The Real Estate Bust: Who’s to Blame?

What a year 2007 has been. The reality of the real estate bubble bursting finally came to fruition. The critics have been saying for years that a bubble burst was imminent. And although it did not come as soon as many had predicted, it came nonetheless. Now everyone is scrambling around trying to figure out what happened and at the same time are placing the blame on everyone else but themselves. Powerful legislation is being debated as this article is being written to help contain the negative impact this burst has already had on our economy.  

Relief could not come any sooner as several casualties have already taken place. Large financial institutions are recording record losses, mortgage banks and brokers are going out of business in record numbers, real estate professionals are leaving the business in masses, banks are being  forced to take back significant amounts of foreclosures, builders are going under and deeply discounting their properties in the process,  tons of excess inventory are sitting on the market, sellers are being forced to become de facto landlords, but most importantly, troubled homeowners are losing their piece of the American Dream.

But how did we get to this point? Was it simply because home prices were too high or subprime lenders were unethical? Unfortunately, it is infinitely more complicated than what many would want you to believe and there are significantly more players involved that contributed to the current situation.  In fact, we have identified the top 15 players that have impacted this market and its current situation. You’ve read different articles perhaps about each one of them, but this article will attempt to identify them all together and discuss not only their individual impact on the market, but what they are doing to help its recovery. Listed below are the key players in no particular order in terms of their impact on the market. Each however, has had undeniable involvement in creating the conditions for what we term the perfect storm. Read the full article

Who do you think is to blame? Let us know your thoughts!