The Subprime Mortgage Crisis

The mortgage crisis of 2007 marked catastrophe for millions of homeowners who suffered from foreclosure and short sales. Most of the problems involving the foreclosing of families’ homes could boil down to risky borrowing and lending. Lenders were pushed to ensure families would be eligible for a loan, when in previous years the same families would have been deemed too high-risk to obtain any kind of loan. With the increase in high-risk families obtaining loans, there was a huge increase in home buyers and subsequently a rapid increase in home prices. As a result, prices peaked and then began falling just as fast as they rose. Soon after families began to default on their mortgages forcing them either into foreclosure or short sales. Who was to blame for the risky lending and borrowing that caused the mortgage meltdown? Many might blame the company Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but in reality the entire system of buying and selling and free market failed home owners and the housing economy.

During the early 2000 's, the United States housing market experienced growth at an unprecedented rate, leading to historical highs in home ownership. This surge in home buying was the result of multiple illusory financial circumstances which reduced the apparent risk of both lending and receiving loans. However, in 2007, when the upward trend in home values could no longer continue and began to reverse itself, homeowners found themselves owing more than the value of their properties, a trend which lent itself to increased defaults and foreclosures, further reducing the value of homes in a vicious, self-perpetuating cycle. The 2008 crash of the near-$7-billion housing industry dragged down the entire U.S. economy, and by extension, the global economy, with it, therefore having a large part in triggering the global recession of 2008-2012.

The bursting of the housing bubble, known more colloquially as the 2008 mortgage crisis, was preceded by a series of ill-fated circumstances that culminated in what has been considered to be the worst financial downfall since the Great Depression. After experiencing a near-unprecedented increase in housing prices from January 2002 until mid-2006, a phenomenon that was steadily fed by unregulated mortgage practices, the market steadily declined and the prior housing boom subsided as well. When housing prices dropped to about 25 percent below the peak level achieved in 2006 toward the close of 2008, liquidity and capital disappeared from the market.

The housing crisis of the late 2000s rocked the economy and changed the landscape of the real estate business for years to come. Decades of people purchasing houses unfordable houses and properties with lenient loans policies led to a collective housing bubble. When the banking system faltered and the economy wilted, interest rates were raised, mortgages increased, and people lost their jobs amidst the chaos. This all culminated in tens of thousands of American losing their houses to foreclosures and short sales, as they could no longer afford the mortgage payments on their homes. The United States entered a recession and homeownership no longer appeared to be a feasible goal as many questioned whether the country could continue to support a middle-class. Former home owners became renters and in some cases homeless as the American Dream was delayed with no foreseeable return. While the future of the economy looked bleak, conditions gradually improved. American citizens regained their jobs, the United States government bailed out the banking industry, and regulations were put in place to deter such events as the mortgage crash from ever taking place again. The path to homeowner ship has been forever altered, as loans in general are now more difficult to acquire and can be accompanied by a substantial down payment.

In the year 2000, the stock market crashed whichshifted thepeople’s money away from the stock market and into the housing market. Many people were buying homes, which led to banks offering more loans, including subprimed loans. Most loans, specifically, subprimed loans began going into default once the credit markets froze in the summer 2007. Things began to deteriorate rapidly. The offering of subprimed loans stopped completely and interest rates for other types of borrowing such as corporate loans and consumer loans rose dramatically. Since the interest rates of loans were so high, home owners were not able to afford to make payments, which caused them to be evicted from their homes. In 2013, the government introduced new laws and

The dot-com bubble in 2000 was the start to the, still current, historically low interest rates – all thanks to the Federal Reserve. Since interest rates were so low, many Americans decided that now was the time to get the “American Dream” and buy houses, since the values were going up and mortgage and insurance rates were so low. By serially refinancing, people were quite literally treating their homes as a money bank, and not thinking twice of the equity they were loosing in the process, because they thought that the value would only go up, while their mortgages would decrease, and were blinded by the so called “American Dream”.

In the lead up to the current recession, when the real estate market began to fall, there were so many investors shorting stocks and securitized mortgage packages that were already falling, that the market simply fell further. There were no buyers at the bottom, and the professional investors made millions off of the losses of others. Beyond this, there was no real federal regulation for securitized mortgages, since there was no real way to gauge the mathematical risk of any given package. This allowed the investors to take advantage of the system and to short loans on real people’s homes. Once these securities were worthless, many of the homebuyer’s defaulted on their mortgages and were left penniless. No matter from which angle this crisis is looked at, the blame rests squarely with the managers who began the entire cycle, the ones who pursued the securitization of mortgages. Their incompetence not only led to the losses of Americans who have never invested in the stock market, but to losses for their shareholders.

The foreclosure crisis that took over the United States a few years ago left many people facing economic hardships. This crisis happened because there was a huge housing bubble that was unsupported by actual home values. The bubble began bursting in spring of 2008 and the crisis culminated in mid-2009. Many lenders went out of business and many home owners began losing their homes. When the government became aware of this problem and began to implement new programs, it was already too late for many homeowners. Those homeowners are not at a point where they might be considering buying a new home. The housing crisis has created new rules, regulations governing the mortgage industry, and has also created a new agency dedicated to consumer protection. This consumer protection agency is called the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. These dramatic changes have helped to create more responsible lending. The improving market conditions such as low housing costs and competitive interest rates are allowing those affected by a foreclosure to become homeowners again. Prospective buyers have a multitude of programs available to them, so even those with less than clean slate have several options.

The demand for houses, along with a belief that home values would continually soar, fueled the building boom that would eventually result in our demise. Once the grace period on mortgage loans ended, and house prices began to decline, many people found themselves unable to escape the high monthly payments and began to default. Increasing foreclosures continued to lower the prices of homes, by 2008 it was estimated that 23% of all homes were worth less than their mortgages. 2.9 million vacant homes later, it is safe to say the consequences of short-sighted expenditures were severe. Since then, more than 6 million Americans have lost their homes to foreclosure. Much of the blame for the housing crisis can be traced back to rumor in the stock market. While homes are not typically viewed as investments under speculation, statistics show that this was not the case during the mortgage crisis. 22% of homes purchased in 2006 were for investment purposes.

The recent recession that began in 2007 and led to the stock market crash of 2008 was partly due to real estate and the mortgage market, and it was portrayed in the newly released movie, The Big Short, adapted from the book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. The book is about the creation of the housing and credit bubble during the early 21st century and how it burst, causing the 2008 recession. It sheds a spotlight on specific individuals who predicted the crisis before anyone else did. The book is important to read because it explains how housing mortgages and loans work, in addition to showing how critical real estate is to the U.S. economy. The housing crash had several factors, but members of the industry should have conducted more research to have avoided such problems. The American public should have knowledge about real estate concepts and terms, for they are important in purchasing houses, investing, and making better business decisions that hopefully don’t lead to another

In the housing boom at the turn of the millennium however, home values skyrocketed for years. A person could buy a home for $150,000, hold onto it for 3 years, and sell it with little difficulty for $200,000; everybody wanted and could now have a home due to sub-prime mortgages[1][4]. The "promise of profit" is what drove this phantom Juggernaut for the years of the housing boom. However, the system breaks down when borrowers begin to miss payments. Banks begin to foreclose on these properties as in the past. Some borrowers may turn to their credit to make payments, eventually falling into credit card debt as well.

Pajarskas, V. &. (2014). SUBPRIME MORTGAGE CRISIS IN THE UNITED STATES IN 2007-2008: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES (PART I). . Ekonomika, 93(4), 85-118. Retrieved from: http://db07.linccweb.org/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1644448172?ac.

The mortgage crisis and attendant real estate collapse of the late 2000’s was disastrous for numerous homebuyers and ushered in a time of economic hardship for many in the United States. This crisis laid bare problematic industry practices, some predatory and others merely short-sighted, as well as buyer behaviors that were both financially unviable and psychologically damaging. In spite of the havoc wreaked by the real estate collapse, we can learn valuable lessons by examining the buyer behaviors and presumptions of that time and adapting our current attitudes and behaviors accordingly. Improved consumer behaviors are not the only positive results of the real estate collapse. Meaningful regulatory changes, designed to protect buyers, have been effected within the lending industry as a direct result of the crisis and its fallout. The lessons we learned and the changes to lending practice combine to potentially serve as a great benefit to real estate consumers in today’s market, both those new to the housing market as well as those “boomerang buyers” who are returning to the market after having experienced the mortgage crisis firsthand.

Since 2006, the number of foreclosures in the housing market has sparked dramatically. This is due to the fact that banks have given out subprime mortgages or interest-only loans to consumers regardless of their credit score. One of the main reasons why banks did not care about consumers’ credit history is because they resold the loans as mortgage-backed securities. This caused the loans to fall into the hands of credit rating companies that rated the loans too positive; thus, these assets were expanded and helped lead to the foreclosure crisis without hurting the banks directly. The goal was that banks lustily sought the big payoff that these mortgages could provide. The mortgages and loans let low-income consumers pay only a low rate of

In relation to the increase in house’s price, the rise of financial agreements such as mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDO) encouraged investors to invest in the U.S housing market (Krugman, 2009). When housing price declined in the U.S, many financial institutions that borrowed and invested in subprime mortgage reported losses. In addition, the fall of housing price resulted in default and foreclosure and that began to exhaust consumer’s wealth and