Foreclosures soaring -- Listings up nearly 25 percent in Atlanta

The Atlanta Business Chronicle ^ | September 19, 2003 | Lisa R. Schoolcraft

[waterstraat]

The real increase in foreclosures, will not come until after bankruptcies peak. First you go into bankruptcy because you can keep your home when you go bankrupt. It wont be until after people have eliminated all their other debts thru bankrupcy that you will then start to see homes foreclosures starting to increase. Not everyone who goes bankrupt will foreclose, since many will be able to make their house payments even with low wage jobs once they get rid of all their unsecured debt thru bankrupcy.

[bat1816]

Smart woman (or man). You would do well to hold off for a few more years when there will be a huge real estate bust. Prices will fall significantly.

[JohnSmithee]

"Get a life..."

If you don't like the content you can always change the channel...

[Windcatcher]

That's what I'm doing. Prices in southeastern PA are absolutely insane with the low rates. I'm quietly stocking away cash and waiting for the inevitable drop.

[Southack]

"As more jobs are lost to asia, I expect there will be an increase in the number of americans that wont be able to make their payments. We shall see. Anyways, you heard it here first."

Offshore outsourcing to places like Asia is a fad that will abruptly end as soon as the U.S. Dollar devalues a little further.

A devalued Dollar makes it much more expensive to pay those foreign contracts, after all...

[Texas_Dawg]

Get a life...

No kidding. The guy is a flat out socialist.

[Texas_Dawg]

If you don't like the content you can always change the channel...

...or, make fun of the poster. In this case, the latter is the more appropriate option.

[bat1816]

All my friends and coworkers are pushing me to buy a home saying "prices will only go up." Of course these are the same people that said the stock market could only go up.

Look at Japan's real estate market since the early 1990s...it's dropped by nearly 70% in some places. There's a good book out about the coming US real estate bust, but I can't recall the title or author right now.

[bat1816]

All my friends and coworkers are pushing me to buy a home saying "prices will only go up." Of course these are the same people that said the stock market could only go up.

Look at Japan's real estate market since the early 1990s...it's dropped by nearly 70% in some places. There's a good book out about the coming US real estate bust, but I can't recall the title or author right now.

[waterstraat]

Offshore outsourcing to places like Asia is a fad that will abruptly end as soon as the U.S. Dollar devalues a little further. A devalued Dollar makes it much more expensive to pay those foreign contracts, after all...

The fad of using asian labor, will last until the cost of paying asians, is equal to that of hiring americans after adding in social security costs, unemployment insurance costs, epa, osha, medical benefits, and actual wages of american workers. When an american is paid exactly what an asian worker is paid, total and net, when conditions are isotonic, then the flow of jobs from america to asia will stop, or even out. Not until then.

[Southack]

Yawn... As if you know.

Offshore outsourcing is a fad that will abruptly die.

For one thing, the U.S. Dollar isn't going to remain over-valued forever (thus making foreign contracts appear cheaper than they actually are).

For another, the quality of foreign apps isn't up to par.

Add in cultural, time, and language/communication issues and you've got yourself a fad that looks good only on paper but that seldom appears good in practice.

[Rebelbase]

"Lenders have been throwing cheap money at unqualified borrowers for years. Perhaps now they will learn to fear bad credit risks more than false charges of racial discrimination. "

A high percentage of those are FHA/HUD insured loans. The lender will get their money back. Taxpayer bailout.

[HamiltonJay]

Atlantas foreclosures were predictable as hell... absurd appreciation that could not be sustained combined with slowing economy meant, people thought their "paper equity" was real... often tapped it naively, and then when things went bad, did not have the income to hold onto their property and since the values declined were now underwater or had no way to tap the equity they may have been left.


Its classic pattern in areas where appreciation bursts insanely in short time frames... people think it will last for ever, and rare, VERY RARELY does it.. when the market slows that paper equity disappears and they are left underwater in a house, and often out of work or underemployed as well.


And lets not even get into all the newbie real estate investors who wanted to get on the gravy train but really had no idea what they were getting into... getting in over their heads and losing their properties quickly as well.

[backhoe]

Are these people being taxed out of their homes?

That was my first thought.

Here in Brunswick, taxes on the house have quadrupled since 1987.
And we pay taxes to both city and county.
And the sales tax has jumped from 3% to 7%.

Needless to say, we are looking for a cheaper area to spend our declining years.

[ladtx]

What is the property tax situation in Atlanta? Are these people being taxed out of their homes?

Good question. It would be interesting to see a list of the property tax rates from around the country.

[bert]

There are three other causes for forclosure. Divorce, hospital bills and unmarried women who bite off more than can chew.

Health care forclosures are on the rise. Unmarried women are also listed as increased forclosures.