The Foreclosure Crunch Revisited

Rest assured, we'll revisit it again and again.  It's far from over.  Here was the original post from way back in May

Saturday in my local paper, (the Contra Costa Times), real estate writer Barbara Hernandez wrote a simple little recap of the foreclosure activity here in the East Bay. 

Do The Neighbors Know?

We have a problem and I'm not talking about Foreclosures.  We have a disconnect.  While the article was well written, and I certainly read every word, I am also very different from the general public.  In talking to a neighbor on Sunday, he had seen the article but to him it was just a bunch of numbers so he skimmed over it.  He's a chemical engineer by trade. 

The general public is the embodiment of "Short Attention Span Theater".  They live by Sound Bites and Headlines.  My neighbor stated that its was good that we we not Stockton.  He obviously knew that Stockton was labeled the Foreclosure Capital of the U.S. by the media. 

I don't have to worry about that...

He has a 30 yr fixed loan.  He has a stable job.  He has nothing to worry about, he said.  Then I started asking him questions.  I know he's planning on moving to the sierra foothills in a year when he retires.  He's planning on selling his home. 

I pointed to a home I knew was recently served a Notice of Default.  I explained what used to happen not so very long ago.  They would have sold or refinanced.  That was so 2006!  Nowadays, they can't refinance.  Can they sell?  How long will it take?  What price?  Will it be a short sale?  If it sells or forecloses it will effect his home and all the others around it.    One demise leads to more demise, which leads to even more demise.  It's an enzyme, a catalyst.  Their demise is your demise.  We're all linked together.  We're all related.

To a chemical engineer this makes more sense than a page of numbers.  He now has a very different picture. 

"Why doesn't anyone know this?  Why aren't we being told?", almost adamantly. 

John, I'm doing the best I can.  Back in November, I mentioned the coming Foreclosure Crunch.    I can't find the complete video of the program but here's a snippet.

 

In May, I reiterated how The Foreclosure Crunch, The Credit Crunch, and the The LTV Crunch will hurt us all. 

The problem is still there, it's not going to go away.
I've been speaking about it.  Barbara Hernandez certainly made no bones about it.
We know it, and we've been telling you about it for a while now.  Just maybe not in the right way.

My question is how do we best get the message to the ones that need to hear it the most?