“75% of option-ARM holders are paying less than the full interest charges on their mortgages, with the difference added to principal that they must start paying on reset. The pain could be especially acute next summer, when the dollar value of option-ARM and Alt-A loans resetting will be double the amount it was last August.
“The less-than-interest option attracted everyone but especially business owners who wanted more capital and people moving to wealthy areas who couldn’t otherwise afford to,” says Mark Hanson of real estate consultancy M. Hanson Advisors. Within 10 miles of Mill Valley in wealthy Marin County, Calif., 35% of 600 homes in foreclosure (average appraised value: $860,000; average net equity: -$98,000) were financed with option-ARM loans, Hanson says. This time next year, he adds, “time bombs will be going off everywhere.”
Most vulnerable are rich towns in California and Florida, where more than half of these loans reside.”
