With the real estate market taking a steep decline, it is obvious to everyone home prices have declined. You either know someone who is going into foreclosure or is starting to fall behind on payments. You could know a friend, coworker or even a family member who is in default on their mortgage.

Many people purchased houses at the peak of the market or purchase houses with no money down.

Continued foreclosures, the credit crisis, and a looming economic recession are fueling one of the largest community changes ever to hit your neighborhood, vacant houses. Empty houses for sale are popping up in all major communities and no one is immune to their affects.

The Census Bureau recently reported home vacancy rates rose to 2.8 percent.

The mortgage crisis continues to rock the real estate world and affect many home owners. In fact it was announced today that almost one million home owners are loosing their house to foreclosure. This does not include the over 380,000 home owners who fell behind on payment this last quarter.

With the continuation of increased foreclosures there is no doubt that home prices will continue to decline.

If you owe more for your house than what it is worth you only have a few home selling options, one of which is losing your home to foreclosure. To avoid a foreclosure you can sell your house as a short sale.

A short sale is selling your home at a price that is less than what you owe the bank. Thus the funds at the closing table are short of your payoff.

In the last quarter of 2007, home prices in the United States fell roughly 1.3 percent. Thats a new record fall and not a great sign for those of us involved in the housing industry.

A recent survey by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight shown that there are some local markets that are faring well, despite average housing drops.

The best way to generate motivated seller leads is through the internet. Over 80 percent of people who need to sell their house turn to the internet to see their selling options. Over 80 percent! That is a very large number of people who are on the internet looking for the best way to sell their house fast, and the number is not going down.

So, what is the best way to get motivated seller leads? Have them contacting you to buy their house.

The rate of foreclosures is at an all-time high and the real estate market is suffering as a result. As the market drops and a recession looms, mortgages and foreclosures are on the lips of anyone talking about the financial future of the county.

President Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has announced their plans to help reduce the number of foreclosures and assist troubled homeowners nationwide.

January 2008 saw another large jump in foreclosure filings. Nationwide, filings for foreclosures jumped 57 percent, causing 45,327 homeowners to lose their homes to bank repossessions. This is yet another indication that our national real estate markets fears are far from over.

Although this increase was only a modest increase from the month previous, the increase demonstrates that despite recent attention paid to reducing the foreclosures, the financial issues in the real estate and mortgage industries are only deepening.

Now that the foreclosure epidemic is in full swing, it is not just home owners who are getting slapped in the face. Hundreds of tenants renting homes across the nation are being evicted and forced to move with little or short notice from the banks.

The renters have no idea the homes they are living in are in preforeclosure status and are scheduled to soon be sold at public auction.

It is happening again. Every three to five years the real estate market goes through another cycle and pessimism creeps into many. When the market is going down is it mostly caused by demand for new houses falling. The continuation in falling housing prices changes the psychology of home buyers so they stop buying. This process further decreases home prices and the real estate market.

Lets face it, the real estate market has changes and many of you got caught with high mortgage payments and now have a house that you can not sell, or can you. When the real estate market slows, the demand for houses goes down and appreciation stops.

The majority of home buyers wait on the side lines for the real estate market to come back around.