At our quarterly Board meeting of Vital Signs Ministries the other night, there was some discussion on what constitutes the "safest investment" options in today's market (besides, of course, the only truly safe investment, that proscribed in Matthew 6:20-21).One of the possibilities mentioned was one's own house and land. However, it was pointed out that inflation, confiscatory taxes, politically-motivated real estate appraisals, and the government's overreaching ideas of eminent domain made this option much less of a guarantee than it was in former times.
To illustrate another factor relevant to our discussion, here's a Yahoo News story describing the situation of many of the 8.3 million American homeowners who owe more on mortgages than their homes are worth -- people who are just walking away.
Home prices are dramatically falling in parts of the nation, especially California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida, leaving such unstable neighborhood conditions and "equity deterioration" that home buyers are simply giving up.
Some pack up and leave as soon as they realize their house is "underwater." Others, knowing that banks usually need several months to actually take possession of a house, keep living there but pay nothing. Instead they save up their money to start over at the next stop.
And some are waiting for Barack Obama to send someone else's money their way.
"More than half of Nevada's mortgage holders now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Arizona holds second place with 32 percent of homeowners have negative equity, and Florida and California follow with 30 percent each, according to First American CoreLogic, an affiliate of property services firm First American Corp.
The total value of U.S. residential properties fell to $19.1 trillion in December 2008 from $21.5 trillion a year earlier. California's losses came to more $1.2 trillion -- roughly half the nationwide decline, the firm said."
