Exotic Mortgages Proving Financially Fatal

"Foreclosure activity in California in the second quarter jumped by 67 percent over the year-earlier period, according to figures released Monday by Foreclosures.com, a Central Valley-based real estate investment advisory firm and publisher of foreclosure property information.

'Almost 5,300 homes in Colorado have already been lost in foreclosure and, as of August 11, over 11,300 were in the pre-foreclosure process,' says Ms. McGee. She cites recent reports by economists that showed that Colorado was lagging behind the rest of the nation in economic recovery from the 2001-2002 recession.

'A more severe situation, however, is in California,' she says. 'A primary reason is the overwhelming use of so-called creative mortgage products people were sold in order to buy ever more expensive homes.'

More than $1 trillion of these exotic mortgages were due to reset in the next 18 months, she says, 'and payment shock to such homeowners would be severe if not financially fatal.'"