MSN Money - Empty houses, falling prices: A boom dies

MSN Money - Empty houses, falling prices: A boom dies: "The process was created by Easy Al trying to bail out the stock bubble by taking rates to 1%. Folks got caught up in taking the equity out of their homes, as if they were on-site ATMs. Rising house prices attracted speculation. Lenders abdicated all responsibility -- dropping standards so low that folks could buy a house and even walk away with cash, much less put zero down -- thereby creating the credit bubble that has precipitated the problem we now have."