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Citizen Voices

Surviving the Housing Crunch

Last Thursday, April 24, 2008, State Assemblymember Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego, 76th District) hosted a Home-Ownership and Mortgage Resource Fair held at the CalTrans building on Taylor Street. Assemblymember's Saldaña's seat is up for reelection on the June 3rd ballot, although she runs uncontested this election year. 

With every major presidential candidate forced to speak all over the country about the economy, (i.e., NAFTA, ethanol and corn crop production in conflict, rice shortages, food prices rising, gasoline prices soaring), the housing crisis could arguably be called, along with high oil prices, a major component in why the country faces a tough economic road ahead.

I was pleased to see a local Democrat take initiative and organize an informational event such as this, even though it might not affect me personally the same way as it will those people choosing to remain in California. (My husband and I plan to move out of California to improve the cost of living.) Still, the event impressed me enough to convince me to cast my affirmative vote for Assemblymember Lori Saldaña.

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Owl
May 05, 2008 at 04:19 PM
I survived the housing crunch by not getting greedy and not risking everything on a speculative investment based on a national ponzi scheme. Credit will start flowing freely when homes are worth way more than the loans people are trying to use to get them. That means we NEED to see a much larger drop in the housing market before we get there. Anyone who is trying to hold on to a house that they CANT AFFORD is living beyond their means at everyone else's expense and IS a speculator. Do people understand that inflation and the value of a dollar is tied to housing speculator bailout? I hope that Saldana informed everyone that the deal that most people struck with their lenders was that they could just walk away from their houses. Many are and should just walk away. For many people this would be the best financial decision EVEN CONSIDERING the effect on their credit scores. The borrowers meet their obligations and pay the penalty of losing their down payment and the lenders get what the they should expect for lending to people who can't afford the home. The home gets resold at a more affordable price to someone who has wisely been waiting to buy a home. Hopefully Saldana suggested walking away as a wise and honorable option.

Mike from Sydney
June 04, 2008 at 06:06 AM
I've been searching for first time home buyers resources for Australians, but keep coming up with American results. Either I'm searching the wrong things, or there are just plenty of quality articles like these helping people inexperienced in real estate in the states.

Alma from San Diego
June 05, 2008 at 12:23 AM
Greetings from Australia, Mike! Best of luck on your search for Australian-specific housing information. It's good to hear that there are plenty of articles on first time home buying in the States. It's just too bad that it took so much grief for information to proliferate. Maybe the information was always there, and people weren't choosing to do their due diligence as you are doing.

Alma Sove from San Diego
June 16, 2008 at 04:51 AM
The foreclosure discussion goes on in the 2008 election coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/opinion/15sun1.html?ref=opinion

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andrew wise from gainesville, florida
June 18, 2008 at 03:28 PM
We've put together a collection of foreclosure help blogs started by people that are actually facing foreclosure now, and they've found some pretty ingenious ways of pulling through and surviving --truly inspiring.

owl
June 18, 2008 at 03:53 PM
Just went to the help blog, "Even with slow home sales, there are ways for desperate owners to get out of a mortgage" The easiest way is to walk away from the mortgage. THe worst way is to ask the government to bail you out directly or indirectly. Indirectly by forcing interest rates down, letting inflation go up and the dollar drop (causing oil prices to rise) OR by getting loans backed by the federal government.

real estate
June 27, 2008 at 08:13 PM
good responses san deigo, good read

Joebloggs from London, England
August 24, 2008 at 07:25 PM
The credit crunch, as it's known in the UK, is affecting the commercial property market as much as the domestic one. Companies are laying people off already and I don't see things getting better very fast. What Owl said about avoiding the housing crunch also apply to the commercial market. Indeed, the combined impact of a change in strategy in the commercial market would probably be enough to take us out of this mess.

anonymous from United States
March 28, 2009 at 05:42 AM
I WORKED FOR THIS COMPANY & I WILL NEVER RECOMMEND IT TO MY LOVED ONES. THE COUNSELORS ARE GOOD PEOPLE LIKE MS. LETTY CORONA MAKE THE EXPERIENCE FOR THE CLIENT VERY HARD AS WELL AS PAINFUL. HER LACK OF ORDER, PROFESSIONALISM, TREATMENT TO EMPLOYEES, LOSS OF FILES & HER MODEL- WE ONLY SEE CLIENTS 1 TIME BECAUSE WE DONT GET PAID FOR MORE, SO IT'S A LOSS OF $$- IS TOTALLY AGAINST THE REASON WHY THE COMPANY IS THERE..... PLEASE LOOK ELSE WHERE OR GO AS A WALK IN AND SEE FOR YOURSELF THE CAOS THAT THE COMPANY HAS, OR ASK A CLIENT HOW THEIR CASE IS GOING?