“D” stands for Depression, and that seems to be the sentiment all around. Call it “too close for comfort”, but I can count at least a handful of people I know who may be on the verge of losing their houses to their lenders, and therein lies the risk of a domino effect (or vicious circle) of foreclosures pushing down valuations, leading to more foreclosures, and so on and so forth. The way things seem to be headed, price corrections of between 30%-50% in the more over-heated residential markets might not be inconceivable, and the feedback that I am getting from a variety of people in the small business arena is that the situation is ugly and not apt to improve anytime soon. God help us, if this is anything close to the turmoil California experienced between 1991-1998, we could be in for alot of pain.
