The State of Our Economy in 2010

2010 has been an interesting year, so far.

We've seen new legislation, regarding the sale of short sale properties - across the country.

We've also seen more cooperation, relating to the servicers/lenders in approving short sales.

We've witnessed numerous "reliable" sources, many of whom are affiliates of each other, simultaneously state that home sales are up AND home sales are down.

Nationwide, unemployment sits at 16%, overall.

We continue to see property values in decline at the same time we see HUGE shadow inventories of REOs.

Simultaneously, as property values decline, we talk to too many sellers/homeowners, facing foreclosure, that are applying for loan mods that do NOT understand what a loan mod will accomplish for them - relating to the fact that the mod WILL NOT be based upon the current market value of their property, that the past due payments and late fees (arrears) will be added in, as well as what the lender's process is for approval.

In fact, a majority of the homeowners we talk to, who had applied for a loan mod many weeks, or even months before, are still scheduled to be foreclosed upon - which is, in my opinion, deceiving to the homeowner - because the homeowner, in good faith, is lead to believe that their loan mod/file is being reviewed - so the homeowner believes that their foreclosure has been postponed until the loan mod review has concluded.

We also see many sellers/homeowners, who are NOT faced with foreclosure, but want to, or need to, sell their properties, struggling with a solution to their dilemma.

Many of these "non-distressed" homeowners owe more, on their property, than they could sell it for - so what should they do ?
What would YOU do ?

What if you were offered a better job, or business opportunity in another city, or state - that is hundreds of miles away from your current residence ?

Would you be able to sell your property for the amount of debt owed on it ?

Maybe you could cash in some of your stocks or take some $$ out of your 401K or retirement fund - to make up the difference ?
When will you get that money back ?

Bottom Line: While our government has been too busy trying to "save" the economy, they've succeeded in creating our largest deficit (In other words, we owe a TON of money to coutries like China), which creates an entirely new set of critical issues.

In other words, this aint over yet.