Is the underwater housing situation in San Bernadino County, CA really this bad?

[joshuagraham]

Over HALF of the mortgages are underwater?

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/279-82/12539-a-serious-challenge-to-wall-street

[angles]

yes...and the job situation is not helping at all. The outlying LA cities are typically the last to recover, if that ever happens.

[tobee43]

Desperate for a way out of a housing collapse that has crippled the region, officials in San Bernardino County … are exploring a drastic option — using eminent domain to buy up mortgages for homes that are underwater.

Then, the idea goes, the county could cut the mortgages to the current value of the homes and resell the mortgages to a private investment firm, which would allow homeowners to lower their monthly payments and hang onto their property.

this article is from july and basically is becoming a reality with the announcement from the federal reserve on sept 13, 2012 –" The Federal Reserve, during a Thursday news conference, announced ... Feds to buy back more mortgage bonds ". not really certain how that's going to play out with respect to the backing of the bonds. should be an interesting twist to observe.