Here’s an article from Reuters with a more human side of the foreclosures Californian homeowners are now facing. It’s not that I mean to be coldhearted, but in this instance we have another person who signed on the dotted line without understanding what she was agreeing to. I do believe there are predators, even in the loan industry (imagine that!) who bamboozled this woman into agreeing to refinance her loan. Those people should be identified, charged, and convicted for their crimes. But back to the greater issue of California housing prices, it seems the jury is still out on how far into prime the defaulting will extended, and what overall effect that will have on the 8th largest economy in the world. Contrary to what George W. Bush seems to think (see the energy broker / Enron fiasco from earlier in his administration) the economy of the United States is heavily tied to that of California. At this point, housing prices are remaining stable in the larger areas, unemployment is in check, and everything seems rosy. We’ll see if it lasts.
