What do you do when you have a mortgage worth more than the property? That is the dilemma facing not only homeowners but their lenders as well. This is what first set off the worldwide economic catastrophe. Borrowers who were otherwise unqualified were sold loans to buy homes they would never be able to afford – since the lenders behind the loans never meant to hold onto them themselves, but rather “repackage” the loans to sell to others who repackage it again in their turn to sell onto others…until finally the pool of buyers dried up as borrowers increasingly defaulted on their loans.
No need to be a real estate professional yourself like Isaac Toussie to see the writing on the wall about this one. With all the defaulted mortgages and foreclosed homes, a terrible self-perpetuating cycle set in from which the economy has still not fully recovered. And that’s only a small part of the proverbial big picture, which is mostly a portrait of cynical gamabling and downright deception!
In fact, it is arguable that everyone has had a hand in contributing to the problem we’re now all faced with. But the subprime angle just outlined is the most popularly understood narrative because it is actually the simplest to comprehend. For all that, what does the national outlook look like now?
Not good. Interest rates are a historic lows but banks are now unwilling to lend. Which means that you now have to be practically perfect in order to qualify for a mortgage. It doesn’t even matter that companies are making more money than ever before, as hiring remains frozen across the board. Thus those foreclosed homes continue sitting on the market with no buyers, as everyone’s too worried to make the kind of commitment that home purchases entail.
So for all the talk about The Great Recession being over, it’s 2011 and no citizen imagines that the immediate future is going to be any different.