Why Did the Housing Market Crash?
So how did we get here? What happened to the dizzying heights of the housing market, and why do things look so dismal now? Well the answer to that is a bit complicated, because it includes a combination of factors that all came together like a perfect storm and shook more than just the real estate and appraisal industry. Since all roads seem to lead back to mortgage lenders, that’s the best place to start. How did these shady lenders affect the value of your home? Our sad story begins in the early 2000s, when the economy was booming. With this boom came lower interest rates, which raised the value of real estate across the country. Real estate appraisers were appraising homes for upwards of $500,000 here in Los Angeles alone. Because the housing market was floating high in its bubble, mortgage lenders felt a bit more comfortable giving loans to people who didn’t have the best credit history, which put an influx of buyers, that otherwise wouldn’t have been able to purchase a home, into
