Thought I'd pass onto to you what I'm hearing from Tampa Bay area Realtors who specialize in pre-foreclosure property, homes that are heading for bank repossession if their owners don't clean up their finances in a hurry.

When you discount the obvious flippers and speculators who got in over their head, most of the homeowners defaulting on their monthly mortgage payments pulled serious cash out of their homes during the housing boom.

That explains why so many foreclosure cases involve poeple who have lived in the same home for 10 or 15 years. You'd think they'd be cushioned by accumulated home equity. Not so.

Too many people unwisely raided their home equity by refinancing in 2004-05. Now they owe more on their homes than they're worth. One Realtor said 90 percent of their people seeking his help victimized themselves that way.

In a nutshell: Much of the housing boom was built upon the expectation of continously skyrocketing home values.  Turned out to be a bad bet.