The Difference Between Want And Need In Florida

October 13, 2008

A report from Florida Today. “According to Zillow, 46.5 percent of all homes bought in Brevard since 2003 — or about 30,000 homes — are now worth less than is owed on them, raising worries that the record-high foreclosure rate here won’t end any time soon. Local foreclosure numbers back that up. Just over 7,000 foreclosure suits were filed through the end of August, according to the Clerk of the Court. That’s up from less than 5,200 all of last year and 1,900 in 2006.”

“‘I wish I wasn’t upside-down on my house. But I am,’ said economist Sean Snaith, who bought his Orlando-area home in 2006 when he joined the University of Central Florida faculty. ‘But I’m fine. I’m not going anywhere.’”

“Others, though, feel trapped. If they were to sell, they would have to pay their lender the difference between the selling price and the amount owed. ‘The only thing keeping us here in Florida is our house,’ said Maria Acevedo of Palm Bay.”

http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=5005

My house is just a few miles north of the Brevard line. My house is, but I'm not, because we had to move. If we can ever sell it, we'll lose everything we have. We'll probably have to pay around $50,000 or so at closing. That, coupled with the fact that we having to pay for two households, two sets of bills, each month, means we're in deep trouble. That means no more savings, no ever buying a house again, no retirement for us. We can't even rent the place out for half of what our house note is each month!

And yet we keep paying that house note every month, because I'm scared to death of wrecking our credit. Whenever anyone talks about help for troubled homeowners, I wonder if I shouldn't stop paying the mortgage so I'll be eligible!

I feel for ya, you should get help.

Robert J. Shiller below predicted a bubble in the making, starting in about 1998.
He also predicted its bursting.

Q&A: Robert J. Shiller, author of 'Irrational Exuberance'

What's your opinion on bailing out struggling homeowners? What if it had happened earlier to stop foreclosures and spare the economy?

We've let it get out of hand. Confidence is collapsing in this crisis. Maybe, they should have done something before this very negative view developed. I would like to see efforts to start bailing them out and put them in a new kind of contract.

http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/1308927.html

The creation of affordable housing for service employees in certain inflated areas has always been a passion of mine. I just never thought it would come at a huge personal price!

I somehow doubt that we'll ever be eligible for help. We have a normal 30-year fixed mortgage, and we put down a large down payment. It's not like we were victims of a predatory lender. Just victims of buying and selling at the wrong time. Nothing to be done about it, except pray! (Secretly, I pray for a hurricane to wipe it out.)

their homes own them.