The front page headline of the Times, today, in fact, was how now Home Depot might be in some trouble because of this. Most of the New York Times' "Top 10 Emailed" news stories are about the housing market.
I have been emailing friends, who know more about these markets than I, with the main concern about how this will ultimately -- or already is -- affecting the US working class.
Simple questions: How many families have already lost their homes? How many probably will? Will they be driven to rent? WHat do that mean for those of us who already rent?
I rent an apartment. My lease is up and management wants me to re-sign with a very high price jump that was about double what I expected. Just 4 months earlier a friend in this same apt. complex got a much lower offer for renewing for the same period of time (a 12 month lease). Do the managers not like me -- or have things changed a lot in the last 4 months and now renters can stick it to ya because folks are fleeing homes?
(Also, this is Austin, so things aren't getting cheaper, in any event.)
The housing crisis news is news that's spilling over into mainstream media news, but the news that spills over is still laden with so much financial-sector jargon that it's hard for me to make sense of.
I need a magic decoder ring!
-B.