Our particular neighborhood in Southern California has been hit very hard by foreclosures. Neighbors on both sides of us abandoned their homes, which were subsequently purchased by others at tremendously discounted prices. We have seen the value of our home (which we purchased almost 3 years ago), drop by almost 50%. Fortunately for my wife and I, we made a considerable amount of profit in sale of our previous home which we invested in the new home; so for us we're still ahead of the game. The same can't be said for most of our neighbors, many of whom were sucked into buying large new homes they couldn't afford to begin with. The builder, KB Homes, was in partnership with Countrywide Financial, who was a large lender of subprime and adjustable rate loans, and was found out to have been involved in some pretty nefarious dealings, luring 1st time buyers into these very risky subprime and adjustable loans.
If you have wondered where some of these loan predators have gone, look no further than those annoying radio commercials, junk mail and flyers placed on your car windshield, or in our case signs placed on utility poles throughout our neighborhood, promising to help people who are desperately trying to save their homes. The advertisements are distributed by individuals who have no intention of assisting anyone; only in making a quick buck by feeding on people who are frantic enough to try anything to hang on to their homes. They offer to broker deals between home buyers and their lenders. They demand cash up front for services they will never render. These types of vultures are every bit as offensive to me as drug dealers. I have begun a personal crusade to destroy their billboards and remove their flyers from windshields whenever I see them. I have also notified the code enforcement department of our city (It is illegal to distribute such business material in our neighborhood).