I want to thank Kirsten Forbess or Alaska USA Mortgage in Wasilla,(907–352–8306), about this information on Mortgages. It is a good reminder that most people have mortgages on their homes and that most people are not having any trouble paying their mortgages.
I had heard before that 35% of people owned their homes outright but hadn’t thought much about that. Those people have a solid position to weather tough financial times.
Some of these facts almost seem to contradict one another. One fact says that there is not evidence that there is no evidence that hybrid ARMs, (adjustable rage mortgages), are a cause of increased foreclosure rates, while another says that nonprime borrowers have always had a higher foreclosure rate and that they have a higher share of ARMs.
Still, investor analysts are blaming poor performing lending institutions for a slide in world wide stock markets. We all know that they need to name something and that a higher than normal home foreclosure rate is likely only one cause of the current stock market woes. That doesn’t mean it won’t affect buyers as they shop for homes.
Buyers will have fewer choices in loan programs and many will have to put up higher down payments than they would have a year ago. But people need to live somewhere and I believe that it is generally better to own rather than rent your home. I will discuss that issue in a future article.