Jingle mail should be a new phrase highlighted in William Safire’s column in the Sunday New York Times. This credit/housing crunch has produced some interesting words: securitized mortgages; jingle mail  No, it’s not time for Christmas!! Actually, jingle mail is what lenders fear the most! Homeowners are returning their house keys to lenders at a rapid rate; thus, jingle mail. Mailrooms at loan servicers must be inundated with keys dropping from envelopes as homeowners become discouraged with the sinking economy and their rising debt. 

 

Regardless of any Federal ‘bail-out’ for homeowners, some homeowners simply need to get out from under their situations and mailing keys to lenders is their way of doing so. Some homeowners are so upside –down in their mortgages, that even a bail-out cannot help them. Their options are to be foreclosed upon or simply to mail keys to lenders and walk away. Sometimes, it is more upstanding to simply let go of your house and move on. 

 

Since I’ve only been a Realtor for 5 years, I have never known a cycle like this one. We all knew the bubble could not continue, but no one thought the bursting would be so painful and so deep. Are there lessons to be learned from this downturn? Oh, you bet!! Lending needed to be tightened; no more 100% stated income loans; Realtors need to be proactive and do their homework in advising their clients; appraisers need to follow their guidelines and not be pressured by lenders.  In all, this will be a costly lesson for everyone, including homeowners.  Jingle mail will continue; hopefully, it will not resound like the Salvation Army's bells at Christmas time.