Friday, June 6, 2008

Upside Down Cars


I'm familiar with negative amortization loans, which left homeowners owing more than they had originally borrowed. We're also seeing "upside down" mortgages, now that prices have gone down in many areas and people end up owing more than the depreciated value of their houses. More than 8.5 million homeowners have negative or no equity in their homes, more than 16% of those with a mortgage. Voila...short sales.
Yesterday, I heard a new expression, "upside down cars". Some of my Realtor friends are finding that their fancy, gas-guzzling autos and SUVs have lost much more value than they would have before gas prices accelerated. One agent has had her Jaguar on the market for over six months without a single bite.

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