U.S. Home Prices Could Slide for 20 Years

So just how bad could this whole downturn be?  As many of you know I am in the financial business so have had lots of opportunities to hear from real people who are attempting to make real decisions on what needs to be done.  One of the most popular things I have heard in the last 3 years is, "We are staying in our house and the value should come back to where it was in the next 2-3 years."

What if you had a crystal ball and you knew that your $250,000 home was going to be worth $200,000 ten years from now and $150,000 twenty years from now?  Would that change any of your present plans?

Recent housing and employment data suggest the U.S. economy is at a tipping point where a double-dip recession is possible and home prices could have much further to fall, a veteran economist said Thursday.

Robert Shiller said the recent uptick in unemployment is not yet enough of a sign as to which way the recovery is heading. But if unemployment continues to rise in the coming months, it could suggest another recession.





"My gut feeling is we might see a continuation of the decline" in home prices, Shiller said earlier Thursday at a Standard & Poor's housing summit.

He added that a 10 percent to 25 percent slump in real home prices "wouldn't surprise me at all," though he cautioned that was not a forecast.

Shiller pointed to the glut of unsold homes on the market and the large amount of homeowners under water on their mortgages as pressuring prices.

As for when home prices might bottom, Shiller told Insider that was unclear and it was possible prices could slide for 20 years.

See it here; http://www.cnbc.com/id/43339262

Boy if that comes true....America will REALLY be in a pickle.  I wonder if 20 years of survival mode would make people turn to Jesus?  Probably not.  The Bible says that in the Last Days before Christ returns to earth, men will be cursing God.

Friends...we better lock into the eternal hope that only Jesus can offer, because the hope of this fallen earth seems to be drying up pretty fast.

Hat tip to Mike S.