"Under water" mortgages are growing threat to U.S. (Reuters)

Source: Reuters

"Under water" mortgages are growing threat to U.S.
Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:49pm EDT

By Tom Brown

CAPE CORAL, Florida (Reuters) - Long before she
filed for bankruptcy, Ann Neukomm was "under water"
-- she owed more on her mortgage than her house
was worth -- a situation more and more Americans
are finding themselves in.

As the financial crisis hits Main Street America,
nearly one in six U.S. homeowners are finding
themselves in the same position, threatening the
U.S. economy with a new wave of foreclosures and
bankruptcies.

About 12 million U.S. homeowners owe more than
their homes are worth, compared with 6.6 million
at the end of last year and slightly more than
3 million at the close of 2006, said Mark Zandi,
chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

-snip-

WASTELAND

Cape Coral, built over swampland near Fort Myers
on Florida's palm-fringed Gulf Coast, was fertile
ground for the real estate boom, which peaked
across much of the United States three years ago.

It is now a wasteland, with barren strip malls,
a bloated inventory of unsold or abandoned homes
and ubiquitous for-sale signs that speak volumes
about the plunge in housing prices and surge in
mortgage defaults that triggered the U.S. credit
crunch last year.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/gc03/idUSTRE49L01S20081022

These fucking banks are stripping the last bit of wealth. Can't sell the house, can't afford to pay the inflated payment based on an inflated index due to their thievery and greed.

in order to give out loans which far exceeded the fair market value of the home. That's how come there were so many underwater mortgages. It's a scam, pure and simple.