>
>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 think that's a fairly small part of the question. The answer will
probably be recorded here as it unfurls:
http://patrick.net/housing/crash.html
But the scope of the crisis is much larger than that. This economy had two legs: housing and financial shenanigans. Housing has crumbled and will continue to crumble as ARMS readjust upward in the next couple of years. Because housing is gone, things like Home Depot and all manner of stuff associated with housing will also wane. The leverage that was based on housing is also gone/suspect which are causing credit markets to freeze and financial shenanigans (like leveraged buy outs) also to skid to a stop. There will be a lot of job losses.
>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?
>
From what I'm reading, the housing crisis should not push rents up because a lot of these houses that can't sell must rent and that should have a dampening effect on rental prices.
Joanna