Really? I lived about 25 minutes away from Foxwoods when I was in CT, although I was much closer to Mohegan Sun. (I lived in Gales Ferry just off of RT12)

I would have never guessed that the worlds largest casino would be in CT...

That is kind of a strange thing, Huh? It started off with just a high stakes bingo hall. It has grown from there and it is still being added on too. If you get up here, we can go check it out.

Yes. I live off 138 on the RI side. At one time I lived in Norwich off of Rt 12.
Were you stationed on a submarine? Gales Ferry is pretty close to the Sub Base.

Back to the stock market.
A national crisis in the home mortgage industry cast a dark shadow that stretched from Wall Street to Main Street as foreclosures hit a record high in the last quarter of 2006, and the number of Americans failing to make their monthly mortgage payment hit a 3 1/2-year high during the same period.
FOXNews.com - Late Mortgage Payments at 3 1/2-Year High; Foreclosures at Record High - Business And Money | Business News | Financial News

A record percentage of U.S. homeowners are facing foreclosure, and many more are falling behind on monthly house payments.
During April, May and June, 1.23% of mortgages — about 640,000 — were in the foreclosure process. That's the highest rate in its 30 years of tracking, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Monday. A year earlier, not even 1% of mortgages were in foreclosure.
USATODAY.com - Home foreclosures at 30-year high


Late mortgage payments shot up to a 3 1/2 -year high in the final quarter of last year and new foreclosures surged to a record high as borrowers with tarnished credit histories had trouble keeping up with their monthly payments.
Late mortgage payments jump to 3 1/2 year high | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

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I think this is one of the main reasons for the plunge.

Hmmm, more people are buying or owning homes than any other time in American history and we wonder why foreclosures have gone up?????

The market like everything else in this world goes through cycles, right now it is slightly down, after reaching record highs. I remember when we were waiting for the market to hit the 10,000 mark, right before it did, we say a series of down swings, because the weak at heart were dropping out. As Tadpole said, now is the time to Buy!! Buy!!! BUY!!!!

dmk

The trading on Wall St. indicates another scene. I agree that the market definitely goes through cycles, but something is always responsible for these dips. In this case, it is crappy subprime lending practices, not 'more people are buying or owning homes than any other time in American history'. All of the stocks for all of the major Home Finance Companies and any stock connected to a company, that is connected to the building industry(Home Depot, Lowes, and others), are still going down or struggling to make the turn around. The home market is not as stable as you make it sound. Don't believe everything your stock firm tells you.

I will say I agree with Tad on the buying thing. As I have already pointed out, not all sectors of the market are ready to make money, but some are. One of the best investments I see is Apple Computer stock. They have just passed a low price stage, but are just starting an upward trend, with the recent release of Apple TV. Also prime are investment firms, like Morgan Stanley and the like.
I disagree with this and attempted to find something on this subject. I find this statement to be completely incorrect. Please show your source of info.
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Home Sales Pace Summary

Sales of existing homes were UP 3.03% in January 2007 when compared to December, which is good news for everyone who has been worrying about the home sector of the economy. Compared to January 2006, though, sales were down by 4.30%. Always keep in mind that the housing market of 2005 was powered by rampant and "exuberant" speculation.

We will report on February's sales near the end of March, when figures are released by the National Association of Realtors.

Sales Pace by Region
For month to month comparisons, sales were up by 5.6% in the West, 4.79% in the Midwest, 2.01% in the South, and flat in the Northeast.

Compared to last year at this time, sales are down everywhere except the Northeast, which showed an increase of 5.94%. Sales were down by 9.59% in the West, 7.30% in the South, and .65% in the Midwest.


Inventory Trend Flattens
At the current sales pace, it would take 6.6 months to sell all homes currently on the market. We're hoping to see a continued slide in inventory as that will help diminish any potential for sliding values.

Price Appreciation

Nationally, the median average sales price feel by 3.13% from last year to a median average price of $210,600. Prices declined 1.21% in the Northeast, 1.69% in the South, 3.5% in the Midwest, and 4.57% in the West. It is important to note that many real estate agents are reporting price stability in their local markets, though it is yet uncertain what effect the crisis in sub-prime lending may have over the upcoming year.

Obsession with Sub-Prime Lending Crisis
The great majority of homebuyers obtain an "A-Paper" mortgage to buy their home. In some areas, "sub-prime" and "Alt-A" lending accelerated. This isn't necessarily due to more borrowers with bad credit, but because qualifying is easier on these loans since they offer lower down payments with "no-doc" qualifying. This means fewer buyers have to document their incomes and savings in order to qualify for the purchase.

Many of those sub-prime loans, especially ones originated in the last two years, have begun to default. A portion of the defaults occur because the buyers actually couldn't afford to make the payments (which is why they were getting "no-qualifying" loans in the first place). In addition, some of the loans were fraudulent. Sellers were coming up with straw buyers to purchase the home at an inflated price just so they could get money out of the property, and those borrowers never intended to make ANY payment on the loans.

Even though this occurred on a minority of loans, it could have a cascading affect that ripples through the housing industry, but mostly in higher priced areas- not everywhere. This ripple could occur because some homeowners will be looking to refinance as adjustable rates begin to ratchet up, causing increases in mortgage payment amounts. Many of those borrowers will look to refinance. The problem occurs because prices were artificially inflated for a variety of reasons, one of which is the fraudulent sellers and buyers who looked to unload properties.

As lenders wise up, they will look more critically at higher priced appraisals.
http://www.realestateabc.com/outlook.htm

The bottom line is that the stock market has been flat for 7 years. So much for Ronald Reagan's 401-k sceam, that has never helped the working man as a replacement for retirement plans.

Boy we sure are lucky our Social Security has not been in the Stock Market!!!!!

The technical term is "Predatory Lending".