Edward DeMarco is weighing the possibility of reducing the principal of hundreds of thousands of Fannie and Freddie mortgages. The decision hinges on just how many additional underwater borrowers would strategically default in order to possibly get their principal reduced. Social mood is hard to forecast. Demarco states: A key risk in principal forgiveness targeted [...]

Nationally, 22.8% of all homes with mortgages owe more than their homes are worth. Another 5% are right on the edge. In California, the statistics are worse. CoreLogic reports: SANTA ANA, Calif., March 1, 2012––CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today released negative equity data showing that 11.1 million, [...]

Bottom-pickers have smelly fingers. Ever since the first local home price declines of 2006, there have been groups calling the bottom. Realtors, mortgage brokers, home builders, and various economists crawl out of the woodwork each Spring to announce that home prices are about to start going up. Their logic is always flawed, their data too [...]

Check out the Youth Unemployment rates for Portugal, Greece, and Spain. Talk about driving social mood to a darker place… Courtesy Zero Hedge: For comparison, the Youth Unemployment rate (16-24 year olds) in the United States was last reported at 18.1%.

NAR has put out some data showing how much tougher it has become for younger people to sell their home and buy another. Repeat sales for people 44 and younger have fallen off a cliff. Obviously, most of this segment bought during the last decade and are now “equity-challenged.” Generations X and Y are either [...]