More Bad Economy News on the Housing Front

The foreclosure epidemic is not just hitting poor areas. Even wealthy, "McMansion" neighborhoods are suffering. Just goes to show how crazy the real estate market had gotten over the past few years. I don't think Chicago has been hit as badly as some of the coastal markets, but there has still been plenty of pain locally.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080407/us_nm...

Foreclosures come to McMansion country

LEESBURG, Virginia (Reuters) - Million-dollar fixer-upper for sale: five bedrooms, four baths, three-car garage, cavernous living room. Big holes above fireplace where flat-screen TV used to hang.

The U.S. housing crisis has come to McMansion country.

Just as the foreclosure crisis has hollowed out poorer neighborhoods, "for sale" signs are sprouting in upscale developments so new they don't show up on GPS navigation screens.

Poor people weren't the only ones who took out risky, high-interest loans during the housing boom. The sharp increase in housing costs -- and the desire to live in brand-new, spacious houses with modern features -- led many affluent buyers to take out loans they couldn't afford.