@Carl Mathias you got it right.

[Laura Gray]

In the recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report on housing, the chart on page 11 Table 1 foreshadows that increased foreclosed properties are coming. In the last recession 2008-2012, we saw large capital investment firms buy houses in bundled bulk groups from Lenders that had foreclosed houses to unload. Capital Investment groups bought 1000-2500 houses in bulk and paid greatly discounted prices. These properties then became rental houses or they were held off the retail market until prices increased to the point where a nice profit could be realized upon sale. The Federal Government Lenders eventually started the HomeSteps First Look program for the foreclosed inventory they needed to sell. This is a great program, and hopefully it will be used when the Federal Government will soon find itself in possession of houses when the current foreclosure moratorium ends. It is inevitable that some of these houses will be foreclosed on. Hopefully, the Federal Government backed Lenders do not sell these foreclosed houses to capital investment groups and miss the opportunity to help ease the shortage of inventory available to the general public. Individuals and families need affordable homes to live in within the communities where they work. Of course, it is more labor intensive to sell an individual house to a specific family, but the result is worth the effort. Building equity thru long-term ownership of a home is a primary tool for people to build financial security.