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NorCal Zip Code Is Ground Zero Of Mortgage Mess

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Nov 11, 2008 4:31 pm US/Pacific

NorCal Zip Code Is Ground Zero Of Mortgage Mess

MOUNTAIN HOUSE (CBS 5) ― Just over the Altamont Pass is one of the communities hit hardest by the mortgage meltdown.

In the Mountain House community, about 90 percent of the homes are now underwater, or worth less than is owed on the mortgage.

The real estate decline has pushed many homes around the country underwater, but is the problem worse than Mountain House. The zip code has the highest percentage of homes with that designation in the nation. There are 1,800 households with mortgages in the planned community. The average homeowner is down $122,000. This was not the plan in this planned community.

"Everyone who bought out here the past couple of years (overextended themselves)," said real estate agent Jason Walters, who is also struggling with debt. "Everyone thought you'd make a couple hundred thousand dollars. Because of the previous years, everyone had made out like bandits."

Then came the double whammy, plummeting prices and skyrocketing monthly payments. Now some residents are struggling just to keep up with the interest on their loans.

One person's misfortune in another's gain. Phil Santos plans to buy one of the homes for half the cost of a few years ago.

"It gives some people opportunity," said Santos. "We don't have a house, now we can buy a house."

Santos Will be swimming on top of the tide, watching his neighbors struggle underwater, those neighbors who are able to remain, anyway.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.