Foreclosure is so last year. It’s a dead topic. Yes, it still affects us, but no, it’s not interesting and it’s getting old. No new creative foreclosure ideas remain. Say goodbye to foreclosure defense and mortgage litigation. Loan modification- seriously?
But the debacle left a scar. Single family home price losses split-up families. The shame from a short sale, foreclosure or simply having an underwater house will haunt some for years.
What did we learn from it?
1. The government didn’t/couldn’t help. For every homeowner helped by the HAMP program another was scammed.
2. Residential suffered more than commercial. Cold blooded investors of strip malls and apartment buildings restructured the mortgages or walked away and moved straight into recovery mode; compared to residential homeowners whose emotions overcame them.
3. The crises hurt the rich and poor. The main difference was although the rich lost big, they quickly tapped into other resources to stay afloat, while the poor struggled just to eat.
4. Americans didn’t panic. But America’s leaders froze. While Americans prayed for a solution none came.
5. The recovery took longer than we thought. It will take decades or a generation before American optimism returns to its all time high.
