THE BLOOM IS OFF THE ROSE

Here at Tyler Texas Real Estate, http://www.johncmartin.com/, we like to keep you up to date on things happening in the mortgage and real estate world.

This from The Wall Street Journal:

"While mortgage fraud has abounded in recent years, voluntary foreclosures are not by themselves evidence of a newfound irresponsibility on Americans' part. To be sure, until recently, mass-scale voluntary foreclosures were unthinkable. But markets have changed, and people are changing their behavior in response."

What this means, of course, is that folks are exercising their rights to walk away from loans which were fraudulently made, and taking whatever "hits" to their credit scores that may ensue. And lenders, packagers, and insurers are loathe to call their loans and sue for payment, because the feds are breathing down their necks about the fraud!

These things are happening in states where big run-ups occurred from 2005 to 2007. But here in Tyler Texas, real estate had a steady six percent to eight percent per year increase in property values for the past five or six years. So we still have a nice, steady market. And folks can still buy the average home for $150,000 in Tyler, Texas.