MERS

After seeing all the foreclosures and hearing the tales of woe from friends and neighbors, Tom is coming to the conclusion that the banks don't know if they do own the loans on these houses or not. They can't foreclose on Grandma, because they don't know if they really own the place or not. They don't know if they can agree to a short sale, if they don't know if they own the home or not. What a mess.

We are walking into a hornets nest. We may not be going anywhere fast. If Tom does get work, we'll just save up for all those other things we want, while we live right here, unable to find out who we need to contact regarding being able to sell our house. We could be here a couple of years the more we find out about the collapsing Mortgage system.

Turns out to move real estate more quickly, the banks may have sold off the new mortgages faster than the counties recorded them, losing track of the true owners of the loans. The banks may eventually be grateful to people who are willing to sign off on their ownership of their homes, giving the banks a fresh start. Its like stolen merchandise, buyer beware. That may be why the banks are not signing off on short sales. They don't know if they have the right to decide. They are using delaying tactics while the system collapses around them.

The waters look muddier and darker for the recovering economy. Especially with the middle east and gas prices throwing another twist on the picture. Hunker down and stock up, we may be in for worse weather still.