you got shit twisted up mayn revol is on some real talk. its far from just a matter of people gaining confidence in the market and investing in real estate. do you even know why all these foreclosures is goin on right now? it's exactly because of all those creative financing plans. all these mufuckas were uneducated when buyin houses and a gang of real estate agents was gettin caked up not thouroughly explainin to these people exactly what they were gettin into. those creative financing plans was gettin folks homes that they really couldnt afford in the long run with adjustable rates and what have you. soon as it came to refi and mufuckas lost a good 1-3 hunnid racks on they equity what the fuck they goin do now they couldnt afford that same house they bought with that creative financing ass loan. lol i feel bad for mufuckas real talk, but a home is the one of the biggest if not the biggest investment people make and you gotta be educated on what your gettin yourself into before you sign on the dotted line. just know that the words interest only is the reason most mufuckas cant afford their homes no more. also mufuckas refinancin, takin money out they equity, and buyin a benz like they dont have to pay that money they took out lol. mufuckas is stupid!
For those who own houses
- Thread starter I. Cold
- Start date
(Reuters) - U.S. home prices will fall another 10 percent before they begin to show signs of stabilizing, Fitch Ratings said on Monday.
National home prices have declined a full 22 percent from the peak hit in 2006, the agency said in a note. Fitch has a peak to trough forecast for prices to decline 30 percent.
The additional 8 percent decline is equal to another 10 percent decline from current levels, it said. Most of that correction will take place in the next several quarters before prices exhibit stability in 2010, said the agency.
"Should economic conditions become much worse than expected, home prices would decline more than Fitch's projection and price stabilization would be delayed," said Huxley Somerville, group managing director and head of U.S. residential mortgage backed securities.
"Higher mortgage rates and tighter underwriting also will continue to put downward pressure on prices."
National home prices have declined a full 22 percent from the peak hit in 2006, the agency said in a note. Fitch has a peak to trough forecast for prices to decline 30 percent.
The additional 8 percent decline is equal to another 10 percent decline from current levels, it said. Most of that correction will take place in the next several quarters before prices exhibit stability in 2010, said the agency.
"Should economic conditions become much worse than expected, home prices would decline more than Fitch's projection and price stabilization would be delayed," said Huxley Somerville, group managing director and head of U.S. residential mortgage backed securities.
"Higher mortgage rates and tighter underwriting also will continue to put downward pressure on prices."
(Reuters) - Home values in the United States posted their seventh consecutive quarterly decline, with nearly one-third of Americans who sold in the past year losing money, real estate website Zillow.com said on Wednesday.
Home values fell 9.7 percent year-over-year in the third quarter to a Zillow Home Value Index of $202,966, according to the third quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Reports, which encompass 163 metropolitan areas.
Home values have dropped a total 12.8 percent since the market peaked in 2006. Year-over-year declines in the second quarter were 8.8 percent, indicating that price drops continued to accelerate in the third quarter, the reports showed.
The continued declines in value are causing more homeowners to sell their homes for less than the original purchase price.
Over the past 12 months, 30.2 percent of homes sold were sold for a loss, up from 23.7 percent at the end of the second quarter. In 17 markets -- 14 of them in California -- more than half of homes sold in the past year were sold for a loss, the reports showed.
The percentage of homeowners with negative equity remained fairly steady from the second to the third quarter, however, as more foreclosures were completed and as median down payments rose in 61 markets. One in seven, or 14.3 percent, of all homeowners across the country has negative equity, and of homeowners who bought in the last five years, almost one-third, or 29.5 percent, are 'under water', the reports showed.
"The fact that one-quarter of markets in Zillow's third quarter reports show negative or relatively flat annualized change over five years is an indication of the enormous amount of value that has been taken out of the real estate market through home value depreciation in the past few years," Stan Humphries, Zillow vice president of data and analytics, said in a statement.
"It's clear we are at a unique point in history; we've had seven consecutive quarters of decline, and we expect that to continue until at least the middle of next year. Most markets are still seeing five-year annualized returns, but we will see more markets slip into flat or negative long-term change as the economy continues to suffer, factors like job losses begin to further affect foreclosure rates and home values continue to decline," he said.
Foreclosures made up almost one in five, or 18.6 percent, of all transactions in the past 12 months and areas with the highest foreclosure rates are the markets with some of the greatest home value declines. In California's Central Valley, 57.6 percent of transactions in Merced were foreclosures, and in Stockton, foreclosures made up 56.4 percent of transactions. The New York metro area continued to have the lowest rate of foreclosures, with only 3.5 percent of all transactions being foreclosures, the reports showed.
Home values fell 9.7 percent year-over-year in the third quarter to a Zillow Home Value Index of $202,966, according to the third quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Reports, which encompass 163 metropolitan areas.
Home values have dropped a total 12.8 percent since the market peaked in 2006. Year-over-year declines in the second quarter were 8.8 percent, indicating that price drops continued to accelerate in the third quarter, the reports showed.
The continued declines in value are causing more homeowners to sell their homes for less than the original purchase price.
Over the past 12 months, 30.2 percent of homes sold were sold for a loss, up from 23.7 percent at the end of the second quarter. In 17 markets -- 14 of them in California -- more than half of homes sold in the past year were sold for a loss, the reports showed.
The percentage of homeowners with negative equity remained fairly steady from the second to the third quarter, however, as more foreclosures were completed and as median down payments rose in 61 markets. One in seven, or 14.3 percent, of all homeowners across the country has negative equity, and of homeowners who bought in the last five years, almost one-third, or 29.5 percent, are 'under water', the reports showed.
"The fact that one-quarter of markets in Zillow's third quarter reports show negative or relatively flat annualized change over five years is an indication of the enormous amount of value that has been taken out of the real estate market through home value depreciation in the past few years," Stan Humphries, Zillow vice president of data and analytics, said in a statement.
"It's clear we are at a unique point in history; we've had seven consecutive quarters of decline, and we expect that to continue until at least the middle of next year. Most markets are still seeing five-year annualized returns, but we will see more markets slip into flat or negative long-term change as the economy continues to suffer, factors like job losses begin to further affect foreclosure rates and home values continue to decline," he said.
Foreclosures made up almost one in five, or 18.6 percent, of all transactions in the past 12 months and areas with the highest foreclosure rates are the markets with some of the greatest home value declines. In California's Central Valley, 57.6 percent of transactions in Merced were foreclosures, and in Stockton, foreclosures made up 56.4 percent of transactions. The New York metro area continued to have the lowest rate of foreclosures, with only 3.5 percent of all transactions being foreclosures, the reports showed.
U.S. Economy: Home Sales Fall, Record Drop in Prices (Update2)
By Timothy R. Homan
Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Home resales in the U.S. dropped in October and prices fell by the most on record, signaling a deepening housing recession going into 2009.
Purchases of existing homes slid to an annual rate of 4.98 million, lower than forecast, a National Association of Realtors report showed in Washington. The median price fell 11.3 percent from a year earlier, the most since the group began collecting data in 1968.
Today’s figures indicate a renewed downturn in an industry that showed signs of stabilizing this year, hurt by the credit squeeze and record mortgage foreclosures. That may raise pressure on President-elect Barack Obama to aid homeowners and potential buyers as he assembles a record stimulus package.
“Home sales will continue to fall over the next few months because of tightening credit conditions,” said Sal Guatieri, senior economist in Toronto at BMO Capital Markets, which had the closest estimate for the sales level among 67 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. “Underlying demand appears very weak” because “many sales are coming from cheap prices on foreclosed properties,” he added.
By Timothy R. Homan
Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Home resales in the U.S. dropped in October and prices fell by the most on record, signaling a deepening housing recession going into 2009.
Purchases of existing homes slid to an annual rate of 4.98 million, lower than forecast, a National Association of Realtors report showed in Washington. The median price fell 11.3 percent from a year earlier, the most since the group began collecting data in 1968.
Today’s figures indicate a renewed downturn in an industry that showed signs of stabilizing this year, hurt by the credit squeeze and record mortgage foreclosures. That may raise pressure on President-elect Barack Obama to aid homeowners and potential buyers as he assembles a record stimulus package.
“Home sales will continue to fall over the next few months because of tightening credit conditions,” said Sal Guatieri, senior economist in Toronto at BMO Capital Markets, which had the closest estimate for the sales level among 67 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. “Underlying demand appears very weak” because “many sales are coming from cheap prices on foreclosed properties,” he added.
Foreclosures soar 76% to record 1.35 million
Nearly 3% of homes were in foreclosure in the third quarter, up 76% from a year ago. Homeowners continue to fall behind on their payments, driving delinquency rate up to nearly 7%.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/05/news/economy/mortgage_delinquencies/
By Tami Luhby, CNNMoney.com senior writer
December 5, 2008: 10:38 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A record 1.35 million homes were in foreclosure in the third quarter, driving the foreclosure rate up to 2.97%, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday.
That's a 76% increase from a year ago, according to the group's National Delinquency Survey.
At the same time, the number of homeowners falling behind on their mortgages rose to 6.99%, up from 5.59% a year ago, the association said. The weakened economy and mounting job losses are expected to push that number even higher.
"We have not gone into past recessions with the housing market as weak as it is now, so it is likely that a much higher percentage of delinquencies caused by job losses will go to foreclosure than we have seen in the past," said Jay Brinkmann, MBA's chief economist.
Nearly 3% of homes were in foreclosure in the third quarter, up 76% from a year ago. Homeowners continue to fall behind on their payments, driving delinquency rate up to nearly 7%.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/05/news/economy/mortgage_delinquencies/
By Tami Luhby, CNNMoney.com senior writer
December 5, 2008: 10:38 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A record 1.35 million homes were in foreclosure in the third quarter, driving the foreclosure rate up to 2.97%, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday.
That's a 76% increase from a year ago, according to the group's National Delinquency Survey.
At the same time, the number of homeowners falling behind on their mortgages rose to 6.99%, up from 5.59% a year ago, the association said. The weakened economy and mounting job losses are expected to push that number even higher.
"We have not gone into past recessions with the housing market as weak as it is now, so it is likely that a much higher percentage of delinquencies caused by job losses will go to foreclosure than we have seen in the past," said Jay Brinkmann, MBA's chief economist.
Home prices post record 18% drop
The 20-city S&P Case-Shiller index has posted losses for a staggering 27 months in a row.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/30/real_estate/October_Case_Shiller/?postversion=2008123012
By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: December 30, 2008: 12:00 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home prices posted another record decline in October, falling 18% compared with a year earlier, according to a closely watched report released Tuesday.
The 20-city S&P Case-Shiller index has posted losses for a staggering 27 months in a row. In October, 14 of the 20 cities set fresh price decline records.
"The bear market continues; home prices are back to their March 2004 levels," says David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's.
Sunbelt cities suffered the most, but most of the country is watching home values fall. In Phoenix prices have plunged 32.7% since October 2007, Las Vegas home values are down 31.7% year-over-year, while San Francisco prices fell 31%. Miami, Los Angeles and San Diego recorded year-over-year declines of 29%, 27.9% and 26.7%, respectively.
"As of October 2008, the 20-City Composite is down 23.4%," said Blitzer. "In October, we also saw three new markets enter the 'double-digit' club."
Atlanta, Seattle and Portland reported annual rates of decline of 10.5%, 10.2% and 10.1%, respectively.
"While not yet experiencing as severe a contraction as in the Sunbelt, it seems the Pacific Northwest and Mid-Atlantic South is not immune to the overall demise in the housing market," Blitzer added.
Deteriorating environment
Many of the factors affecting home prices turned strongly negative this fall, according to Blitzer.
"October was really the first month to feel the full brunt of the credit crunch," he said. "Up until the Lehman Brothers [bankruptcy filing on September 15], everyone felt relatively optimistic."
Plus, in many of the free-falling cities the majority of real estate sales consist of distressed properties such as foreclosed homes and short sales. These houses tend to sell at a steep discount to the rest of the market, and when they account for a large proportion of all sales, they can exaggerate the depth of price declines.
Of course, foreclosures continue to be a big problem as well. In October alone, nearly 85,000 people lost their homes to foreclosure, adding vacant inventory to an already overburdened market.
Home sellers should not expect prices to improve any time soon, according to Pat Newport, a real estate analyst for IHS Global Insight.
"I expect it's going to get quite a bit worse over the next couple of months," he said. "Existing home sales reports have really been bad."
Home sales fell 8.6% in November, much more than expected, to an annualized rate of 4.49 million units according to the National Association of Realtors.
And although interest rates are currently extremely low - the 30-year fixed-rate averaged 5.14% during the week of December 24, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) - that's doing more to help people refinancing existing mortgages than it is to help new home buyers.
"Buyers still have to have a 20% down payment," said Newport, "and, in this environment, it can be hard to meet that criteria."
The latest Case-Shiller numbers provide more ammunition to Washington policy makers who want to do more to fix the housing mess, according to Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with the Stanford Group, the policy research firm.
"These data just add to the tremendous pressure on the president-elect and the Democrats to stimulate housing," he said. "That means more lucrative tax incentives and broad foreclosure prevention. All of this will likely be in the stimulus that Congress adopts in January."
so like,would it be hard to find a pad for my pops who just recently retired?...i was talking to sum agent from coldwell banker,and i was looking at forclosured homes on there site and found one for only 583 a month in vegas with a pool!...but the dude hasent replyed to my email,..he said i needed only 3.5% down and that he can get the seller to handle all other cost!..only thing that would be left was taxes and insurance!..so i asked him questions like,wut cost does owner pay, and how much would the tax and insurance would be;...and how much all together is needed for the home,and wut not,..and the guy hasent replied to my email!..its been like 3 days..wouldnt it be easier for sumone whos retired ,with a set monthly income, to get and pay for a forclosured home?...but yea,..sounds like u can get a tight pad in vegas right now for dirt cheap,...thats where i see myself real soon!..or maybe phoenix;hopefully it all works out and sumthing pops up!....how easy is it for people who are retired?
@P.E. depends where your at but you can have anywhere from about $1-$15 per every $1000 (sales price) for each city and county taxes(some cities do not have a tax so only county, at least in cali not sure about other states). and insurance premium will be anywhere from $600-1500 depending on your location. and it doesn't sound like that agent is about his money. call another one. if he hasn't contacted you in 3 days, what service can you expect from him when he's working for you?
thats one good thing about buying right now is you can negotiate to get damn near everything payed for from the sellers/banks. they're losing more money with the house sitting on the market, so when you write up the contracts you can request seller pays for all inspections, reports, 1st yr HOA payed if you got it, credit back to cover closing costs, you can put anything you want on there really. the banks might counter with a few things but its worth a shot, and if you dealing with home owners (w/ equity, not in default) they're more likely to negotiate anything just to get out before its too late. but you gotta be ready to be in it for the next 5-10yrs in places like cali, florida, vegas, phx, ect
thats one good thing about buying right now is you can negotiate to get damn near everything payed for from the sellers/banks. they're losing more money with the house sitting on the market, so when you write up the contracts you can request seller pays for all inspections, reports, 1st yr HOA payed if you got it, credit back to cover closing costs, you can put anything you want on there really. the banks might counter with a few things but its worth a shot, and if you dealing with home owners (w/ equity, not in default) they're more likely to negotiate anything just to get out before its too late. but you gotta be ready to be in it for the next 5-10yrs in places like cali, florida, vegas, phx, ect
Foreclosure problem grows in U.S.
Rising joblessness is making already bad situation worse
http://www.delawareonline.com/artic...7200302/1003/Foreclosure-problem-grows-in-U.S.
By ALAN ZIBEL and TAMMY WEBBER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Relentlessly rising unemployment is triggering more home foreclosures, threatening the Obama administration's efforts to end the housing crisis and diminishing hopes the economy will rebound with vigor.
In past recessions, the housing industry helped get the economy back on track. Home builders ramped up production, expecting buyers to take advantage of lower prices and jump into the market. But not this time.
These days, homeowners who got fixed-rate prime mortgages because they had good credit can't make their payments because they're out of work. That means even more foreclosures and further declines in home values.
The initial surge in foreclosures in 2007 and 2008 was tied to subprime mortgages issued during the housing boom to people with shaky credit. That crisis has ebbed, but it has been replaced by more traditional foreclosures tied to the recession.
Unemployment stood at 9.5 percent in June and is expected to rise past 10 percent and well into next year. The last time the U.S. economy was mired in a recession with such high unemployment was 1981 and 1982.
But the home foreclosure rate then was less than one-fourth what it is today. Housing wasn't a drag on the economy, and when the recession ended, the boom was explosive.
No one is expecting a repeat. The real estate market is still saturated with unsold homes and homes that sell below market value because they are in or close to foreclosure.
"It just doesn't have the makings of a recovery like we saw in the early 1980s," says Wells Fargo Securities senior economist Mark Vitner, who predicts mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures won't return to normal levels for three more years.
Almost 4 percent of homeowners with a mortgage are in foreclosure, and 8 percent on top of that are at least a month behind on payments -- the highest levels since the Great Depression. Foreclosures are up almost 30 percent in Delaware in the first half of this this year.
Because home values have declined so dramatically, many people can't refinance. They owe far more to the bank than their properties are worth.
To combat the foreclosure crisis and help stabilize home prices, President Barack Obama launched an effort in March to help 9 million people avoid foreclosure by helping them refinance or modifying their loans to lower their payments.
But that's of no help to people who can't even afford the lower payments because they're making much less money or have lost their jobs altogether.
As of early July, about 160,000 borrowers were enrolled in three-month trials of loan modifications under the plan, according to preliminary figures from the Treasury Department.
Meanwhile, more than 1.5 million American households were threatened with losing their homes in the first six months of this year, foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc. said last week.
Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan outlined their frustrations in a letter to 27 mortgage companies, saying the industry needs to "devote substantially more resources to this program for it to fully succeed."
While high-level pressure on the mortgage industry could help, "There's nothing there that's going to help people who don't have jobs," said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist with the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Just ask anyone in Rockford, Ill. Over the last generation, the blue-collar city of about 157,000 northwest of Chicago has struggled to attract jobs as auto suppliers, aerospace companies and machine shops closed. Today, unemployment runs at more than 13 percent.
Robin and Thomas Lewis, who live there, once earned a combined $100,000. But he lost his job in shipping and receiving at a robotics company, and she had to close her at-home day care business. They are staring at an October deadline for foreclosure.
Their water service was cut off in February because they couldn't afford to pay the bill. Since then, they and their two teenage sons have been showering at the homes of friends and family and filling up gallon jugs of water to drink at home.
Robin Lewis, 41, found a job as a cashier at Wal-Mart and is taking night classes in hopes of becoming an accountant. Her 43-year-old husband got a job through a temp agency working as a machine operator.
"At least now we have some income coming in," Robin Lewis said. She hopes it's enough to persuade the mortgage company to modify their 30-year fixed-rate loan. They are meeting with a housing counselor next week.
Around the country, the relationship between rising unemployment and foreclosures is growing. An Associated Press analysis of more than 3,100 U.S. counties found a much stronger link between foreclosure rates and unemployment this year than in 2007.
According to April figures, some of the highest unemployment rates in the country are in California cities like Merced, Modesto and Fresno that have been struck hardest by the foreclosure crisis. In those areas, home prices have been cut in half.
Even in areas where unemployment is lower, borrowers are struggling.
Claudia Escobar, a 44-year-old single mother in Clifton, Va., lives in a cozy three-story brick town house on a tree-lined suburban street about 25 miles west of the nation's capital.
A combination of family health problems and the loss of her $50,000-a-year job at an accounting firm have made it impossible to make her $900 mortgage payment.
She has staved off foreclosure so far and hopes to land a job while her lender evaluates her application for a loan modification. Her 14-year-old son, Tommy, broke down in tears when he found out that his mother lost her job.
"That has to be the most devastating point since we lived here," she said, sobbing. "He keeps asking me every now and then if we're going to lose the house."
Rising joblessness is making already bad situation worse
http://www.delawareonline.com/artic...7200302/1003/Foreclosure-problem-grows-in-U.S.
By ALAN ZIBEL and TAMMY WEBBER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Relentlessly rising unemployment is triggering more home foreclosures, threatening the Obama administration's efforts to end the housing crisis and diminishing hopes the economy will rebound with vigor.
In past recessions, the housing industry helped get the economy back on track. Home builders ramped up production, expecting buyers to take advantage of lower prices and jump into the market. But not this time.
These days, homeowners who got fixed-rate prime mortgages because they had good credit can't make their payments because they're out of work. That means even more foreclosures and further declines in home values.
The initial surge in foreclosures in 2007 and 2008 was tied to subprime mortgages issued during the housing boom to people with shaky credit. That crisis has ebbed, but it has been replaced by more traditional foreclosures tied to the recession.
Unemployment stood at 9.5 percent in June and is expected to rise past 10 percent and well into next year. The last time the U.S. economy was mired in a recession with such high unemployment was 1981 and 1982.
But the home foreclosure rate then was less than one-fourth what it is today. Housing wasn't a drag on the economy, and when the recession ended, the boom was explosive.
No one is expecting a repeat. The real estate market is still saturated with unsold homes and homes that sell below market value because they are in or close to foreclosure.
"It just doesn't have the makings of a recovery like we saw in the early 1980s," says Wells Fargo Securities senior economist Mark Vitner, who predicts mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures won't return to normal levels for three more years.
Almost 4 percent of homeowners with a mortgage are in foreclosure, and 8 percent on top of that are at least a month behind on payments -- the highest levels since the Great Depression. Foreclosures are up almost 30 percent in Delaware in the first half of this this year.
Because home values have declined so dramatically, many people can't refinance. They owe far more to the bank than their properties are worth.
To combat the foreclosure crisis and help stabilize home prices, President Barack Obama launched an effort in March to help 9 million people avoid foreclosure by helping them refinance or modifying their loans to lower their payments.
But that's of no help to people who can't even afford the lower payments because they're making much less money or have lost their jobs altogether.
As of early July, about 160,000 borrowers were enrolled in three-month trials of loan modifications under the plan, according to preliminary figures from the Treasury Department.
Meanwhile, more than 1.5 million American households were threatened with losing their homes in the first six months of this year, foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc. said last week.
Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan outlined their frustrations in a letter to 27 mortgage companies, saying the industry needs to "devote substantially more resources to this program for it to fully succeed."
While high-level pressure on the mortgage industry could help, "There's nothing there that's going to help people who don't have jobs," said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist with the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Just ask anyone in Rockford, Ill. Over the last generation, the blue-collar city of about 157,000 northwest of Chicago has struggled to attract jobs as auto suppliers, aerospace companies and machine shops closed. Today, unemployment runs at more than 13 percent.
Robin and Thomas Lewis, who live there, once earned a combined $100,000. But he lost his job in shipping and receiving at a robotics company, and she had to close her at-home day care business. They are staring at an October deadline for foreclosure.
Their water service was cut off in February because they couldn't afford to pay the bill. Since then, they and their two teenage sons have been showering at the homes of friends and family and filling up gallon jugs of water to drink at home.
Robin Lewis, 41, found a job as a cashier at Wal-Mart and is taking night classes in hopes of becoming an accountant. Her 43-year-old husband got a job through a temp agency working as a machine operator.
"At least now we have some income coming in," Robin Lewis said. She hopes it's enough to persuade the mortgage company to modify their 30-year fixed-rate loan. They are meeting with a housing counselor next week.
Around the country, the relationship between rising unemployment and foreclosures is growing. An Associated Press analysis of more than 3,100 U.S. counties found a much stronger link between foreclosure rates and unemployment this year than in 2007.
According to April figures, some of the highest unemployment rates in the country are in California cities like Merced, Modesto and Fresno that have been struck hardest by the foreclosure crisis. In those areas, home prices have been cut in half.
Even in areas where unemployment is lower, borrowers are struggling.
Claudia Escobar, a 44-year-old single mother in Clifton, Va., lives in a cozy three-story brick town house on a tree-lined suburban street about 25 miles west of the nation's capital.
A combination of family health problems and the loss of her $50,000-a-year job at an accounting firm have made it impossible to make her $900 mortgage payment.
She has staved off foreclosure so far and hopes to land a job while her lender evaluates her application for a loan modification. Her 14-year-old son, Tommy, broke down in tears when he found out that his mother lost her job.
"That has to be the most devastating point since we lived here," she said, sobbing. "He keeps asking me every now and then if we're going to lose the house."