Dear Editor:We are seeing in the media and newspapers in general that the housing market is in bad shape, continuing to go down by such and such percent. It looks like a bubble blow up in the southwest part of the country with house prices between $100,000 and $250,000. Today, thousands and thousands of houses are being foreclosed and repossessed by banks. The National Association of Realtors is happy if real estate prices in certain areas go up. The government cut interest rates to a minimum. All of that looks good for property buyers - maybe in some places, but not in Downey. The bubble in Downey has not blown up. The prices are still between $500,000 and $1 million! Banks are still not changing greedy inflated prices for foreclosed properties and this is the reason so many houses are being repossessed and not sold. The cost of the property, not interest prices, controls the amount of a monthly payment on the loan and the property tax. For a middle class family, this cost is not reasonable and a $2,000 a month or more payment on the mortgage is not affordable. I believe that in order to generate more real estate business, banks should just put it on their tab and slash the prices 50 percent, and not allow the speculator to inflate the prices of the properties. The priority should be on selling to first-time buyers and renegotiating for foreclosure property owners. -- Semen Owechko, Downey

********** Published: September 30, 2010 - Volume 9 - Issue 24