Seems that local media is focusing on a Zillow study that points out the 17% (or so) of local homeowners who are underwater on their loans. It seems hard to imagine that people could become upside down on a note simply through property devaluations. We simply have not seen significant value declines in the Dallas Fort Worth area. Surely then these are the people who were highly leveraged into their loans, these are the zero percent down loans. Most likely those who were also hit by ARM’s. Their loan dilemmas arise not from a shaky market, but from poor lending practices, and poor decisions when entering into those loans.
Another item of note is that Dallas and Fort Worth realty markets remain well below the national averages for “underwater” loans. Across the country the numbers more commonly reach the 30% mark. No doubt this is more often do to value declines throughout those regional markets.
May 11th, 2009 at
[...] Blog and Austin at Fort Worth Real Estate blog writes that a recent study suggested as many as 17% of DFW residents may be “upside down” on their mortgages, or owe more than their properties are worth. National average? [...]