Irvine Suffers Worst of Mortgage Meltdown

All over the United States, you will observe the effects of the mortgage meltdown. But the worst possible impact can be seen in Irvine, California.

Once a thriving community located between San Diego and Los Angeles, Irvine housed 18 lenders who specialized in subprime mortgages. These lenders included industry leaders such as Option One and New Century Financial. But when subprime mortgages began defaulting, most of these lenders found themselves with a financial crisis on their hands. To cope, they had to cut overhead costs and even let go of some of their employees. Almost 4,100 employees lost their jobs overnight.

Even with the restructuring, some of the lenders operating in Irvine did not manage to go above their financial woes. In fact, New Century, which is the second biggest lender in the nation, has filed for bankruptcy.

The quick turn of events has left many local wondering about what happened to their community. Those who managed to keep their jobs are struggling to make ends meet especially with the weakening dollar and declining home values. To date, about 9,000 jobs were lost to the subprime mortgage fiasco. These included service providers and suppliers of the lenders who operated in the city.

The only silver lining in this otherwise unfortunate situation is the great investment opportunities that the large inventory of foreclosure homes offers. These repossessed properties have amazing return potential and taking advantage of these homes will be a smart investment decision. If you are in search of a California property but has a small budget, you would be delighted with the many foreclosed properties for sale.

For the hottest foreclosure deals, you should check out foreclosure listings offered by reliable realtors such as Mostly Foreclosures.

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