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I N D U S T R Y I N S I G H T / V L A D S E D L E R
It's been nearly a decade since our country's financial crisis,
the worst in our history since the Great Depression of the
early 1930s. A confluence of events related to the subprime
mortgage industry and the excessive risk-taking of banks
turned our crisis into an international one. e main tip-
ping points included fraudulent underwriting practices, capital markets
worldwide creating capital liquidity through reduced interest rates, and
loose credit conditions spiking homeownership rates nationwide among
first-time buyers. Rising home values, ease of credit, and lenders having
access to funds essentially led to the popping of the housing bubble and
caused a massive uptick in foreclosures.
GOING BACK IN TIME
e early 2000s saw foreclosure rates re-
maining steady with approximately 2 percent of
home sales in the U.S. represented by foreclo-
sures. With lenders giving out exotic mortgages
requiring little to no down payments, that
number peaked to nearly 28 percent during the
height of the crisis in 2009. ere were many
lessons and takeaways from our Great Reces-
sion, and the 2010 signing of the Dodd-Frank
Going once, twice, and sold
to the highest bidder on the
courthouse steps, the Claims
Without Conveyance to
Title program puts freshly
foreclosed HUD homes
into new hands.