Ozaukee County in The Global Economic Crisis

Jan 12, 2009 | Filed under Foreclosure Crisis | Comments (0)

Ozaukee County is small, but that does not make it exempt from the global economic crisis and the national downturn in spending. There is a consumer borrowing crisis, and even relatively wealthy Ozaukee cannot escape.

How is this manifesting itself? Well the people of Ozaukee are cutting back on spending and burrowing even deeper into their pockets to try and keep up their mortgage payments. To be fair to them, they are doing the best of any of the counties in the state of Wisconsin. House prices are still falling, foreclosures are still on the rise and sub-prime, soured mortgages are taking their toll on individuals and business alike.

Whilst the Bush administration considers its plan to guarantee around 3 million homeowners to avoid foreclosure, this is little reassurance for the people of Ozaukee County. For they, the white collar wealthy have been more sound with their investments but they are still feeling the pain as their house loses value and their incomes fall making it difficult for many to meet those monthly mortgage payments.

It is this downturn in the housing market and the sub-prime mortgage fiasco that has triggered the worst financial and economic crisis in more than half a century. So the people of Ozaukee County will hunker down and tighten their purse strings in an attempt to avoid the bank repossessing their houses.

The banks do not want to foreclose, they say, and they would far rather have the residents of this small county talk to them about their financial problems than wait until it is too late. Many people who have worked proudly all their lives and then taken out what turned out to be a sub-prime mortgage disaster are simply too embarrassed to admit their mistake, resulting in the bank having no choice but to foreclose.

Experts say that tougher times are still ahead, but hopefully the number of foreclosures, certainly in the Ozaukee County area, has reached their peak. A foreclosed property sometimes takes a year or so to go through the system, and the figures we are seeing now are a result of up to three years of problem mortgages.

One piece of economic advice that is hard to ignore is not to wait out for a governmental or state ‘silver bullet’ that will ensure an economic regain. Major financial initiatives are few and far between and it looks as if any good news on the horizon will be directed towards the keeping the banks afloat and not the people of Ozaukee County. So the advice is to keep the purse strings firmly tightened and don’t let up until the storm really does seem to have blown over.

Search Wisconsin Foreclosed Homes Top Counties

Click Here to Search Foreclosures by State

Search Images: Foreclosed Homes, foreclosures

Our 10 most recent Wisconsin Repo Properties Lists

  • List Type
  • State
  • City
  • Zipcode
  • Price
  • Details

Click Here to Search All Wisconsin Repo Homes Listings

Leave a Reply