Real estate.

Bad thing about that was for normal people trying to buy a house. Figured they better buy now wile they could still make the payment and possably eat. Or be totaly priced out of the market.
Many of those purchased out of the metro to get a better price and got caught up when gas went up. that took care of the food part.

It will stablize. If you can make your payment best thing to do is wait it out.

I remember watching this and thinking how in the heck are these people affording these houses. Both the wife and I have better than average jobs for this area. These people where making less than me and thier wifes worked part time.
I would not have even thought about buying one of these homes.

A lot of people with mid-priced houses are "upside-down" on their mortgages: They may not take a loss if they sell, but they refinanced or took out lines of credit so they still owe more than their home is worth. Meanwhile, in the late '90s and early part of this decade, developers were building "McMansions" like crazy: Crackerbox houses that sold for upwards of half a million bucks. Good luck selling one of these overpriced, expensive to maintain monstrosities.

Most of the foreclosures I've seen happened because people bought what they could not afford.

From what I've seen in many of the foreclosures, people buy beyond their means with homes, and other things - and often expect to get bailed out if things go sour.