Look at the site drhousingbubble.blogspot.com. He has actually done the research in the LA area. The number of homes in the shadow inventory versus the multiple listing index is around 500 percent! This includes notices of default, houses currently in foreclosure and houses being held off the market so as to not depress neighborhood values. His research is solid.
A local agent has said that a company meetings they are told that the national number is around 11 million. This same figure was mentioned when we asked our other agent in the market we are buying in. They are 1000 miles apart. Does 11 mil sound right?
The power of this magnitude to release or evict by the Fed Gov can be wielded to bring a nation to its knees.