The Coming Crash in the Housing Market : 10 Things You Can Do Now to Protect Your Most Valuable Investment [Paperback]

John R. Talbott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2003

Today's real estate market is a house of cards--learn what homeowners can do to prepare for its pending collapse

Soaring home prices and 50-year low interest rates have lulled homebuyers into a false sense of security. But plummeting consumer confidence and record-high personal debt threaten to blindside overextended homeowners and real estate investors.

The Coming Crash in the Housing Marketshows homeowners how to avoid owing more to lenders than their houses are worth--known as an "underwater" mortgage--and reveals commonsense steps for protecting one's assets when the bottom falls out.

In this compelling, well-documented book, renowned economic consultant John Talbot tells current and potential homeowners how to survive and thrive in tomorrow's world of slashed home values. He presents:

• Convincing reasons why the housing market will likely crash within two years
• Startling similarities between this and previous economic disasters

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Is This House Worth USD1.2 Million? No, we don't have a housing bubble yet. But if the frenzy doesn't end soon, we will. Then, watch out"---Cover Story, Fortune, 10/28/2002

From the Back Cover

Strategies to Protect Your Most Important Investment In Today's Dangerously Overpriced Housing Market

Soaring home prices, combined with 50-year low interest rates, have lulled U.S. homebuyers into a false sense of security. But current economic conditions, combined with the actions of overly aggressive lenders, leave the housing market ripe for a major crash. The Coming Crash in the Housing Market is the first rational, unbiased examination of the dangers homeowners face in today's climate of overpriced housing and overextended credit. Asking and answering questions that have for too long been ignored, respected economic consultant John Talbott provides:

• Clear-eyed and convincing analysis of the economic perils of owning or purchasing a home today
• Ten steps homeowners can--and should--take immediately to protect themselves

Are you among the millions of Americans who lost thousands in the tech-stock crash of 2000? Do you wish somebody had said something about the dangers of staking your future on overpriced, risky investments? Today's housing market faces a similar crisis, and John Talbott is saying something about it. Find out about the price risks inherent in home ownership in today's economy, and steps you can take to protect yourself and your family from financial hardship, in Talbott's cautionary but convincing The Coming Crash in the Housing Market.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (April 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 007142220X
• ISBN-13: 978-0071422208
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,004,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John offers financial consulting advice on a very personal and confidential basis to individuals and families. You can learn more about his One on One consulting activities at www.StopTheLying.com

John R. Talbott is the bestselling author of nine books on economics and politics that have accurately detailed and predicted the causes and devastating effects of this entire financial crisis including, in 2003, The Coming Crash in the Housing Market. In 2004, he correctly identified corporate and banking lobbyists and big corporate money in politics as the major underlying cause of the current crisis with, Where America Went Wrong. In January 2006, he called the absolute peak month of home prices in the US by releasing, Sell Now! The End of the Housing Bubble and warned that the problem was not local, or even national, but international. In 2008, his book, Contagion: The Financial Epidemic That Is Sweeping the Global Economy predicted the subprime mortgage problem developing in the US would mutate and grow and infect not only prime mortgages, but other markets such as the stock market, commercial real estate, the municipal bond market, as well as threaten the solvency of banks and governments around the globe leading to a very long, deep and painful global recession. In 2009, The 86 Biggest Lies on Wall Street exposed the ineptness of the government's response to the crisis and the futility of enacting real reform of Wall Street when Wall Street itself is the biggest lobbyist of our congress.

Formerly, an investment banker for Goldman Sachs and a Visiting Scholar at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, Talbott has written peer reviewed academic research on democracy, inequality, AIDS prevention and developing country economics and has acted as an economic adviser to Jordan and Russia. He has made presentations on economics and politics throughout the United States and in Italy and Australia. He graduated from Cornell's School of Engineering and received an MBA from UCLA. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Herald Tribune, the New Republic, the Huffington Post and salon.com. He has appeared as a financial expert on television for CNN, CBS, Fox News, CNBC, FBN, CSPAN and MSNBC as well as on hundreds of radio programs. Talbott, whose family has lived in Kentucky for 230 years is the son of a career Army officer, is 57 years old, single, an avid college football and basketball fan and lives on the left coast with his faithful companion, Boca Jr., who rarely objects to any of Talbott's writings or politics except when it is time to go for a walk.

The media can contact Talbott at [e-mail] as well as anyone who might be interested in discussing possible speaking engagements. Those interested in learning more about Talbott's one on one consulting service can find information here www.StopTheLying.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Appraiser's Prospective, November 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Coming Crash in the Housing Market : 10 Things You Can Do Now to Protect Your Most Valuable Investment (Paperback)

Mr. Talbott is very close to the bull's eye with his book. I am a real estate broker and appraiser who has been appraising residential real estate for nearly ten years. And, from personal experience I can tell you that the vast majority of residential real estate is in fact over valued. In the three markets I have worked in, Richmond,VA; Hampton Roads,VA; and Columbus, GA - Phenix City, AL; most appraisers are pressured by loan officers and brokers to hit the numbers or else their out of business. Please realize that loan officers and brokers need the sale/loan to close before they earn their commissions. Why would they hire an appraiser who does not make "the numbers." This collusion is further exacerbated by the government through subsidies of banks, FannieMae, FreddieMac, and through other mortgage insurances and government garantees. In my view, as long as "lender select," i.e., the lenders are allowed to select appraisers there will be pressure on appraisers to hit the numbers. Now, some may say the appraisers are interpreting the market when making their appraisals, this may be true. But, what if the market their are interpreting is already inflated? Would not their numbers be inflated? Mr. Talbott's section titled "Do Banks and Appraisers Act Rationally?" makes an excellent case. Will the market crash? I don't know, no one knows for sure, but if you leave with anything from "The Coming Crash..." BUY SMART!!! Mr. Talbott's book is a big help.

51 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! Finally someone to answer the nagging questions., September 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Coming Crash in the Housing Market : 10 Things You Can Do Now to Protect Your Most Valuable Investment (Paperback)

One of the most interesting aspects of the book was that it answered many of my nagging questions that I had about home buying and mortgages. This includes issues that I see every day with my family and co-workers.

I consistently wondered how a person could make $30,000 per year could qualify for a mortgage of $175,000. Many receive mortgages with little or no money down. How can they have a mortgage payment of $1200.00 per month and cope? How did a mortgage banker determine that they were credit-worthy?

How could so many single people afford a home? Every single woman and man in my office (20 people or so) is currently buying his or her own home. Even married couples seen to spend an ever-increasing amount of their salaries to support a mortgage.

How does anyone in this day and age determine future employment or employability? Globalization and the quest for lower labor costs have put pressure on nearly all jobs, even in the field of education, where I work.

If people are spending 40- 50% of their salary on housing, how will they fund other needs, such as saving for retirement and education for their children?

Both my parents and in-laws live on a fixed income with social security and small work pensions. I know that there is no way that they could afford to carry a mortgage after retirement. Property taxes, insurance and maintenance take an increasing share of their fixed income.

Now, I know that they are all pretty much broke, they just don't know if yet.

92 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book helped me decide not to buy a new house, May 20, 2003

By 

Tom Carr "Tom Carr" (Atlanta, Ga. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Coming Crash in the Housing Market : 10 Things You Can Do Now to Protect Your Most Valuable Investment (Paperback)

The author made some excellent points. I have read some of the same things in several recent magazine articles, but he went into greater detail and was very convincing.

When I first started reading this book in the book store, the title made me think it was one more sensational doom and gloom type book on the economy that was designed to sell books without giving the reader any accurate information. That was not the case. The author seems to have a firm grounding in economic principles. He makes his points, while explaining that there are always uncertainties in any market.

If you are thinking about buying a house or investing in rental real estate I think you should read this book first. It convinced me that I should wait another year before buying a larger house.