The idea that there is little trouble in the high priced market is absolutely incorrect. In fact, we are seeing a lot of properties entering into problems. The wealthy have more money by definition but many also bought into the housing propaganda and over paid for homes:
In total there are 1,947 homes in L.A. County valued at one million dollars or more with at least 3 missed payments all the way up to being bank owned. If these homes were valued at higher prices, you would expect that the owner would simply sell the home and take whatever equity remains and move on with their life. Yet that is where the conflict arises because many of these homes are massively underwater like millions of other Americans. Unlike most Americans facing housing trouble, these homes can be underwater in the millions of dollars. It would appear that many of the rich were only rich in their ability to access debt to purchase the property and lease the European make of car. A large number of them really lived a life of all hat and no cattle.
1 in 7 homeowners with a loan in excess of one million dollars is now seriously delinquent. This is compared to 1 in 12 for mortgage values of fewer than one million dollars. The assumption would be that those working class and middle class Americans would have a harder time paying their mortgage in these economically challenging times. Yet as it turns out the zip code rich on a per capita basis have more trouble paying their mortgage than the majority of Americans (or better put, have more means to selectively not pay their mortgage). In L.A. County appearances can be absolutely deceptive…