Housing Market Plunge Passes Depression's

NEW YORK -- Home prices fell for the 53rd straight month in November, taking the decline past that of the Great Depression for the first time in the prolonged housing slump, according to Zillow.com.

Prices have fallen 26 percent since their peak in 2006, exceeding the 25.9 percent drop registered in the five years between 1928 and 1933, the housing data company reports.

The word comes on the heels of figures showing banks repossessed more than one million homes in the U.S. last year -- and they're expected to take back even more this year.

On "The Early Show" Thursday, Jason Cochran, Editor-at-Large at AOL's WalletPop.com, discuss what it all means for buyers, sellers, mortgage-seekers, people mulling refinancing or doing home improvements, and others:

He says this is, as you might expect, a great time to buy. Foreclosures and short sales made up a significant portion of homes sold in last year's latter stages. Foreclosed houses sell on average for almost a-third less than non-foreclosures. January is a particularly good time for buyers, especially in Northeast. Sales slow to a crawl, so buyers are in a good position.

Cochran adds that sellers obviously remain on the other side of the housing coin.

So many foreclosures on the market stiffen competition, but those can take a while to close, so if your house isn't in foreclosure, you may attract buyers who need a place right away. Home buying tax credits expired, taking some wind out of the sails. You may also be more likely to attract cash buyers since the mortgage process is so painful right now.

Advice: MAKE YOUR HOME STAND OUT. You're competing against bargain-bin houses! You must be proactive in making sure yours is up-to-date with repairs.

Some sellers are going through real estate agents to pitch people who looked at the house but didn't bid -- it's called a "reverse offer" -- and it's happening more and more. Others are tossing in extra inducements: "Get a free flat-screen TV if you buy my house!" "I'll pay your closing costs," etc. One Connecticut couple is throwing in their Florida townhouse in with the sale of their $615,000 house!

To see co-anchor Chris Wragge's complete interview with Cochran, click on the video below:

[bigelkhorn]

Alot of people think we are doomed, but there are still great ways to make money. Even while the economy is collapsing around us.

I subscribe to the guy from australia and his FFT economic newsletter at http://www.forecastfortomorrow.com that guy has called many big events before they have happend, including the stock market crash in 2008 and the current financial collapse of the US. (currently happening) I found him from a friend last year, and he has some important work.

His oil calls are insane, and I have been making good money with them. He is well worth a look, if you want to keep two steps ahead of the sheeple out there.

I am worried about my financial future. Is anyone else nervous out there?

[ignatzfattis]

Stay in your home -DON'T MOVE OUT. A family moving out of a foreclosed home is very likely to be just the first step in a truly tragic story. Bad credit is nothing compared to what can happen to your family on the street. There is no "safety net".

Staying with family and friends will only work for a little while and is best kept as a last resort for if the police are finally sent and you are physically removed from your house. There aren't enough police to remove all foreclosed families from their homes, and they have more important things to do. Many police officers refuse to kick families out of their homes or will stall as long as they can. They are on your side. NEVER threaten an officer, for his sympathy for you and your family may be your last hope.

THE THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO FAMILIES LIVING ON THE STREET CAN BE TRULY HORRIBLE.

Even if power and water are cut -DON'T MOVE OUT. If you have to leave the house for work or groceries etc., always make sure an adult family member stays behind with a phone to make sure the locks don't get changed and all your belongings are not thrown out on the street while you are gone. Call the police if you need help.

DON'T MOVE OUT

[NicklasRave]

Good story. That ending with the couple throwing in a townhouse is hilarious. Foreclosures are supposed to jump in 2011 but eventually the population will catch up with the oversupply from the boom.

Here's a funny story about bankers being addicted to giving out unaffordable mortgages:
http://onthefrontlinesofamericanswarwithdebt.wordpress.com/

[noloyalisti]

Go see Inside Job and you will all see this has NOTHING to do with individual responsibility. From the war criminal Bushoccio down to the corporate criminal Paulsen, Geitner, Summers, etc., etc., etc. there was a radical conspiracy to trick, defraud, manipulate and rape and pillage from the poor and middle class.

Now THAT is Mission Accomplished for the Republicans and the Neo Con men of the Bushoccio Crime Family Regime.

[kenhamlett]

Everyone should realize that there is good reason for the foreclosures and declining home prices. They were never worth the money people were asking for them before the recession. No not even close in most parts of the country. It you want to go way back this is similar to the tulip bulb frenzy in Holland. After that there are a thousand boom/bust cycles and this one is no different.
The real news is that the prices today are still too high even after the decline and the competition from the foreclosed houses. People have to come to grips with the fact that your home is not a tool for speculation and never should have been thought of as one.
As for the poor suffering banks that are foreclosing and can not recoup their money. TOO BAD. The banks should never have played along with this speculation boom. They should have known better.
Sorry to have to break it to everyone but you all got shafted and it is not over yet.

[noloyalisti]

The Republican Corporation is to blame for all of this. We were heading down this road from the Second Worst President of all time, Reagan through the Worst President of all time, Bushoccio.

[discussthis]

It is sheer coincidence that the plunge began with a Dem congress, and with dems in charge of Fannie and Freddie, and with dems passing laws that said banks had to make morgage loans to people who could not afford to make payments. Sheer coincidence, too, that dems found experts to say the recession ended in June, 2009. Yeah, right. And obamao has created 30 million new jobs since handing out $800 billion + taxpayer dollars to unions and "green jobs" and "shovel ready jobs" that never existed.

[realidad-2009]

Jan 2011 ... --- Minus 53 Months = July 2006,

DUH? ...... Who was President since 2001?
DUH? ...... Senate was Controlled by Republican Bill Frist!

[realidad-2009]

Republicans Controlled HOUSE From 1995 To 2007!

Republicans Controlled Senate From 1995 To 2001 and 2003 To 2007!

[Mark869]

So can we stop tap-dancing and call this a depression already? All of the BS and hand waving won't change the fact that our economy is in the tank, and trying to fake us out by calling it a recession isn't fooling anyone. We need to bring manufacturing back to the US; a viable "service economy" is a myth and nothing more.

[pragmatist1]

How many of these foreclosures were done deliberately by those who decided to not pay their mortgage because the contract they signed exceeded what was owed, versus what the property was worth? It's one thing if you genuinely have financial problems where you can't pay, like losing a job, but to deliberately refuse to pay because you don't like what's happened to market is fraud. Then these morons continue living in their property, without paying for it because they know it takes many months for the lending institutions to catch up with the paperwork. Low-lifes...

[saucymugwump]

Why don't you do the research, compile the statistics, and get back to us with the actual data?

No, you'd rather make broad assumptions about foreclosures because then you can continue to believe that the problem is not worth addressing, in other words, you believe what you want to believe.