Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Foreclosures hit the Twin Cities blogging community hard
Our nation's faltering economy isn't only impacting modest, hardworking folk, it's cutting a huge swath across the local blogging community, as well. Many bloggers, struggling to make payments on questionable mortgages with skyrocketing adjustable rates, have logged into their blog admin pages to find their administrative account password has been changed and a foreclosure notice taped onto the login screen.
Map of blog foreclosures in northeast Minneapolis in 2007. Source: Star TribuneIn 2007, there were 532 blogs foreclosures in Minneapolis alone. So far in the first half of 2008, there have been over 550. A large percentage of those foreclosures were a result of homeowners struggling to make huge payments on blog loans, better known as blortgages, with skyrocketing adjustable rates. Experts consider many of these individuals to be victims of predatory lending practices by unscrupulous blortgage firms who went to great lengths to hide the true terms of the loans from borrowers.
Cynthia Odegaard, former operator of the locally-focused food blog Morsels Melting in My Mouth in Minneapolis, lost her website to the bank when she could no longer make her loan payments. "I feel like such a fool, " said Odegaard from her modern condominium overlooking Lake Calhoun. "I wanted to make some improvements [to my blog] -- get my own domain name, put in some hardwood backgrounds and granite headers, that sort of stuff. I had all this equity built up, and the way [blog] values were skyrocketing, I thought it would be an investment in my future."
In late 2007, Cynthia Odegaard arrived at her blog to find this foreclosure notice.Six months after paying nearly $27 in fees for a $150 blog equity loan, Odegaard's full-time job as a senior marketing executive began taking up more of her day, leaving her less time to blog. Her readership dropped by half, and so did her ad revenue. "My Google AdWords panels weren't bringing in enough for my loan payments anymore." Odegaard kept up with the payments for another several months, but when her loan rate increased by 3%, she started missing payments. "I had to make a choice. I could have Starbucks 5 times a week instead of 6, or I could keep my blog." She chose Starbucks.
In February, Morsels melting in My Mouth in Minneapolis was auctioned off by Cynthia Odegaard's bank. The winning bid was submitted by a Little Canada family who later converted it into a Christian-oriented knitting blog called Needle Little Faith. "I surfed by it the other day," sad Odegaard, tears running down her cheeks. "It was like landing on an alien planet. It just didn't seem like anything that was ever mine." Asked if she will ever own her own blog again, she replied, "I don't see that happening anytime in the near future. It's more than financial, it's emotional." She is currently searching for a rental blog.
Map of blog foreclosures in northeast Minneapolis in 2007. Source: Star TribuneIn 2007, there were 532 blogs foreclosures in Minneapolis alone. So far in the first half of 2008, there have been over 550. A large percentage of those foreclosures were a result of homeowners struggling to make huge payments on blog loans, better known as blortgages, with skyrocketing adjustable rates. Experts consider many of these individuals to be victims of predatory lending practices by unscrupulous blortgage firms who went to great lengths to hide the true terms of the loans from borrowers.
Cynthia Odegaard, former operator of the locally-focused food blog Morsels Melting in My Mouth in Minneapolis, lost her website to the bank when she could no longer make her loan payments. "I feel like such a fool, " said Odegaard from her modern condominium overlooking Lake Calhoun. "I wanted to make some improvements [to my blog] -- get my own domain name, put in some hardwood backgrounds and granite headers, that sort of stuff. I had all this equity built up, and the way [blog] values were skyrocketing, I thought it would be an investment in my future."
In late 2007, Cynthia Odegaard arrived at her blog to find this foreclosure notice.Six months after paying nearly $27 in fees for a $150 blog equity loan, Odegaard's full-time job as a senior marketing executive began taking up more of her day, leaving her less time to blog. Her readership dropped by half, and so did her ad revenue. "My Google AdWords panels weren't bringing in enough for my loan payments anymore." Odegaard kept up with the payments for another several months, but when her loan rate increased by 3%, she started missing payments. "I had to make a choice. I could have Starbucks 5 times a week instead of 6, or I could keep my blog." She chose Starbucks.
In February, Morsels melting in My Mouth in Minneapolis was auctioned off by Cynthia Odegaard's bank. The winning bid was submitted by a Little Canada family who later converted it into a Christian-oriented knitting blog called Needle Little Faith. "I surfed by it the other day," sad Odegaard, tears running down her cheeks. "It was like landing on an alien planet. It just didn't seem like anything that was ever mine." Asked if she will ever own her own blog again, she replied, "I don't see that happening anytime in the near future. It's more than financial, it's emotional." She is currently searching for a rental blog.
I bought my blog three months ago, and figured the market had already hit bottom. But no, my blog is already worth 20 percent less than I bought it for!
Max, even though I didn't start regularly blogging until about 3 years ago, I actually purchased my blog back in 2001. I consider myself lucky that if I sold my blog now, even with a 20-30% hit from its value from last year, I would still come out ahead. I also have a fixed rate blortgage.