Call Me Miss Bringdown
by digby
People have been complaining that I’m depressing them with all kinds of bad news and Cassandra predictions.
I hate to disappoint them. So I won’t:
A record 1.35 million homes were in foreclosure in the third quarter, driving the foreclosure rate up to 2.97%, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday.
That’s a 76% increase from a year ago, according to the group’s National Delinquency Survey.
At the same time, the number of homeowners falling behind on their mortgages rose to a record 6.99%, up from 5.59% a year ago, the association said.
This means that one in 10 borrowers in America are either delinquent or in foreclosure.
Many of those troubled borrowers are in California and Florida, which have among the highest delinquency rates in the nation.
The weakened economy and mounting job losses are expected to push these numbers even higher. And that will likely affect homeowners with prime, fixed-rate mortgages, which make up the vast majority of loans and have so far held up fairly well. Until now, much of the housing market’s problems were concentrated in the subprime, adjustable-rate market, where homeowners with weak financial backgrounds got loans they ultimately couldn’t afford.
“We have not gone into past recessions with the housing market as weak as it is now, so it is likely that a much higher percentage of delinquencies caused by job losses will go to foreclosure than we have seen in the past,” said Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s chief economist.
Unemployment soared to 6.7% as payrolls shrunk 533,000 in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. It was the largest monthly job loss in 34 years, and brought the year’s total job losses to 1.9 million.
The number of homes going into foreclosure in 2008 is on track to hit 2.2 million, Brinkmann said.
Cassandra says, expect more of this as a result:
We’ll be here for as long as it takes. We’re not leaving. We’re going to be here as long as it takes,” said Eric Ramos, laid off worker.
And with that passion and determination, about 200 laid off workers of Republic Windows and Doors have decided to take a stand at 1333 N. Hickory in Chicago. They planned to stay inside the company’s building until a settlement is reached between them and the company’s bank.
Local 1110 represents the workers and union representatives say under state and federal laws, Bank of America is responsible for paying vacation pay and perhaps 60 days of pay because the workers were given a last-minute notice for losing their paychecks and their benefits.
“It’s really, really hard for everybody and not just because we’re losing our jobs. It’s because we’re losing our insurance, too. They told us that we’re going to be covered until December 15. And now they come and told us that last night, the insurance were down. So nobody has insurance right now,” said Raul Flores, laid off workers.
And losing their jobs comes just weeks before the holiday.
“I have three kids to support, and I have three kids to give presents. If in this moment I feel like I’m not even going to have money to have for Christmas night,” said Armando Robles, laid off worker.
Representatives for the company as well as Bank of America had yet to comment.
“The problem is Bank of America pulled their financing, so they had to close,” said Mark Meinster, United Electrical Workers spokesman. “So, Bank of America is standing in the way.”
The workers say they understand that companies are closing during these tough economic times. They say laws, especially when losing your job, should be followed.
“We feel mistreated. We don’t make business decisions. We just make windows but because of bad decisions we suffer, our families suffer,” said Melvin Maclin.
On the other hand, there’s always this, to make you feel better: