I am a big fan of Michael Shedlock, or Mish, and his blog globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Mish has a great post  on increasing vacancies that I want to bring to your attention.

Mish points out:

Let's stop right there. Did you catch it?

• A record 17.9 million U.S. homes stood empty in the third quarter.
• A mere 2.07 million empty homes were for sale.

Let's do the math.
There are 15.83 million vacant homes just sitting there. How long can that last?

Remember, those are houses that have expensive payments that have to be made. And someone has to pay taxes on those houses. Property taxes are a huge burden. There are many people who are older and have lived in their house awhile, who pay more in property taxes each month than they ever did in terms of a house payment. And, these houses need to have insurance on them and upkeep. It just goes on and on. Vacant houses are a huge cash drain for someone.

 And yet, the vacancies are at a high. Plus, it gets worse:

That is a huge potential supply of homes that for some reason or other is not listed yet. I suspect many of those are REOs (real estate owned ) by banks and mortgage companies like Countrywide. Every passing month those REOs sit on the books waiting for higher prices is lost property taxes, upkeep costs, and balance sheet impairment.

Every month the figures get worse. For example, Countrywide has 13,000+- REOs for sale, but they also have 82,000 foreclosures. That alone represents significant pent up supply as those foreclosures become REOs. See Option Arm & REO Problems At Countrywide for more information.

Countrywide is just one lender. There are a ton of other lenders. And they all face the same situation, perhaps a little better but also perhaps worse than Countrywide. 

The thing is, these foreclosures are increasing. In California, they doubled year over year. That is amazing. It tells us that the situation isn't going to get better next Spring.

And as Mish summarizes so neatly:

The siren song from Realtors is that now is the best time to buy ever. Straight up it's easy to see that is a lie. The best time to buy was 10 or more years ago and the best time to sell was in 2005. It's still a long way down from here. Rising inventory, falling prices, and pent up supply should be proof enough.

This is exactly what I have been saying for the past two years. I was fortunate enough to recognize the signs and I sold my house in 2005. I used to be a full time real estate foreclosure investor in California. I was through a boom and bust there, in Southern California, so I know what it's like. 

I know today seems like a poor time to try to sell. But trust me, it is likely to get a lot worse. So if you can try to sell now, do it. Even though it seems bad, it could be much worse and I think probably will be.

If you can't sell because there are no buyers, or because you owe more than your house is worth, or both, don't despair. There is help for you. There is hope for you. You just have to know a few things that you don't know now. You have no idea how easy it is to out from under. Find out how easy it is to sell your house quickly.

If you haven't already, please join my list by providing your email and name and I will send you a valuable free report along with very important insider tips you will find nowhere else. It's all based upon my experience and research and I think you owe it to yourself to get this information. Unlike many people, I'm not in it to buy your house cheap or make you a loan.