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I'm not a predatory guy, I think. I'm one who sees a deal, perhaps, and if possible, I go for it. Such is the case with the housing market in America, my home, all else said and done. I haven't really been back in 30 years, or maybe 35. But if I were to return and buy a farm, (my distant dream,) would I find myself in the same nation I left, lo those many years ago? Or will I find myself in some alien place where the next best thing to Communists rule the roost? Is it still America? Can one go home again? Maybe no. And
if the market continues to make return attractive to a wandering soul like mine, will the government step in and foreclose me? I often do want to go home again. I'm sure those who have homes at home already would like to stay in them. Is capitalism, the market that allows me to buy while others are forced to sell, a bad thing? Is home a bad thing now? Maybe yes. True, there are very few farms available in Los Angeles, maybe fewer still in Miami. But there is a farm waiting for me. Is home really home anymore? And what of the coming years, a time of Barak Obama? Is it America? The marketplace of ideas might well give us a president I won't want to live with. My choice. But what of America? What of the house of America itself?Rick Moran, "Foreclosures up 65% in April," American Thinker; 14 May 2008
Housing foreclosures are up 65% compared to last year indicating that the housing slowdown and credit crunch show no signs of abating:
Nationwide, 243,353 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in April, up 65 percent from 147,708 in the same month last year and up 4 percent since March, RealtyTrac Inc. said.
Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida were among the hardest hit states, with metropolitan areas in California and Florida accounting for nine of the top 10 areas with the highest rate of foreclosure, the company said.
[....]
One in every 519 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in April. Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but eight states.
The combination of weak housing sales, falling home values, tighter mortgage lending criteria and a slowing U.S. economy has left financially strapped homeowners with fewer options to avoid foreclosure. Many can't find buyers or owe more than their home is worth and can't get refinanced into an affordable loan.
Measures passed by Congress will affect only a small percentage of these homeowners as the economy continues to flush out the bad loans and risky customers who took advantage of the housing boom to purchase houses they couldn't afford or make loans that never should have been made.
While the mortgage backed securities crisis on Wall Street seems to have passed, expect many more months of bad news in the housing market before things bottom out.
http://www.americanthinker.com
Not yet. Can't quite yet skip ahead. Maybe later I can head my post with this wonderful line:
I get home-sick sometimes. If you're up to it, sing along with me here.
Daniel D. Emmett, 1859
O, I wish I was in the land of cotton
Old times there are not forgotten
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
In Dixie Land where I was born in
Early on one frosty mornin'
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
Chorus:
O, I wish I was in Dixie! Hooray! Hooray!
In Dixie Land I'll take my stand
To live and die in Dixie:
Away, away, away down south in Dixie! :
| 2. Old Missus marry Will, the weaver,
William was a gay deceiver
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
But when he put his arm around her
He smiled as fierce as a forty pounder
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
Chorus:
3. His face was sharp as a butcher's cleaver
But that did not seem to grieve her
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
Old Missus acted the foolish part
And died for a man that broke her heart
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
Chorus:
****
Next Year in Dixie. Or the year after that....
