Economic Forecasters See Housing Ills Continue

Jan. 31, 2008 - PRLog -- (MINNEAPOLIS, MN)— Housing prices in the nation likely will keep falling through next year and beyond, and sales of new homes are expected to fall around 9%, according to a report by Fannie Mae.

“Presently the status of United States housing decline is the worst the country has seen in 16 years and the recent figures suggest that it is set to progress throughout 2008,” says Jessie Conners, former Apprentice and author of the new book Nightmare Nation: Redefining the Pursuit of the American Dream.

Few economic forecasters expect to see home prices rise, or even stabilize, next year; instead, estimates of a further decline in value range from 3 to 6 percent—according to www.csmonitor.com.

Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh, says in some places such as California, there will be double-digit declines for the second year in a row.  

“Forecasters once thought housing prices would begin to recover by the middle of 2008,” says Ms. Conners.  “But recent statistics have indicated that national unemployment increased by 5 percent this past December, which is a clear sign that the economy won’t help the housing market.”

Nightmare Nation instructs readers how to:
•   Get out of debt, and pay off your mortgage in a timely fashion.
•   Create other sources of income.
•   Change their attitudes toward savings money.
•   Set up retirement accounts now, no matter what their ages.
•   Invest! Find reliable advisors and make plans.

“States are currently trying to prevent future mortgage problems from reoccurring by regulating the initial circumstances which led to the meltdown,” says Ms. Conners.  “In many states it is becoming required that lenders can guarantee that borrowers can and will repay on their loans.”

Ms. Conners has made countless television appearances, including Oprah, CNBC and The Today Show, and recently had an interview with Chuck Jaffe of Your Money Radio. She also has upcoming interviews scheduled with WOCM-FM.

The author works as a nationally acclaimed keynote speaker, appearing at over 300 events a year. Currently a real estate broker, she started her own marketing firm at seventeen years old and began investing in real estate at nineteen.

 (Nightmare Nation: Redefining the Pursuit of the American Dream by Jessie Conners;
ISBN: 0-9793259-0-0; $14.95; soft cover; 5½ x 8½ ; 220 pages; PROTÉGÉ PRESS)

Website: www.arborbooks.com