In the beginning...
… I found myself traveling across the United States with not much more than a couple of pairs of shorts and an old Peugeot 504 which I tore the windscreen wipers from because I couldn't afford to get parking tickets. I arrived in Dallas Texas around the time “Crocodile Dundee” was released and the popularity of that movie seemed to convert every second bar into an Australian Pub and my accent quickly earned me a job on the door of the “Down Under” asking patrons if they preferred smoking or non smoking.
It was during this period I learnt about the “Great Saving & Loan Bailout” whereby many of the financial institutions of the South failed taking with them billions of dollars of depositors’ funds and creating a downward spiral of real estate values. These depositors’ funds had been insured by the Government so they were protected with the Government writing the cheques to bail out the lost deposits and hence this time was referred to as “The Great S & L Bailout”. This loss of funds and loss of consumer confidence created a massive drop in real estate values so the Federal Government outlawed the lending for real estate by any financial institutions that were still solvent. About this time I met my wife and we quickly found that nobody could or would lend us money to buy a home of our own and if we ever wanted to sell it, no purchaser would be able to secure a loan to do so. In looking for a home I was surprised by three things...
1/ Values had sunk so low that the Government had taken to bulldozing empty properties,
rather then provide shelter for a homeless person who might sue them.
2/ Large numbers of people who wanted to buy a home couldn’t because no home loans
were available and sellers couldn't sell because there were no financed buyers.
3/ A large and growing credit impaired segment of the market was developing never
able to re enter the home ownership market because of the 'Savings & Loans* Crash'
*Savings & Loans are America's Building societies
Listen to...Mark Adams the Asset Manager for failed Financial Institutions – Talking
about the Market crash that affected property values recorded in the early 90's...
Click here to Play > Broadband or > Dial Up
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