Star Tribune Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:34:48 GMT
Housing bets gone bad
n the rush to find blame for the nation's current housing crisis, the easiest targets have been the lenders and mortgage brokers who peddled predatory loans. But across the country, from the desert suburbs of Las Vegas to the treeless subdivisions of Wright County, many homeowners face a predicament of their own making. They gambled big that housing prices would continue to shoot up. Some bought homes as often as others buy new jeans, occasionally in return for thousands of dollars in kickbacks. These investors ranged from small-town working people looking for a quick payday to sophisticated real estate professionals who bet with other people's money, occasionally defrauding lenders in the process. Now, with home prices falling and mortgage payments rising, panic has set in. Investors are dumping houses on the market before prices collapse further, or simply turning the keys back to the lender. That, in turn, is dragging down values for even longtime homeowners, wiping out the equity they'd built up over the years.
[[keywords: LandUse;Housing;PropertyTax;Metro;]]
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