Outside Reading Blog Post #7

Over the weekend, I read an article about the current state of the housing market. According to the article I read, millions of Americans have been refinancing their homes in order to pay off their mortgages. Unfortunately, this has led to an enormous amount of debt. Homeowners who have participated in this practice expected the market to level off. But it has not and in some cases, homeowners now owe more money than what their house is actually worth. Real estate agents call this "being underwater" and some believe that this phenomenon will continue. In fact, it is predicted that thirty percent of U.S. mortgage holders will owe more on their homes than they are worth in the next year. It's hard to tell what will happen in an entire year but if this continues, it will have devastating effects on the already weak economy.

The entire article can be read here.

This article was written by Rex Huppke and was posted on startribune.com.