Bill Greenwood
07-08-2013, 09:06 AM
There is some good news on the economic and money front. Better conditions should eventually lead to a pickup in general aviation, if we, they, have more money there's more to spend on airplanes. Or in my case if I spent less on airplanes, I'd have more money, but less enjoyment.
There was some recent good news re unemployment figures; certainly not back to normal, but a small step in the right direction.
Today, Monday there is pretty major improvement in "underwater" mortgages. And no, this doesn't have anything to do with submarines.
"Underwater" means that your home value on the market is less than the amount that is owed on the house. Not a good thing; and it often came because people got mortgages with very little equity, only 5% down or even no a down payment, and then the recession in the economy and the drastic fall in property prices, especially in some parts of the country, left the market value less than the loan value. If one was already having trouble making payments, perhaps due to job layoffs or cutbacks, it is therefore even harder to struggle to keep your home out of foreclosure if the result is that you can't pay the loan even if the house was sold.
Not good for anyone, and contrary to what many of us have come to expect in our lives that one of the long term advanatges of real estate and home ownership was that there was appreciation in the price of the home.
I don't have exact figures, but in several of the markets hardest hit like Las Vegas and Florida, there is a 50% drop in the number of mortgages that are "underwater".
I haven;t seen details of why this is; could be some homes have already been foreclosed on, or refinanced, or better yet that the improvement it due to the rise in market prices for homes in those areas, and the weakest ones are up 20% or so.
And mortgage rates have just gone up about a half point, but are still at historic lows.
I wonder if any of you folks are starting to see improvement in your area or in your own financial situations? Not many things better than finding a few more bucks to throw away, oops, I mean invest, in aviation!
There was some recent good news re unemployment figures; certainly not back to normal, but a small step in the right direction.
Today, Monday there is pretty major improvement in "underwater" mortgages. And no, this doesn't have anything to do with submarines.
"Underwater" means that your home value on the market is less than the amount that is owed on the house. Not a good thing; and it often came because people got mortgages with very little equity, only 5% down or even no a down payment, and then the recession in the economy and the drastic fall in property prices, especially in some parts of the country, left the market value less than the loan value. If one was already having trouble making payments, perhaps due to job layoffs or cutbacks, it is therefore even harder to struggle to keep your home out of foreclosure if the result is that you can't pay the loan even if the house was sold.
Not good for anyone, and contrary to what many of us have come to expect in our lives that one of the long term advanatges of real estate and home ownership was that there was appreciation in the price of the home.
I don't have exact figures, but in several of the markets hardest hit like Las Vegas and Florida, there is a 50% drop in the number of mortgages that are "underwater".
I haven;t seen details of why this is; could be some homes have already been foreclosed on, or refinanced, or better yet that the improvement it due to the rise in market prices for homes in those areas, and the weakest ones are up 20% or so.
And mortgage rates have just gone up about a half point, but are still at historic lows.
I wonder if any of you folks are starting to see improvement in your area or in your own financial situations? Not many things better than finding a few more bucks to throw away, oops, I mean invest, in aviation!