Unfortunately for mortgage companies, this is not a new trend, but one that TransUnion has been consistently finding in its surveys for the past three years. The only slight positive TransUnion could report is that the number of consumers current on credit cards, but delinquent on their mortgages had slightly declined. The number, however, is still more than 70% higher than at the start of what’s now being called the “Great Recession.”

“The percentage of consumers current on their credit card payments and delinquent on their mortgages first surpassed the percentage of consumers current on their mortgages and delinquent on credit cards in the Q1 2008,” the company said in a statement. “Although many industry analysts believed that a reversion to the conventional payment hierarchy would ensue once the recession had concluded, this has not been the case.”

Apparently, current economic and housing environment has consumers reevaluating their priorities.

The third-quarter underwater number rose from 22.5 percent in the second quarter and is the highest it’s been since Zillow began tracking negative equity in 2009. The subtle hints of stabilization in home values that started emerging earlier in the year began to wane last quarter.

With home values nationally 25 percent below their June 2006 peak, the current housing downturn is approaching Great Depression-era declines, when home values fell 25.9 percent in five years (between 1929 and 1933), Zillow pointed out in its report.

Home values fell from the second to the third quarter in 77 percent of markets covered in Zillow’s study. In five of those markets – the California metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Ventura – home values began to drop again after five consecutive quarters of increases.

Additionally, more than one-quarter (27.3 percent) of homes sold in September were sold for a loss, marking a near-peak level, Zillow reports. The peak was hit in February 2010, when 27.7 percent of homes sold went for a loss.

Part II – Michael Corradini

Part III – Michael introduces Panel Members and talks with Tony Constable

Part IV – Panel member Michael Shields

Part V – Panel member Faby Gonzalez

Part VI – Panel member Jim Abbott

Part VII – Short Sale Pros Broker of Record and Real Estate Attorney Spencer Lugash

Part VIII – Spencer Lugash continued..

Part IX – Jim Abbott speaks about Abbott Realty Group going exclusive with Short Sale Pros!

Part X – Guest speaker Greg Reid, Author of 3 Feet from Gold

Part XI – Greg Reid continued..

Part XII – Closing remarks – Meet the Company

The latest performance report shows that nearly half of the homeowners approved for trial modifications have fallen out of the program. As of the end of July, 616,839 HAMP trials have been canceled, out of the 1,307,489 trials started since the program began.

The government and “distressed” homeowners are seeing Short Sales more and more as a viable option. Statistics like these released Friday compliment our feelings that the free market and capitalism will ultimately provide the solution to this unprecedented market correction.

Wells Fargo, one of the most conservative lenders, has acknowledged Legitimate Property Flips and has removed their seasoning restriction as of January 1st, 2010.

Banks are finally catching up with the market and opening up their guidelines to allow more investors to revitalize the economy with legitimate property flipping. The free market system and capitalism will balance supply and demand and bring the economy back into harmony much faster than any government program could ever hope to do.

Changes like this will make 2010 easier to help homeowners avoid foreclosure! That is always something worth writing about.

We applaud your judgment Wells Fargo. We hope the other 3 majors follow suit.