Home Values Plunge Town Drowns in Debt

[Mrs. Sharon B. Hodge]

Home Values Plunge Town Drowns in Debt


November 12, 2008 - Nearly 90-percent of homeowners in Mountain House, California owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth Hundreds of residents are being forced to hand their homes back over to the banks


One homeowner bought a foreclosed property on Prosperity Street in Mountain House, Calif

CLICK for interactive map - Where Homes Are Worth Less Than the Mor...

A California town drowns as home values sink

By David Streitfeld
November 11, 2008

MOUNTAIN HOUSE, California: This town, 59 feet above sea level, is the most underwater community in America

Because of plunging home values, almost 90 percent of homeowners here owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth, according to figures released Monday. That is the highest percentage in the country.
The average homeowner in Mountain House is "underwater," as it is known, by $122,000

A visit to the area over the last couple of days shows how the nationwide housing crisis is contributing to a broad slowdown of the American economy, as families who feel burdened by high mortgages are pulling back on their spending

Jerry Martinez, a general contractor, and his wife, Marcie, an accounts clerk, are among the struggling owners in Mountain House.
Burdened with credit card debt and a house losing value by the day, they are learning the necessity of self-denial for themselves and their three children

No more family bowling night. No more dinners at Chili's or Applebee's.
No more going to the movies

"We make decent money, but it takes a tremendous amount to pay the mortgage," Martinez, 33, said

First American CoreLogic, a real estate data company, has calculated that 7.6 million properties in the country were underwater as of Sept. 30, while another 2.1 million were in striking distance. That is nearly a quarter of all homes with mortgages.
The 20 hardest-hit ZIP codes are all in four states: California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona

"Most people pay very little attention to what their equity stake is if they can make the mortgage," said First American's chief economist, Mark Fleming.
"They think it's a bummer if the value has gone down, but they are rooted in their house"

And yet the magnitude of the current declines has little precedent.
"When my house is valued at 50 percent less than it was, does this begin to challenge the way I'm going to behave?" he said

Mountain House, a planned community set among the fields and pastures of the Central Valley about 60 miles east of San Francisco, provides a discomfiting answer

The cutbacks by the Martinezes and their neighbors are reflected in a modest strip of about a dozen stores in nearby Tracy. Three are empty while a fourth has only a temporary tenant.
Some of those that remain say they are just hanging on

"Before summer, things were O.K. Not now," said My Phan of Hailey Nails and Spa. "Customers say they cannot afford to do their nails.
" She estimated her business had fallen by half

At Cribs, Kids and Teens, Jason Heinemann says his business is also down 50 percent. He opened the store in early 2006; last month was his worst ever.
"Grandparents are big buyers of kids' furniture, but when their 401(k)'s are dropping $10,000 and $20,000 a week, they don't come in," he said

Heinemann laid off his one employee, a contribution to an unemployment rate in San Joaquin County that has surpassed 10 percent.
He dropped his advertising in the local newspaper and luxury magazines

As Heinemann's sales sink, he is tightening his own belt. "I used to be a big spender," he said.
"We're setting a budget for Christmas"

In the window of another tenant, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, a placard shows two happy homeowners holding a sign saying, "Someday we'll owe a lot less than we thought"

Someday, maybe, but not now. First American has been refining its figures on underwater mortgages, formally known as negative equity. The data company evaluated 42 million residential properties with mortgages. (Though Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming were excluded because of insufficient data, none of those states have been central to the mortgage crisis.) A computer model was used to calculate current values, using comparable sales.
More than 10 million homes do not have mortgages

The figures rank the 20 ZIP codes that are furthest underwater.
The 95391 ZIP code, which includes all of Mountain House and some properties outside it, has the unwelcome distinction of being first in the country

Out of 1,856 mortgages in the ZIP code, First American calculates that nearly 90 percent are underwater.
Only 209 owners owe less on their mortgages than the homes are worth

The first homes in Mountain House were sold in 2003, just as the real estate boom began to go into overdrive.
Its relative proximity to San Francisco drew many who traded a longer commuting trip for a bigger place.