[Muggy]

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/05/13/Bu..._for_the.shtml

A few snippets:

"I've never had that many people walk away from their houses before..."

"No theme parks for us. We pretty much stay around the house."

"The national firm RealtyTrac lists 17,147 troubled properties in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties. They're properties in preforeclosure, scheduled for auction or seized by the bank."

"Four potential clients who called last week all had the same problem: They used their home equity as an ATM and now are almost broke."

[firemed]

This is just the start !

[Muggy]

Originally Posted by firemed

This is just the start !

Firemed, do you think there is a housing bubble?

[firemed]

Originally Posted by Muggy

Firemed, do you think there is a housing bubble?

YES it was easy to see. Greed is what drove this market over the edge. Now BIG BROTHER is called on to bail out all the fools. Guess who will have to pay the bill ?

[tallrick]

"Oh but you know that real estate only goes up in value"

[MrTudo]

Typical realtors pitch about a year ago "It's becoming a normal market"

[SKB]

It is just the same for any easy credit which equals to higher payments, higher fees and disaster in the end.
People need to be educated on how to budget their finances and learn to know what exactly they can afford to buy and what they can afford to just dream about buying.
I have been in the collection industry for many years and I can tell you this, the credit bubble has worked exactly like someone who get themselves a sub-prime credit card and ends up as a charge off in six months.
You are working with the same mind set, the how much a month? and the where do I sign?
They didn't read the supporting documents and end up feeling like victims in the end.

[daniellefort]

I too have worked in the collections department and it all comes down on how one manages his/her money. I'd see people come in almost in tears yet they had neck full of gold necklaces, gold rings, not one but 2 cell phones on their hip and so on and so on. Just some people think they can afford more than they can and when it all finally catches up you hear all the pity me stories yet these people can't live without their $50 a month internet connections, home phone and cell phone (why have 2 phone bills?), blah blah blah. I've heard it all and don't get me wrong there are those who just happened to have a bad fall and ended up behind by unavoidable situations which i feel sorry for and actually let some slide a few times before putting them in collections but for the most part at least in my job, it's those who think they can live the high life only for it to come crashing down on them. It's a shame. Kids today have better get themselves a good education for their future because it's only going to get worse for them.

[tallrick]

I hope that the fallout is so bad that I will never see another real estate bubble during the rest of my life.

[SKB]

I just hope this crash will be swift, nothing would be worse than a long drawn out crash.