In Georgia, housing woes a long-term drag on economy
As we claw our way out of this recession, it’s easy to forget where it all started: housing. And while other parts of the economy have begun to recover and show signs of health, the housing situation is actually getting worse by some key standards. The Atlanta Federal Reserve has some interesting data and — oh goody! — charts to explain where we are at the moment.
For example, the number of American households who owe more on their mortgage than the house is worth — known as negative equity — continues to grow in many markets, including Georgia. In fact, in the fourth quarter of 2010, Georgia had the sixth highest rate of negative equity in the nation. Three out of 10 Georgia homeowners owed more in loans on their property than their property was worth, which is a remarkable number.
In the metro Atlanta area, the ratio is even higher. More than one out of three homeowners in this market are “underwater” on their mortgage, making them prime candidates for eventual default or foreclosure. Those who do not default will experience long-term “houselock,” meaning they’re stuck in those homes because they’re unable to sell them for enough to pay off the mortgage. Every monthly mortgage payment they make is another payment in a bad investment, but they make them anyway because that investment is also a home.
That is not a problem that is going away soon, with “soon” defined as anytime in the next five or maybe 10 years. It will continue to be a drag on housing prices and on consumer spending. New-home construction — once the driving force in the metro Atlanta economy — will continue to be more of a boutique business than a thriving industry.
That’s what happens when a bubble pops. That’s what happens when the music stops. Sooner or later, things that are too good to be true always stop being true.
– Jay Bookman
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895 comments Add your comment
HDB
March 23rd, 2011
3:01 pm
DebbieDoRight
March 23rd, 2011
2:54 pm
Don’t forget welfare queens (even though most on welfare are in Appalachia), lazy (although they screwed up the economy)……
Midori
March 23rd, 2011
3:01 pm
anytime DDR.
telling the only thing learned from that is “Spike is a four foot bigot”
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:02 pm
“Figured you’d break out the old standby’s Jackson and Sharpton. I don’t know whether it’s too funny or too sad for you to be that predictible.”
What’s sad is the fact that you refuse to use spell check.
“As much as some want to paint them as racist, they can be nothing more than bigots.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
“Bob Chambliss has more blood on his hands than the two you mentioned combined.’
HAHAHAHAHAHA
“Bull Connor, he’s racist.’
Bull Connor was a Democrat.
AmVet
March 23rd, 2011
3:02 pm
Not yet, squirmer. And quit whining.
Too early to tell if the BHO juggernaut will continue but the “enthusiasm gap” (Who comes up with this stuff?) has narrowed dramatically.
I would expect in the next 21 months, just as in 2008, it will be once again, lopsided.
Especially if the cons trot out another laughable slate of Bush-lite candidates.
One of the more interesting questions being which loons will replace Brownback, Tancredo, Thompson, Huckabee and Hunter?
ConnedConsCon
March 23rd, 2011
3:03 pm
Better question…what kind of bait does the Democratic Party use?
I’m partial to trout so I use corn because it’s the best.
HDB
March 23rd, 2011
3:03 pm
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:02 pm
Bull Connor was a CONSERVATIVE……lest you forget!!
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:03 pm
“Not yet, squirmer. And quit whining.’
Vet Translator 2000: He ain’t got nothin.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:04 pm
“Bull Connor was a CONSERVATIVE……lest you forget!!’
Weird, I see a big ole fat D by his name on his bio page.
Mick
March 23rd, 2011
3:04 pm
As opposed to to the republican rallying cry, No we can’t??
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:04 pm
“As opposed to to the republican rallying cry, No we can’t??”
Don’t remember that one.
Bosch
March 23rd, 2011
3:06 pm
I HATE it when you have to rely on other people to get what you are trying to work on, to work on it.
Lil' Barry Bailout
March 23rd, 2011
3:06 pm
“Sooner or later, things that are too good to be true always stop being true.”
————–
Like being able to spend $1.5 trillion more every year than you have?
ConnedConsCon
March 23rd, 2011
3:06 pm
Don’t remember that one.
Probably could not hear it over all the “I Object’s” from Tom Price.
AmVet
March 23rd, 2011
3:07 pm
My azaleas are already popping! The coral-colored and white ones.
Is it my imagination, or are they early this year?
ConnedConsCon
March 23rd, 2011
3:08 pm
Is it my imagination, or are they early this year?
Global warming came early this year.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:08 pm
Bull Conor: As a legislator he supported populist measures and pro-union issues.
Don’t know too many conservatives who are pro-union, HDB.
AmVet
March 23rd, 2011
3:09 pm
“As opposed to to the republican rallying cry, No we can’t??”
Mick I think it was redacted in 2006 to just plain old……..NO.
Midori
March 23rd, 2011
3:09 pm
AmVet – coworker and I discussed that yesterday.
Yes, they are early this year.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:09 pm
“Global warming came early this year.”
Where’s Owl Gore?
DawgDad
March 23rd, 2011
3:09 pm
Yes, but the correction in the market is slowing taking hold. A member of my family just got a fantastic deal on a home in foreclosure, actually picking up enough equity in the process to stay comfortably above water.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:10 pm
“Mick I think it was redacted in 2006 to just plain old……..NO.’
Worked out well for the GOP in 2010.
Midori
March 23rd, 2011
3:10 pm
Lots of “conservatives” are pro union.
But the racist scumbags aren’t.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:11 pm
More on Democrat Bull Conor: In 1940, Connor became a candidate for Governor of Alabama. He announced he would be campaigning on a platform of “protecting employment practices, law enforcement, segregation and other problems that have been historically classified as states’ rights by the Democratic party.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:11 pm
“But the racist scumbags aren’t.’
tick…tick….tick….
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:12 pm
More on Connor: In 1960, Connor was elected Democratic National Committeeman for Alabama
Source: Wiki
AmVet
March 23rd, 2011
3:12 pm
I thought so, Midori!
Thanks.
And for the science-averse, flat-earthers here, azaleas are flowering shrubs of the genus….
LOL…
Normal
March 23rd, 2011
3:12 pm
He ain’t got nothin.
Double negative, WOW, would actually mean he’s got something…
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 23rd, 2011
3:12 pm
What’s sad is the fact that you refuse to use spell check.
When you’re out of ammo, throw the gun… Or, in other words, if you can’t refute the statement, critique the spelling. Laugh all you want, but the truth is the truth. Bull Connor was a Democrat, as was most all Southern men at that time. The Dixiecrats were the most conservative and racist of the Democratic Party in the South. Makes you wonder about all those (D)’s turning (R) nowadays. They say that their party is running from them. Is it because their party is all-inclusive? to quote you HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:13 pm
“Double negative, WOW, would actually mean he’s got something…”
LOL!!!
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:13 pm
“And for the science-averse, flat-earthers here, azaleas are flowering shrubs of the genus….’
Keep those left wing catch phrases coming, Vet!
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:15 pm
“When you’re out of ammo, throw the gun… Or, in other words, if you can’t refute the statement, critique the spelling.”
LOL
“Bull Connor was a Democrat, as was most all Southern men at that time.”
GA didn’t have a GOP governor until Sonny Perdue. Many southern states didn’t have GOP governors until the 90s.
“The Dixiecrats were the most conservative and racist of the Democratic Party in the South.’
Explain Robert Byrd. Don’t remember the klanner being a “dixiecrat.”
He died with a D after his name.
stands for decibels
March 23rd, 2011
3:16 pm
for the science-averse, flat-earthers
reminds me of a ‘toon worth sharing–
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2183#comic
DebbieDoRight
March 23rd, 2011
3:17 pm
Bull Connor was a Democrat.
So was:
Ronald Reagan
Strom Thurmond
Jesse Helms’
Elizabeth Dole
Sonny-Do
Newt Gingrich
etc., etc., etc., You get the point. Yesterday’s racial imperialists democrats are today’s republicans.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:17 pm
“for the science-averse”
Hmmmmm, does Vet hold a degree in any of the sciences? NOPE.
Kind of funny that a guy who claims to know all about global warming doesn’t even hold a degree in any of the sciences.
HDB
March 23rd, 2011
3:18 pm
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 23rd, 2011
3:12 pm
THANK YOU!! Too many forget that the Democrats used to be the CONSERVATIVES….and now, the conservatives are REPUBLICAN…with the same paradigm!!
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:18 pm
“Ronald Reagan
Strom Thurmond
Jesse Helms’
Elizabeth Dole
Sonny-Do
Newt Gingrich”
Hmmmm, don’t remember Regan, Sonny, Gingrich, Liz, Jesse or Strom being members of the KKK.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:19 pm
“Too many forget that the Democrats used to be the CONSERVATIVES….and now, the conservatives are REPUBLICAN…with the same paradigm!!’
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Midori
March 23rd, 2011
3:19 pm
When you’re out of ammo, throw the gun
@@
March 23rd, 2011
3:19 pm
Mick:
No we can’t??
With a little tweaking, that becomes the Democratic Party’s mantra–”No you can’t! Not without our help anyway.”
When Obama threw out his “Yes We Can!!!” I got the eerie feeling that he wasn’t talking about Americans. He was talking about government.
And don’t give me the crap about WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT. Only on election day are WE THE GOVERNMENT. After that, they have the power over US.
stands for decibels
March 23rd, 2011
3:19 pm
Wonder what these comments pages would be like if everyone really tried to abide by these guidelines, provided in this handy flowchart?
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:19 pm
“Yesterday’s racial imperialists democrats are today’s republicans.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!
Lil' Barry Bailout
March 23rd, 2011
3:20 pm
And yesterday’s America-hating Marxist apparatchiks are today’s Obama administration.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:20 pm
“When you’re out of ammo, throw the gun’
Of course a left winger would throw the gun because they’re not smart enough to know that you can……reload the gun.
Lil' Barry Bailout
March 23rd, 2011
3:21 pm
Any GOP legislators hiding out in neighboring states to avoid doing their jobs?
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:21 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout
It sure is interesting to see all the left wingers come out in support of their racist party and history. Remember, the KKK was concocted by the Democrat Party.
ConnedConsCon
March 23rd, 2011
3:22 pm
Is WOW pe degreed in the sciences.
DebbieDoRight
March 23rd, 2011
3:22 pm
Hmmmm, don’t remember Regan, Sonny, Gingrich, Liz, Jesse or Strom being members of the KKK.
Well with their advocacy and advancement of Nixon’s “southern strategy” I guess you could call them all honorary members and put a * behind those Republican R’s.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:22 pm
“Is WOW pe degreed in the sciences.”
Sentence fail.
AmVet
March 23rd, 2011
3:23 pm
Didn’t I tell you to quit whining, name changer?
This Republiclowns calls himself a conservatives?
How funny.
That, my friends, is just delusional psychosis at it’s best! Because there is no way in hell these neo-cons are remotely conservative.
Conservatives don’t enable corporate welfare.
Conservatives don’t invade and occupy foreign nations on a whim.
Conservatives don’t bury science.
Conservatives are not anti-education.
Conservatives aren’t pollution-coddling anti-environmentalists.
Conservatives don’t borrow and spend we the people’s money like drunks at a wh-re house.
Conservatives don’t redistribute income UP the economic ladder.
Conservatives don’t have endless salacious scandals and jail sentences/fines for corruption.
Conservatives don’t aid, arm and abet right wing dictators and thugs around the globe.
Conservatives don’t…
Tell me when to stop.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:23 pm
“Well with their advocacy and advancement of Nixon’s “southern strategy” I guess you could call them all honorary members and put a * behind those Republican R’s.’
In other words, DIVERT DIVERT DIVERT!!!!!!!
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:23 pm
“Didn’t I tell you to quit whining, name changer?’
Still waiting on that doozy, Vet.
ConnedConsCon
March 23rd, 2011
3:23 pm
The KKK are Democrats! WOW! No, really, I mean, WOW! Just WOW! What about the skinheads. Are they in the Green Party.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:24 pm
“This Republiclowns calls himself a conservatives?’
It’s always the uneducated folks who name call. Why is that?
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:24 pm
“What about the skinheads. Are they in the Green Party.”
Why, yes. Yes they are.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:25 pm
“The KKK are Democrats!”
Robert Byrd (D)
ConnedConsCon
March 23rd, 2011
3:25 pm
Why, yes. Yes they are.
Probably from eating too much Georgia peanut butter.
AmVet
March 23rd, 2011
3:25 pm
The wigged-out-whiner went to Harvard.
Or was it Yale?
J/k.
He sure does have ivy envy though…
ConnedConsCon
March 23rd, 2011
3:26 pm
Robert Byrd is one as in singular. How many more you got.
Truth
March 23rd, 2011
3:26 pm
Change we can believe in
All we will have left is change in our pockets!
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:26 pm
“He sure does have ivy envy though…’
As do a lot of folks who couldn’t afford $60,000/year to attend. Would have been nice to go to Pitt.
DebbieDoRight
March 23rd, 2011
3:27 pm
Why, yes. Yes they are.
PS: Do you really get paid per word? And if so, why don’t you help out Kyle and Barr?
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:27 pm
“Robert Byrd is one as in singular. How many more you got.”
Nathan Bedford
David Duke
Lil' Barry Bailout
March 23rd, 2011
3:27 pm
Does the Idiot Messiah still believe in change?
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:28 pm
“Do you really get paid per word? And if so, why don’t you help out Kyle and Barr?’
What is it with libs and conspiracy theories?
ConnedConsCon
March 23rd, 2011
3:28 pm
PS: Do you really get paid per word? And if so, why don’t you help out Kyle and Barr?
They’re afraid he could do what they do for less.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:29 pm
Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 – October 29, 1877) was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self-educated, innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years. He served as the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, a secret vigilante organization which launched a reign of terrorism against blacks and Republicans during Reconstruction in the South.
What was that last line: launched a reign of terrorism against blacks and Republicans
Source: Wiki
Truth
March 23rd, 2011
3:29 pm
CNN tells us to not trust “Government” when it comes to the Japanese Govt giving us the details on the Nuclear reactor situation but to trust our “Government” when it comes to our retirement and health care.
Very interesting contradiction.
ConnedConsCon
March 23rd, 2011
3:29 pm
David Duke IS a Republican.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:30 pm
“David Duke IS a Republican.”
In 1988, Duke ran initially in the Democratic presidential primaries.
ConnedConsCon
March 23rd, 2011
3:32 pm
Republicans of old are not the same as the current Republicans. How many living KKK members currently associate with the current Democratic party.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:33 pm
“Republicans of old are not the same as the current Republicans.”
LOL!!!!!!
“How many living KKK members currently associate with the current Democratic party.’
Most of them died out.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:33 pm
How many living KKK members currently associate with the current Republican Party?
ConnedConsCon
March 23rd, 2011
3:34 pm
AS I said, David Duke IS a Republican (1988 happened a few years back in case you have been sleeping.). Also, Strom Thurmond is dead. And I have yet to see any KKK members out rallying around any current Democratic Party candidate.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:36 pm
“AS I said, David Duke IS a Republican ‘
Funny, I haven’t seen him at any of the GOP conventions.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:37 pm
Hey Vet,
Stiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill waiting on that doozy!!!!!!!!
Bosch
March 23rd, 2011
3:38 pm
“Funny, I haven’t seen him at any of the GOP conventions.”
Divert, divert, divert.
HDB
March 23rd, 2011
3:39 pm
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:30 pm
But now…the KKK supports the GOP…..
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) has apparently “become a darling of the Ku Klux Klan,” according to today’s Roll Call.
From Roll Call’s Heard on the Hill:
As of Friday afternoon, the Colorado Republican was featured prominently on a Web site representing the Harrison, Ark.-based Knights Party, described as “America’s Largest, Oldest and Most Professional White Rights Organization “We Love You.”
As you’ve noted….racists left the Democratic Party and migrated TO the GOP…like David Duke, Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms….Ronald Reagan….
You’re acknowledging the point that the preponderance of racist ideology comes from conservatism…..whose the conservative party???
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:39 pm
New thread upstairs.
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:39 pm
“But now…the KKK supports the GOP…..’
LOL
ConnedConsCon
March 23rd, 2011
3:41 pm
Who is Russell Pearce (R).
poison pen
March 23rd, 2011
3:47 pm
HDB, everyone is talking aboit the KKK, why not type in Black Organizations on Google and then type in White organizations and let us know what you find.
poison pen
March 23rd, 2011
3:48 pm
should be about.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 23rd, 2011
3:49 pm
“Bull Connor was a Democrat, as was most all Southern men at that time.”
GA didn’t have a GOP governor until Sonny Perdue. Many southern states didn’t have GOP governors until the 90s.
Glad to know you acknowledge the truth, even when you don’t mean to. After you throw the gun, throw the gun belt….
“Ronald Reagan
Strom Thurmond
Jesse Helms’
Elizabeth Dole
Sonny-Do
Newt Gingrich”
Hmmmm, don’t remember Regan, Sonny, Gingrich, Liz, Jesse or Strom being members of the KKK.
Nobody mentioned them being members of the KKK. However, they were all Democratic Party members before switching parties. Being a Democrat does not automatically equate to being a member of the KKK, just as being a Republican does not mean the same. However, the Dixiecrats did believe and want to uphold segregation and all policies related to it. There were no Dixiecrats from outside the South.
Southern Comfort (aka The Man)
March 23rd, 2011
3:51 pm
WOW
As usual, your historical knowledge leaves a little out of the story. Forrest started the KKK as a social group for former Confederate Soldiers. When they began their nefarious activities, Forrest disbanded the group.
Dan
March 23rd, 2011
3:54 pm
Yes David Duke was a republican, and Jerimiah Wright is a democrat. Both equal hateful devisive and misinformed. Whats the point
Dan
March 23rd, 2011
3:55 pm
Oh yeah one was an embarrasment to most republicans and the other, spiritual advisor and mentor to our current president.
Thulsa Doom
March 23rd, 2011
5:26 pm
Dan,
The difference is that the Republican party publicly repudiated David Duke joining the party and asked him to leave. The Dems seem to have absolutely zero problem with bigots like Rev. Wright, Louis Farrakhan who is the worst of all, and Jessie “hymietown” Jackson.
Earlier DebbiedoRight complained about the Willie Horton ad. Curiously she has no problem with Dems playing the ad about the black man out in Texas that was dragged to death James Byrd.
What she does have a problem with is the ugly truth that the Willie Horton ad brought out- White fear of black street crime- murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault.
Frankly its a legit issue but if white people brought up the degree of interracial crime that blacks committ against whites then somehow or another that would be deemed racist when it shouldn’t be. We should have an honest discussion about black on white violence and a dialogue with black leaders as to what they are going to do about the problem. Alas though the truth would simply hurt too many people’s feelings.
Thulsa Doom
March 23rd, 2011
5:28 pm
AmVet
March 23rd, 2011
2:44 pm
As an old catfish angler, I find that taking some plain white sheets, fashioning a hood, cutting out two eye holes, and rubbing the entire thing down with stink bait, then fishing on the very bottom, tends to catch your garden variety, right wing bigot quite nicely…
AmVet,
Sounds like your bait woulda caught Robert Byrd.
TruthBe
March 23rd, 2011
6:24 pm
HDB, {Hollow-Dumb-Black} all you do is talk about racism. The FACTS are Blacks are far more racist than Whites are today my friend. President Ronald Reagan wasn’t a racist like your so misguilded remark earlier. President Obama, his adminstration, and his followers are much more racist than any other current President up to date. Go back to school and learn something else.
TruthBe
March 23rd, 2011
6:53 pm
WOW
March 23rd, 2011
3:29 pm
Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 – October 29, 1877) was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self-educated, innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years. He served as the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, a secret vigilante organization which launched a reign of terrorism against blacks and Republicans during Reconstruction in the South.
What was that last line: launched a reign of terrorism against blacks and Republicans
Source: Wiki
Better get the whole truth down if your’e going to use this as a fact to prove a point.
Nathan Bedford Forrest was all that and much more. First of all when he was given the task of heading up the early KKK it was because the Northerners and the Blacks were raping , killing, controlling local government, stealing property rights, and robbing the Southerns. Some of the Southerns came up with the KKK, when it got out of control and became a bunch of thugs and vigilantist Nathan Bedford Forrest stated pulling the charters of the ones that did these things. At his own cost. The KKK was created by the abuses and murder from the Yankies and their partners in crime the Blacks. It was the only law they had at the time. The KKK today is very small and has no power. It was a sad part of history that our great Country had to go thru.
Get Real (the original)
March 23rd, 2011
6:55 pm
ConnedConsCon @ 9:23 am
“Obama cannot deliver those things. Only the newly elected Republicans can do that”
What a total moron
TruthBe
March 23rd, 2011
6:55 pm
Southerners.
TruthBe
March 23rd, 2011
6:57 pm
Obama is a total disaster as the President and he must go in 2012.
Dave R.
March 23rd, 2011
7:05 pm
“You really don’t have any critical thinking skills, do you?
DDR: Critical enough to know that you’re too dumb to click on a link and read something for yourself. How’s that?”
Debbie, maybe, just maybe, you might actually understand that I have read and re-read the alleged “analysis” by the losers at factcheck.org, which is why I can actually articulate three areas in which you will not find word one in their sorry excuse for an analysis, while you can do nothing but write: “Read it! Read it!”
It is the difference between being a mindless drone, parroting bad information in hopes that someone – anyone – will pay attention to them (that would be YOU in this case), or a thinking, reasoning human being who can see all sides of a situation and opine accordingly (that would be ME in this case).
You need to get out of the basement and into something other than a bathrobe every now and again.
Silverado
March 23rd, 2011
7:34 pm
“…it’s easy to forget where it all started: housing.”
And convenient to forget where the housing problem started: the Community Reinvestment Act. The aim of that well-intentioned piece of social engineering was to make everyone regardless of income or credit worthiness a homeowner. Anyway if you’re not hugely underwater right now try to hold on – housing will eventually come back.