Weird Housing Tales, Part 7
Here’s one casualty of the U.S. housing crisis that no one talks about: Marriages. Don Moore from divorce360.com wrote an article that appeared in MSN Money today, and said that experts believe an increase in the number of divorces may be related to escalating mortgage payments. Nicolas Retsinas, the director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, told Moore:
Historically, the three most likely reasons for foreclosure problems are: loss of job, loss of health and loss of spouse. On top of that, these days, escalating mortgage payments are exacerbating the divorce problem.
Moore wrote:
The Harvard housing expert said it’s too soon for a definitive study linking divorce to the country’s recent foreclosure woes. But Scott Daniels, an Ocala, Fla., real-estate agent, doesn’t need a study to tell him what he already knows: The mortgage-industry crisis is causing an increase in the number of couples who are getting divorced.
“In the last three months, we have accepted five listings which are divorce sales. In each instance, it’s due to the obligation of meeting their mortgage payments,” Daniels wrote earlier this year in his blog.
“Faced with pressure, these couples are blaming one another! Rather than attempt to work together to resolve the problem, they find it easier to separate. They each have in common the same exact problem: No one is able to make a decision on what price to sell for!”
The Beautiful South, “A Little Time” (1990)
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Though there are no statistics linking foreclosure to divorce rates, financial problems among couples are one of the main reasons for divorce in this United States today. Daniels, of Florida List for Less Realty, believes that the data will eventually prove his assertions correct.
According to Moore:
Daniels thinks once statistics between the mortgage rates and divorce rates are compiled, the public will see a national trend. “It’s a trend that will continue as long as real-estate prices spiral down. Many couples can’t face the reality of mounting bills, higher mortgage payments and decide it’s better to part. As we move forward this trend is happening at an alarming rate leading to foreclosures,” he says.
In response to his blog post, Daniels said, he received 50 to 60 replies from real-estate agents around the country who agreed with his assessment that the mortgage problems are leading to more and more foreclosures — and more and more divorces.
Source:
“Is mortgage crisis causing divorces?”
Don Moore
MSN Money/divorce360.com, April 16, 2008
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