The Cares Act, the act that they passed in Congress for $2.6 trillion back in April, the idea was it was going to provide the support the economy needed to get through this shutdown. The Cares Act was done during a time where we all thought we needed a bandaid. Things like the $600 per week people got during unemployment has run out. People have also been granted forbearances in April so they didn’t have to make their home mortgage. But those are getting to their end.
Let’s be honest. There has NOT been any recovery.
We are dealing with a virus that is hitting the economy in ways we’ve never seen before. Estimates are that half of the businesses open now will be forced to close. It looks scary as can be. Let’s stop being naive about this. It’s a tsunami of problems that will be with us for a while to come in the future. I don’t see any potential for home prices not to fall.
Home values fall slowly. They are a lagging indicator of the health of the economy.
Think about the way people list their homes. They set a price and if it doesn’t sell in a month, they lower the price… wait a month, and lower it again. That’s why it takes time for home values to fall. They are going to come down.
So what are you going to do if things go poorly? You need to have a plan. If you have a plan now and nothing goes wrong the worst thing is that you have a bit of extra money socked away.
Things to consider doing NOW:
- Refinance your house
- For people over 62 consider a reverse mortgage or a HECM.
- If you’re a business owner, see a bankruptcy lawyer today to consult with an experienced lawyer before the house is on fire.
The number of people continuing to file for unemployment is rising, 20.5 million Americans filed for unemployment in the first week of June alone.
What is going to happen at the end of people’s forbearances on their mortgages? Right now, no one knows.
