The banks need to start working with homeowners now. If they don’t we are going to see a ripple effect in the economy that made the last meltdown look tame. I can see no reason why the banks are forcing homeowners to go 60 to 90 days late on their mortgage just to get a loan modification which doesn’t really solve the problem. The banks should be willing to short sell properties back to property owners at market rate instead of forcing the homeowner to do a short sale to a third party and have to move out. I can see reasons why the banks haven’t done this, but at this point with home prices continuing to drop and foreclosures on the rise I believe it will be in everyone’s best interest if the banks start working out deals on principle reductions. They were bailed out by our government with public money and have done nothing but some token maneuvers to placate those who really need help.

The mortgage crisis is dragging on the economic recovery as more homeowners fall behind on their payments.

More than 10 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment in the January-March period, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. That's a record high and up from 9.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and 9.1 percent a year earlier.

Around 4.3 million homeowners, or about 8 percent of all Americans with a mortgage, are at risk of losing their homes. They have either missed at least three months of payments or are in foreclosure, the trade group's top economist said Wednesday.

Should loan modification programs fail to help, their homes will go up for sale either as a foreclosure or short sale — when the bank agrees to sell the property for less than the original mortgage amount.

Many analysts have been forecasting home prices will dip again as more of these homes go up for sale at deeply discounted prices.

Moody's Analytics predicts home prices will fall about 5 percent and hit the bottom next spring. This is not a good thing for the economy.

Federal tax credits which help boost home sales in the early spring expired last month. As a result, mortgage applications to purchase homes fell to the lowest level in 13 years this week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a separate report Wednesday.

Stocks slid Wednesday as investors remain concerned with the European debt crisis. The rising number of mortgages also drew some attention. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 100 points in midday trading.

The Obama administration's $75 billion foreclosure prevention program has barely dented the problem. More than 299,000 homeowners had received permanent loan modifications as of last month. That's about 25 percent of the 1.2 million who started the program since its March 2009 launch.

About 277,000 homeowners, or 23 percent of those enrolled, have dropped out during a trial phase that lasts at least three months.

Economic woes, such as unemployment or reduced income, are the main catalysts for foreclosures this year. Initially, lax lending standards were the culprit. But homeowners with good credit who took out conventional, fixed-rate loans are now the fastest growing group of foreclosures.

Those borrowers made up nearly 37 percent of new foreclosures in the first quarter of the year, up from 29 percent a year earlier. The risky subprime adjustable-rate loans that kicked off the foreclosure crisis are making up a smaller share of new foreclosures. They made up 14 percent of new foreclosures in the January-March period, down from 27 percent a year earlier.

When I was nine years old I used to travel the city by bus, train, trolley and subway. It was Philadelphia in the late fifties and early sixties. On Saturday’s I rode the Reading Railroad from my neighborhood in the northern end of the city to Center City Philadelphia and meet my Grandmother for a day of fun at the automat and the penny arcades. We’d go to the movies, usually a double or triple feature, and when the day was over we go back to her place in old Brewery Town which was right by the river and on the edge of the Art Museum Area. We’d watch some TV after breakfast on Sunday and I’d take the 48 Bus back into the City and get back on the train at the Reading Terminal and head home. We lived in a row house neighborhood called Mt Airy. My mother, like most of the mothers in the neighborhood didn’t have a car. We did a lot of walking and when we had to go someplace far we’d got on the bus or ride the subway. The subway would take you all the way into town for a quarter. You could go around the whole city on the bus for thirty-five cents which would buy you the first ride along with a transfer ticket good for three more rides. The mortgage on my father’s house was $87 a month. He bought his first new car, a 62 White Chevy Bicayne for $2300. The last time I leased as car I had to put down twice as much. We didn’t have a lot of toys. There wasn’t all that much to watch on TV, so we went out and played in the streets. We invented games with balls, bats, paddles and bottle tops to keep us occupied. There were no fast food restaurants, no malls, no x-box or Nintendo. By the time I was eleven I could cook just about anything so there was no need to run out to a restaurant. Life was simple. And though it had its boring moments I can’t help but wonder if all weren’t a better off back then. I walked through my neighborhood day and night and never had a fear of being kidnapped or harmed. The neighbors looked out for one another’s kids and if a stranger did wander in the word got out real quick. My daughter’s room is stacked with toys. Like all kids she has the computer, the video games, and now she wants cell phone. She’s never been on a bus – we drive her back and forth to school. She’s never seen a subway. She can’t cook or use the microwave. There are no kids in our neighborhood for her to play with so we have to take her on play dates. She almost nine years old but I still never take my eyes off of her when we are out in public. There are just too many stories, too much fear. Someday she’ll have a car but she’ll never ride the bus alone.

Do situations dictate character or should our character remain constant no matter what circumstances may bring? Has the meltdown in our economy changed the way we think and act? Once there was a dream and they called it the “American Dream.” Most of us who formed this nation came from humble beginnings and made dreams come true through our bravery, vision, hard work and education.

The characters that formed this nation put the idea of the American Dream in motion, and the power of that dream distinguished us from all other nations. We rose from nothing – from a land of dirt farmers and laborers to become the most powerful Country in the world.

Now the Dream is clouded; distorted and dying. The ideal to make a better place for the next generation has been replaced by marketing and advertisers selling everything from soap and houses that lose their value in a New York minute.. Owning your own home was once the centerpiece of the Dream. The Housing Bubble Burst and washed those dreams away. In places like Las Vegas 85% of homeowners have lost all their equity and are left with a toxic asset that can’t be sold or traded.

The character of the American people has been changed by circumstance. Most of us no longer look to build a future for the next generation. We have become a selfish people with a insatiable desire for instant gratification. We want everything now and the future, well that will just have to take care of itself. Let the government worry about the future – meanwhile give me a bigger house and a bigger car. Sit my ass in front of the tube and I’ll watch cable all day and buy more stuff on the Home Shopping Channel.

What's happened to the American Dream? We have turned into a society of over consumers instead of overachievers. We have allowed the Dream to turn on us and opportunity has turned into catch phrases and sound bites like “He who dies with the most toys wins.”

It is time to take back control of our own destiny. We believed that dreams can come true and they did – so we allowed ourselves to get lazy and fat. But a lot of us aren’t so fat any longer. The time to change has come. The government isn’t going to help you. It is up to us to make changes in order to recapture the American Dream which was rooted in faith and destiny.

Our drive and our purpose allowed us to achieve more than anyone. All of the things that we need and want need to be redefined. We have to reassess achievement as it pertains to lifestyle, social status, ownership and equality. We still have a chance to reclaim what we once had. We still live in a land of abundance. There are enough resources here for everyone to find opportunities for wealth and prosperity.

When you have access to lots of information like places on the Internet there is a good chance you are going to find wrong information. You go online and start looking for a house you are probably going to come across false listings and incorrect pricing. It was bad enough when a realtor goes on the MLS Listing Service and a listing agent misrepresents a property. Now there are hundreds of sties that prospective homeowners have access to online that can be filled with bad information and lies about the property.

BAD STUFF YOU MAY FIND ON THESE ONLINE REAL ESTATE SITES.

1. Phony Photos and Videos

Digital photos and video have been a godsend for real estate agents, homebuyers and sellers, enticing prospects to drool over images of Viking ranges, sparkling pools and lush lawns. Lately, agents have been posting interactive photos and floor plans, letting buyers view rooms and exteriors from different vantage points. Some houses have their own YouTube sites.

Problem is, it's easy to Photoshop photos and edit video to make a house and its neighborhood seems far more attractive than they are. Some sellers post photos of kitchens and gardens you won't find in the actual property. Videos get color-corrected so the grass, flowers and trees seem fresh and alive. A house may seem newly painted, even though the photo was taken five years ago.

Get the Truth: Go to Google Street View or Microsoft Live Search Maps for a reliable third-party look at a neighborhood or home exterior. They won't show the inside of a house, though, so you'll need to drive to the property and see it for yourself.

2. Valuations Lacking Value

Knowing how much a house is truly worth is vitally important whether you're a buyer or seller. With home values down an average of 30 to 40 percent since 2005 in major metro areas, every penny counts. But you can't always trust the numbers on home valuation sites such as Zillow, CyberHomes and Realtor.com.

When I plugged in a particular 5-bedroom/4-bath house on these sites, I received vastly different valuations and sometimes incorrect information about the number of bedrooms and bathrooms it had. I'd estimate the house is worth between $1.2 and $1.4 million. Zillow's "Zestimate" (a calculation also used by RealEstateABC.com) was $943,000; CyberHomes suggested a range of $960,000 to $1.2 million and Realtor.com went with $788,036.

Get the Truth: It's fine to start with online valuation sites for ballpark estimates. But to get a reliable valuation, get out of the virtual world and into the real world. If you're selling, invite several real estate agents to walk through your home and analyze its value based on recent comparable sales. You might also hire an independent appraiser (cost: around $350 and up). If you're buying, hire an agent who has worked the area for years, if not decades. It's generally a waste of money for a buyer to hire an appraiser, since the lender will require its own appraisal before granting a mortgage.

3. Mortgage Rates You Can't Get

Visit a mortgage aggregating site such as Bankrate.com and you'll naturally want to apply for the lowest rate shown. But that rate may not really exist — at least not for every applicant.

Mortgage lenders often advertise fake low rates online without explaining that you can't get them if your down payment or credit score is too low or you're not willing to pay extra-high closing costs. At worst, the rate may be a "bait and switch" and wholly unavailable.

Get the Truth: Start your mortgage shopping by identifying a well-known national or regional bank, a small local lender, a well-regarded mortgage broker, a credit union (if you belong to one or can join one), and an Internet mortgage aggregator such as Priceline. Then go to AnnualCreditReport.com to pull a copy of your credit history and to pay to get your credit score. Next, find out what each lender on your list would really charge for your loan. Use the quotes to negotiate the best deal.

4. Unreal Property Descriptions

The old saw, "You can't believe everything you read" is often true about online listings. A property advertised as having a "water view" might feature a glimpse of the ocean if you open the window, stick your head out, and look left.£ A "light, bright" apartment implies loads of sunshine, but may instead describe the wattage from overhead lighting. A condo's listing sheet promoting "Southern exposure" might leave out a key fact: The front rooms look south, but the rest of the place faces a warehouse 10 feet away. A mention of an "in-law" or "rentable" apartment over the garage won't say whether renting out that room is illegal, subjecting you to a future showdown with local zoning officials.

Get the Truth: To weed out unreal estate, do some fact-checking. If the beachfront condo supposedly has a water view, tell the broker to e-mail you a floor plan for the entire building. When a listing sheet says the house had a substantial renovation, check it out before you get too excited. And if you get serious about the property, you can always ask the town building department to confirm a renovation; there may be blueprints on file. If you're counting on renting out a room above the garage, ask the building department if it's allowed.

Bonus: Euphemism Alert

One thing that the digital revolution hasn't changed at all is the extraordinary ability of real estate agents to put lipstick on a pig. Here's a guide to words and catchphrases you're likely to encounter and what they really mean:

The Listing Says...but the Listing May Mean:

"Cozy/Dollhouse": The house is tiny, cramped and everyone over 6 feet tall will bump their head on the ceiling.

"Handyman's Special": You'll need to do a gut remodel if you want to make the home livable.

"Great View": You might have to crane your neck out the window to see the water.

"Rentable In-law Apartment": This might be a separate room, a half-finished basement, or completely illegal.