The Las Vegas Housing Market Crash of 2006

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.

When the real estate market hit rock bottom, trust was broken between the lenders and

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.

After the optimistic forecast from the realstate that the houses value were going to increase, many institutions started to make adjustments to take profit from this trend. In some cases, prime mortgages were allowed for subprime borrowers to take. This might look like a great idea to financial institutions because the house values were rising: if a people (who in the first place couldn’t afford a house) stop paying their mortgages then the bank could sell the house for a value greater than the one at the moment of default. Everything was going well, so how is it that the crisis unfolded? Well, these institutions wanted to make more profit

Simply put, it all commenced within the United States housing market. In the years leading up to 2008, buying and selling mortgages became a very popular way for lenders to make money. While housing prices continued to increase, lenders found themselves in a win-win situation. If homeowners paid their mortgages, the lenders made money. If homeowners could not pay their mortgages, they would

Real estate values further rose, luring lenders into taking more risks in their financial transactions. All this was done in the hope of raking in huge sums of dollars since the prices of the mortgages had gone up. Consequently, a large number of people, including those who would not have qualified under normal conditions, were able to secure mortgages. They soon realized that they had blundered but it was too late. Due to increased supply of homes being disposed off by lenders and other financial institutions, the demand went down sharply. There was no more money flowing in the economy as many people now stopped taking the mortgages. This could have resulted into the mortgage crisis.

EXAMINE THE FACTS. The housing market was making huge financial gains by misleading buyers into buying home that were out of their budget, lenders and originator created unconventional mortgages to people who were at high risk for default.

A few years later the market took a turn for the worse, where interest rates were on the rise, and homes were losing their value quickly. Now borrowers that were in these interest only ARM’s needed to refinance these loans because the rates were going up, to a point where the homeowner was not be able to afford the payment. The Federal Reserve tried to stimulate the economy by lowering interest rates during the recession in early 2001, from over 6% in 2000, to a rate just above 1.25% in 2002. These low rates encouraged many Americans to apply for loans for homes that a few years ago they would have not been able to. To encourage the homeownership boom, the Bush administration urged Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to allot more money for low-income borrowers so they could buy their own homes. This resulted in the subprime mortgage

Foreclosure in the last couple years has become a well-known word to a lot of young people, and has become more frequent in the last couple of years. My family has gone through the process and it was a very emotional time for us all. The only home my family was able to get into was one that could be rented with the option to buy. Having more homes in the market that have that option makes it not only more convenient, but more affordable for families like mine who have gone through foreclosure.

27). You now had highly leveraged mortgage loans, with a decreasing 30-year conventional mortgage rate, and rising home prices (Exhibit 1 & 3). According to the National Bureau of Economic Research the trifecta of, “rising home prices, falling mortgage rates, and more efficient refinancing lured masses of homeowners to refinance their homes and extract equity at the same time, increasing systemic risk in the financial system” (Belsie). As home prices continued to rise from 2000-2006 (Exhibit 1), individuals could then refinance their homes, collect their equity, and then use that money to purchase another home with no background information needed. As Michael Lewis mentions in The Big Short, “Steve Eisman’s baby nurse and her sister said they owned six townhouses in Queens. After they bought their first one, and it’s value rose, the lenders came and suggested they refinance and take out $250,000-which they used to buy another” (Lewis, 2010, p. 98). This would eventually happen multiple times as home prices rose until they owned five townhouse. Moving forward, it was the brokers & lenders who would fall next in line of greasing up the doomsday machine. From 2003 to 2006 sub-prime mortgage lending as a percentage of all mortgages originated tripled in quantity, of which for than 75% would be securitized into collateralized debt

The fall of the housing market that begins the recession in 2008 was in large part due to the fact that people wanted large and expensive homes. These were homes that they could not afford. Real-estate agents and their loan officers help manipulate the numbers for these unfortunate individual to get bank loans from banks who would later foreclose on these homes. As the job market begin to decline and massive layoffs resulted all across the country. Many individuals became delinquent on more than one or more house payments after losing their employment. Mortgage companies Lenders Country wide and Fannie Mac and others found themselves holding a massive amount of risky home loans that could have ultimately collapsed the world banking system.

The problem was everyone who qualified for a mortgage already had one. Lenders knew if they sold a mortgage to a person that defaults the lender gets the house, and houses were always increasing in value in that market, that would be a valuable asset to sell. To keep up with the demand from investors, lenders started selling mortgages to borrowers who wouldn’t have qualified before because of the risk for default. These mortgages are called sub-prime mortgages and lenders started creating tons of them. In the unregulated market, lenders employed predatory tactics to get more borrowers with attractive offers such as no money down, no credit history required, even no proof of income. People never would have qualified before were now buying large houses, and the lenders sold their mortgages to Investment bankers. The investors packed subprime mortgages in with prime mortgages so credit agencies would still give a AAA rating. The rating Agencies who had a conflict of interest by receiving payments from the investment banks, had no liability if their credit ratings were correct or not. They turned a blind eye to the risky CDOs and kept giving AAA ratings. This worked for a while and everyone was happy including the new homeowners. The housing market became hyper inflated with more homeowners than ever. Wall Street continued to sell their CDO’s which were ticking time bombs. The subprime mortgages began

that enables them to help support their family, in order to be financially stable. For others, the

With all of the incentives and mortgage products given so easily to people that couldn’t afford the high prices (including interest rates), many people defaulted on their first mortgages because they were no longer were able to receive the profit from the homes they first intended to flip. “During the first quarter of 2008, nearly 9% of all mortgage holders were delinquent or in foreclosure, the highest rate since recordkeeping began in 1979. Foreclosure filings more than