Economy.com.
Among mortgages on one- to four-family homes, 90.84 percent were NOT a month or more overdue or in foreclosure in the second quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
In July, Congress enacted legislation designed to help borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth by allowing them to refinance into a government-backed loan, provided their mortgage company forgives part of their principal. It’s not clear how many borrowers the program will help, because before reducing the principal, lenders would almost always try first to freeze or reduce borrowers’ interest rate to make payments more affordable, says Tom Deutsch, deputy executive director of the American Securitization Forum, an industry group.
Within metro areas, neighborhoods with short commutes are holding up better than others. And in many parts of Texas and North Carolina, home prices have continued to rise slowly, have leveled off or have declined only modestly.
On a national basis, home prices peaked in mid-2006 after rising 86 percent since January 2000, according to the First American index.
The declines have made homes more affordable, bringing prices in many areas closer to their long-term relationship to incomes. In the second quarter, the median home price of about $203,000 was 1.9 times average pretax household income, according to Economy.com. That was close to 1.87 times income for 1985 through 2000, prior to the housing boom.
If you would like to read the entire article, click here.
Scott
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