Published on: Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Guest Column By York Van Nixon III

For months there have been claims by media and politicians of a “bottoming” to a recession that has all but strangled our financial markets.

One would have to look hard in Prince George’s County to find any evidence of it in the real estate market. Just look around. There are still more “For-Sale” signs on lawns than “Sold” signs, a clear indication of a continuing imbalance of buyers and sellers.

Prince George’s County, besides having one of the highest concentrations of African-American wealth in the country, is also a major victim of “predatory lending” that is evident by its foreclosure rate that, in many neighborhoods, is double or triple the national average, which is between 10 and 15 percent.

If you do not need to sell your home or tap your equity to pay for medical bills, tuition, or some other expenditure, then you can just wait it out until home values return to their peak, which will probably be around 2012.

For the unlucky ones who need to move, the options are limited. If you purchased your home after 2005, count yourself lucky if it is now worth what you originally paid. For many sellers, the choices are often limited to taking a loss or walking away from the property and a good credit history.

The “top-down” solution from Congress, which only bailed out Wall Street, had little or no affect on the County’s real estate market. But there is another approach that could turn things around before we see an economic disaster that could rival New Orleans.

Last week, Jack Johnson, county executive, received a plan which could put an immediate floor on Prince George’s County’s declining real estate market. We can only hope he has the courage to not follow the failing policies of Congress and marshal his leadership abilities to bail out the residents in his backyard.

York Van Nixon III

Nex Millennium Realty