Mortgage Payments Causing Worry

Posted on May 1st, 2008 by Samanta Parks

One out of every seven mortgage holders are worried that they may not be able to make their mortgage payments soon. More individuals are worried that the value of their homes is sinking. There is widely spreading stress on homeowners because of the current housing crisis. A recent poll has shown that sixty percent of people will definitely not be buying a house within the next two years. This is a higher percentage than a poll taken in late 2006. There are only about eleven percent of pollsters that will buy a house soon. This is a drop from the fifteen percent presented two years ago. With today’s economy, even holding on to your home is challenging and is causing a lot of distress among a large number of homeowners. About three out of every ten pollsters said that they are worried that the value of their home will drop within the next two years. Fourteen percent of homeowners were found to be worried that they may miss payments in the coming six months. A nervous homeowner in California had to sell his home at a huge loss. The gentleman and his wife will have to move in with their parents because of this. The homeowner, who has two young children state that with the ridiculously high price of gas and additional expenses, his adjustable mortgage, is no longer affordable. He does not expect the value of his home to change anytime soon so he settled on moving before his rates got any higher. One out of every ten pollsters have adjustable mortgages. This is half the number who said they had this type of mortgage two years ago. Adjustable mortgages usually start at a low interest rate and are modified to market conditions. This adjustment can be steep and these increases have caused many to refinance their homes. Some have even lost their homes. There is an increased reluctance to trying out the housing market. This stems partly from the concern that housing prices will continue to drop. This is fine if you are going to buy a house but it is bad if a homeowner is trying to sell a house.

One in four individuals see house prices falling more in their area and four out of ten individuals believe that the house prices will go higher. The expectation of climbing prices is highest down South while those in the West believe that the prices will drop.

It is now a great time to buy a home but not to sell a home. A homeowner is Missouri states that he would like to purchase a larger home for his family but he is not able to because even if he found a potential buyer, he would most likely lose thousands of dollars on his home. The homeowner decided to stay in the home until the market improves.

In the poll, the number of pollsters who have said that the prices of houses are just right has dropped to thirty five percent. Half of pollsters say homes are overpriced while individuals who say homes are underpriced are one on ten. Those in the Midwest were likelier than those in other regions to have this feeling.