What this economy means for you

As the most serious credit crisis in decades rocks your finances, you've got to have questions. Here are the answers.

(Money Magazine) -- Back in January, when it first became clear the economy and the markets were in for a rough patch, the consensus forecast was that we'd have seen the worst of it by now.

Perhaps you put a bit more cash in the bank, trimmed the fat from your budget and tweaked your 401(k) allocations, but otherwise you were confident you could stay the course.

Then came the extraordinary events of September: the government's seizure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and rescue of American International Group; the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and pending sale of Merrill Lynch; the first money market fund loss in more than a decade; a series of bank fire sales; and a politically charged federal bailout plan that could carry a $700 billion price tag. You can't help but wonder what all this means to you.

Here are some key questions, from when stocks could bounce back to what's ahead for the economy and home prices. Choose a topic to get some answers.

The Economy
The Stock Market
Your Savings
Insurance
The Real Estate Market
The Credit Market
The Job Market
Your Retirement

Do you qualify for HUD?

The Housing Authority provides two basic types of rental assistance. The largest program is the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher. The applicant receives a Housing Choice Voucher once they have met all eligibility requirements.

The program participant can select an appropriate rental unit (house or apartment) and live where they wish.

The unit that is selected must:
Meet housing quality standards
Must have an appropriate number of bedrooms
The rent must be reasonable with regard to current market rents
Must also be affordable to the participant.

For more information, click below:

HUD information

Just a thought...

Okay, right now we have a heavy supply of Bank Owned (REO, Foreclosure) properties. And because of the competition on the market, and the desire for the banks to get rid of these properties fast, they are being priced extremely low.

So, now that President Bush is talking about the 'rescue' plans and the Presidential candidates are proposing everything from buying up banks and bad debt to restructuring loans to reflect current appraised prices, does that mean that more homeowners will be STAYING in their homes? Does that also mean less foreclosures? Less Short Sale properties? Less Bank Owned properties?

With the heavy amount of foreclosures and short sales, our supply of homes was greatly increased, which brought the prices down considerably.

Now, with the potential of so many homeowners having more options to save their home, does that mean a decrease in new properties on the market? More importantly, does that mean a descrease in the LOWEST priced homes (bank owned and short sale properties) on the market???

When the supply starts to descrease, the prices go up. Check for yourself. This link will take you to the most recent up to date REO listings that have hit the market within the past 5 days! Whether you click on it today, or next week, or next month, it will bring up the previous 5 days of RECENT REO, Bank Owned (Foreclosure) properties:

The LASTEST REO'S TO HIT THE MARKET!

Today (as I write this) there aer 85 NEW REO Listings (that does not include any REO properties that were listed before the 5 days). How many new REO"s will be on the market when you click on the link above!?!?

Good news for the homeowners, and potential sellers.

Eventually not so good news for the buyers.

Visit my REO blog today, and check out the amazing deals that are currently on the market. Sounds like they won't be around for long!

http://www.californiareo.blogspot.com/