" Actually, it began months ago. It is just more obvious now "
Yup....
I've been watching for it since I saw my first tv ads for "interest-only" mortgages and "equity harvesting"..
Right on time, apparently.....
About five years ago I was a senior manager in a large bank in New England. We sat there and watched people take out HELOCs for 125% of the value of their homes. And the values went up, and up, and up.
Wait a while. The small banks will start to fold up and blow away. In ten years you will have about five big banks, a few credit unions, and the guy changing gold down in front of town hall.
As my Dad used to day, keep your money around and during a recession you can buy just about anything for 80% of its real worth. Perhaps an overstatement, but if you want to buy property....wait a couple of years and you can get it cheap.