This morning, I made the mistake of listening to Market Place, broadcast over NPR. I use the term mistake because, perhaps, with my precarious blue mood, bad news shouldn't be my first choice.

It is often said, "I just cant stand to watch the news anymore." I heard this during 9-11, the Tsunami, and Hurricane Katrina. So many of us would rather bury our heads in the sand than face the awful truth.

I am getting my shovel.

Foreclosures are at an all-time high. With variable interest on the rise, even more foreclosures are expected. The home construction business reports that the inventory of newly built, unsold homes are at somewhere 25%; also an all time high. Financial experts fear that the slump in construction will trigger another recession. I may have some numbers wrong here. But honestly, thats not the point. The point I am trying to make is that we are doomed.

Just kidding.

Not really.

What is to become of a nation that idolizes Justin Timberlake and Paris Hilton but cant afford to pay their mortgage? Designer clothes for toddlers, Super Sweet Sixteen parties and Cribs. Apparently, not only should I not listen to NPR, but MTV and VH1 should probably be banned as well. Every little bit of information and gossip gets under my skin like a splinter. I feel as if I am at constant threat of infection.

I just want to stop thinking and worrying. With so much pain all around me, my empathy is overwhelming my everyday existence.

I think a housing market slump, a rise in foreclosures, and a recession are coming. Some people bought when the market was high, and chose variable interest rate loans to lower their payments. Others have borrowed heavily against their homes, and will find themselves upside down on their loans. Our personal choice on borrowing against equity is that it is for emergency home repairs only (those that wouldn't be covered by savings). But I watched my aunt borrow and borrow against her house until she had no equity, and then she lost her job, which ended in her losing the house. In her case she borrowed for consumer goods. Hers is an extreme case in terms of the amount borrowed, but if she had never tapped her equity she would still have her house.

It is a painful world to live in at times. I too have to try to temper my empathy with reality (of what I can do) or I too get overwhelmed and then I feel helpless. For me, the answer is to do as much as I can (but not to try to do more than that), so that I can look my children and grandchildren in the eye and tell them that I tried to be part of the solution.

Oh yeah, this housing thing is a huge mess. People are just beginning to feel the pain of it all.

Everythign Kimberly said plus, it will have a ripple effect through the economy. Although, one thing you have to keep in mind, is that there is control over interest rates by the government. But yeah, people have borrowed against their homes to the max and now their homes aren't even worth as much as they owe.

I am actually far more concerned about other things going on in this country than the housing market.

You're not the only one that feels that way.

http://www.amitymama.com/vb/mamas-simplifying-thrift-forum/340834-various-ramblings.html

Yes, the housing market is a huge mess. Unfortunately, my dh is a mortgage broker. This means our business is in the toilet right now. Not only that, but he's also a real estate investor and that seems to be kicking us in the arse, too. There's a website (which I can't remember off the top of my head) that tells how many lenders have gone out of business since the end of 2006; I think the number is over 125. I'm afraid it's going to be a bit worse than a recession, really. If things don't turn around fast for us, I'm afraid we're going to lose everything.

I've been looking at houses in our price range - or rather, what I'm willing to pay - in Fairfax (just for the sake of the argument - I'm not set on that city).

Almost all of them are bank owned/foreclosure. Wow. Granted, I'm not willing to be house poor, so I won't look for a house at the max the bank will give us, but still - you'd think there would be a few more stand alone houses under $400k that aren't foreclosures.

The reason we have a place to rent from our friends up in NoVa is that the market has plain tanked there. I haven't noticed it being as bad here in Ga. Actually, sometimes I wonder if all the gloom and doom is because the big news companies (with the obvious exception of CNN) are all in NY, DC, CA, MA, etc... Not out here in the relatively cheap and slow growth areas. It doesn't seem all that bad here in the Atlanta suburbs.

Oh yeah, this housing thing is a huge mess.

I am actually far more concerned about other things going on in this country than the housing market.

oh, I completely agree! I wrote about the housing market, but really, it is just one example of how hard everything is going to become... we (as a collective) have generally veiwed "the homeless" as the very poor, the extreme of our nation's needy, etc. but now; a very large portion of our population is falling into the "homeless" catagory.

The ripple effect is really what is at the bottom of this anxiety (for me); what will become of the general state of our economy? Food, dry goods, fuel, clean water... yes, I worry.

Yeah it's crazy. It's why I've been so wrapped up over whether or not to do the HEL. For us, though, getting that debt at 7.25% even if it's on our house, was a good choice. We still owe way less than our new town re-appraisal. We can definitely make the first mortgage and the HEL payment comfortably.

But, I had to do a lot of wrangling to get the loan. I think they're really gunshy about giving refinances or home equity loans right now.

Anyway, it's way beyond us - we'll be okay, here, because although we bought during the bubble, we got a crazy deal, and homes here were *so* undervalued just 5-7 years ago (think $100k for a killer place on acreage) that they'll never slump quite that low again. But, still, it's terrifying. The ripple effect is terrifying. And I fear this is only the start of the collapse.

Yes, the housing market is just a tiny piece.

Everything is going to get more expensive...food, water, utilities, gas, clothing, goods. Now I don't see this as a bad thing it is reflecting to true cost of these things.

I think I'm more concerned about the environmental and global impact of peak oil and global warming.