Foreclosed homes out the wazoo

It still amazes me that we don't actually know how many foreclosed homes there are out there. The latest estimate came out today from Barclays, which puts the number at 480,000 (h/t to the WSJ Developments blog). RealtyTrac puts the number at 758,000. Others go somewhere in between.

So I'm thinking only half of those are in my neighborhood ...

But seriously, that's when it really hits home when you see it in your own area. With all this extra time I found myself with, courtesy of my former employer, I took a long walk (the first in quite a while) around my entire 900-home neighborhood. (It's a relatively new development -- all the homes were built between 1999 and 2008.) I was stunned to see just how many homes appear to be empty and presumably foreclosed upon. And there's a whole other bunch on the market.

Sure makes me worry about the future salability of my home. After all, I did literally buy it at the height of the market. Case Shiller says home prices in Chicago peaked in Nov. 2006 -- the exact month we signed our contract. I have nothing if not good timing.