The foreclosure market continues to boom as no relief appears in sight for stretched subprime mortgage holders.

As the economy shows more signs of a slowdown, this trend is likely to continue.

Although the real estate industry would prefer otherwise, foreclosures continue to make headlines. The latest data showed superficial relief, with September foreclosures down 8% from some 243,000 in August, but still more than double last year -- and still with more to come.
It may be a harsh analogy, but I often think of foreclosure buyers as the forest-floor ants consuming the dead wood to clean the forest. That means three things. First, as I see it, the sooner we get through this credit mess, the better. Second, the faster properties get through the foreclosure process and find buyers, the sooner we'll get through the mess. So third, foreclosure buyers clean out the dead wood (I like) and get great bargains in the process (I also like)....more