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Web Winners:
For those of us trying to get a grip on the issues shaking the economy, these sites explain some of the wide-ranging effects of the mortgage meltdown and give some direction for borrowers.
Contact staff writer Reid Kanaley at 215-854-5114 or rkanaley@phillynews.com.
McSlum. This sobering article from the Atlantic Monthly in March warns that the housing crisis could turn overbuilt McMansion developments into tenement tracts - and suggests that already has begun to happen, here and there.
www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/subprime
Subprimer. This section at about.com is dedicated to understanding the subprime-mortgage crisis. By now, subprime woe has spread pain across the economy. The page offers links for delving deeply into details of each phase of the crisis as it unfolded over the last year and a half. The material constitutes an impressive archive.
http://useconomy.about.com/od/economicindicators/tp/Subprime-Mortgage-Primer.htm
Downward slide. This slide show contains some vulgar language. But the stick figures in it do a pretty good job of describing how things got so messed up in the mortgage market.
www.slideshare.net/roguemonk/the-subprime-crisis-primer
Hope now. Pushed by government, the mortgage industry is asking homeowners who cannot meet their mortgage payments to begin a dialog - either directly with the lender or with credit counselors. The aim of the program, Hope Now, is to help borrowers get a "loan workout" - some modification of an original mortgage, or a new repayment plan - and avoid foreclosure.
Mortgage blogs. Here are two of the better blogs about the mortgage industry. The relentlessly upbeat Mortgage Report is by Dan Green, who calls himself a mortgage specialist.
Mortgage Matters is the blog by Holden Lewis at Bankrate.com. Lewis takes pains to put the mortgage scene in the context of the wider economy and the winds of politics.
www.bankrate.com/brm/news/mortgages/mortgage_update.asp
Contact staff writer Reid Kanaley at 215-854-5114 or rkanaley@phillynews.com.
