The recession has really hit Michigan hard. Almost every neighborhood you drive through there are homes up for forclosure. When I briefly did some work for a real estate agent, I realized that 95% of the homes they had for sale, were foreclosure homes. They had several homes listed for under $20,000. I was shocked to see a home sell for $1,900. During my time there, I found out that the banks get a kick back from the United States government when they foreclose on a home. Making it profitable for them to foreclose on homes. That is one of the reasons some of banks are getting in trouble for foreclosing on homes that shouldn't have been foreclosed on. They are quick to foreclose on homes to get government money. It almost makes you feel betrayed by the government. The put all this talk out there about how they are trying to help Americans get back to work, but it's all a smoke screan. They are making it more difficult for Americans to survive during a recession. They raise our taxes, cut unemployment benefits, give the banks kick backs for foreclosures, the states have cut funding on non-profit organizations helping the needy, cut school funding, and God only knows what else they have done that we don't know about yet.
Melvindale is one of the cities that has been hit really hard. Friday, I was really disappointed when I tried to find new home owners insurance for my home. I quickly found out that either the insurance companies refused to give me insurance or the insurance was twice as much for my home than it was for my car. My home value had dropped by almost half in the past ten years. When I did a refinance in 2004 my home was valued at $120,000, now it is only valued at 63,500. I know owe more on my home than it is worth.
Not only are home owners being stuck with not being able to sell their home, because their value of their home is less than they owe, they can't even get new home owners insurance because the value of their home is worth less than what they owe on their home. The recession is exhausting, I'm beginning to feel like things are not going to get better anytime soon or in the near future. I am beginning to think this is a new way of life in America.
