A Lost Penny

The 10 Most Expensive Zip Codes in the U.S.

Forbes recently published there top 100 most expensive zip codes to live. What I found to be of particular interest was the comparison of the median home sales price and the median household incomes. What is interesting is that the median is a fairly accurate computing model to arrive at the middle of the road income and sales price. What is left to question after reviewing such data is:

How are there areas where the median income is in the $40,000-$50,000 range, while the median sales price is in the $2,000,000 range? Could this be due to self-employment write-offs? Certainly, I would not recommend someone who makes around $4,000 per month to go out and buy a $2,000,000 home. What are your thoughts?

Here are the top 10 most expensive zip codes in the United States, their income and real estate values for your review:

You do not have to look far these days to know that the number of foreclosures are on the rise. With the growing mortgage crisis, more and more homeowners are finding themselves unable to refinance their adjustable rate mortgages. Meanwhile, other homeowners seem to be struggling to sell their house when financial crisis hits, as a result of the declining real estate market. Both factors among many others are leading to the growing foreclosure crisis. According to CNN,

1% of households were in some stage of foreclosure in 2007
405,000 families actually lost their home last year
Foreclosure fillings went up 97% from the year before

Most people that are facing foreclosure will walk away from their house without fully realizing their options. With an increase of foreclosures has come an increasing willingness from lenders to work with homeowners, that are now reporting 6 different programs that are offered to the distressed homeowner: