Where are the people who are losing their homes going?

[newguy88]

All the foreclosures where are these families going?

[Walt34]

There's an interesting set of articles in Reader's Digest on the housing issue. One family bought a trailer and is living on her parent's property. I suppose most go to rental apartments or houses, move in with family, etc. Some with no income will end up in state-supported housing or shelters.

[maddythebeagle]

Is this thread an invitation for them to move in newguy?

[tryan]

Definatly renting ... that's why rents are holding strong (even INCREASING). Rents dropping will another sign of a bottom formation. Eventually rents will drop as REO buyers undercut the rental market to get the best tenants fast.

[Pete]

In my neighborhoods their all just moving back home. People are adding on and building granny houses out back. Others are renting garages and moving in with many roomates to keep costs low.

[WM]

I have a friend in San Diego who runs a welfare-assistance organization, and she said she's starting to see people come in who've lost their homes and tried to apply for welfare.

They've clearly never been in the position of asking for government help before, since they have no idea how poor you have to be to qualify. (No more than a few thousand in total assets and almost no income, plus you have to have dependent children). There's not much she can tell them about where to go.

[Marquette]

Originally Posted by tryan

Definatly renting ... that's why rents are holding strong (even INCREASING). Rents dropping will another sign of a bottom formation. Eventually rents will drop as REO buyers undercut the rental market to get the best tenants fast.

Probably locale-specific. We were looking at renting after our house sold... The apartment we lived in 7 years ago was going for $100/mo less than we paid. Just about every house we went through was originally for sale but they couldn't move it and now it's for rent and they're hoping to stave off the bleeding by losing just a little every month instead of a lot. Even a month later, I'm getting call-backs to see if I'm interested in their properties.

The most surprising thing to me was that I could no longer use the monthly rent as a quick assessment of how nice a property was or what it included. That could be a sign of REO buyers just trying to move fast on property for sure...

[BunsGettingFirm]

Originally Posted by Marquette

Probably locale-specific. We were looking at renting after our house sold... The apartment we lived in 7 years ago was going for $100/mo less than we paid. Just about every house we went through was originally for sale but they couldn't move it and now it's for rent and they're hoping to stave off the bleeding by losing just a little every month instead of a lot. Even a month later, I'm getting call-backs to see if I'm interested in their properties.

The most surprising thing to me was that I could no longer use the monthly rent as a quick assessment of how nice a property was or what it included. That could be a sign of REO buyers just trying to move fast on property for sure...

Here is Boston, a $1000/month apartment is a no-view, 500 sq ft basement apartment. The housing stock here is old and hasn't been replenished in years. It's why I'm always looking at FL real estate and drooling. The apartment was the only apartment I could find on the Internet, and I had to wait 3 weeks for it to open.

[StJohnsWood]

I live in the midwest and have yet to see a foreclosure in the neighborhood. If it wasn't all over the airways, I wouldn't even know there was anything going on.

The thing that I do not understand is why not just refinance the house with better terms? Some may not be able to due to the value dropping or not being able to qualify. If that is the case maybe they shouldn't have bought in the first place.

You have to listen to that little voice in your head that says maybe this isn't a good idea.

[brewer12345]

Originally Posted by StJohnsWood

The thing that I do not understand is why not just refinance the house with better terms? Some may not be able to due to the value dropping or not being able to qualify.

Um, you just answered your question.

There are an amazingly large number of people who were born without that little voice in their head.

[thefed]

i assume theyre all renting...other than buying or freeloading,i see very few other opportunities

[Orchidflower]

When I lived thru the Depression/Recession in the 1980's in Houston with 10% unemployment, I met one too many who had to just walk out and leave their house. The ones that stayed in Houston just moved to a rental place or moved in with family.

An amazing number move to another area of the country where they feel they can find work. I even met a woman with 4 kids, divorced, who lost her job in Houston during that period and drove the pack all the way up to Anchorage! She had zero money, so the Alaskan co-workers in the office job she found pitched in to give her enough money to feed the kids and get an apartment. Never underestimate the kindness of strangers during hard times.

[SteveR]

Originally Posted by Orchidflower

When I lived thru the Depression/Recession in the 1980's in Houston with 10% unemployment, I met one too many who had to just walk out and leave their house. ...

I still remember that all too well. We lost all our equity and had to borrow more $$ to pay the difference between the loan value and the appraised value when we gave awaysold the house. We lived in an apartment for almost a year while we saved for a downpayment and even then had to borrow from my FIL.

[Orchidflower]

My BIL is a surgeon, and he lost his home and both cars during this period. It happened to all strata of society, really, and will again. As for the BIL, they overspent (I know...what a surprise) and never did the LBYM thing like I did.