There may be an up side to the mortgage crisis. Interest rates have dropped to a low of 5.25% for a 30-year fixed mortgage and only 4.25% for 15 years fixed. With so many homes in foreclosure, it's the perfect time to buy–if you have squeaky clean credit and a down payment.

One-hundred forty-seven large lenders (i.e., over 50 employees) went belly up in 2007. Hundreds of small mom-and-pop shops disappeared. Understandably, the lenders and brokers still in business are looking more closely at loan applications. Some politicians are bandying about the idea of legislating that lenders be able to guarantee the buyers can pay (dunno how that would work, since it's the lenders that would lose if the buyers don't pay, and the lenders who facilitated the current mess).

Yesterday's paper in my small town of 11,323 showed three 2-bedroom rentals for under $1000–and that's from only one property manager! There are 11 that are lower than we pay monthly for our 2-bedroom estate–again from only one property manager.

This same small town is a resort area, with lots of hospitality workers. One almost inserts the word "underpaid" in front of the phrase "hospitality worker," but no doubt some of them make more per hour than I do, especially in restaurants where tips start at $20 per table. City government is continually "educating" us citizens about affordable housing and telling us how pathetic the incomes of our workforce are.

I could rant so many directions about this it's hard to stay focused, but I'll force myself. My point is, for the 75% of the population who do not own homes or have a rental near their work, and who do have good credit, this may be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Meanwhile, overhead of those with shaky credit and shaky business ethics, the storm clouds are still hovering.

To find out how many people in your town own their homes free and clear, check out city-data.com. Usually 1/3 of homes are paid off. In our town, 2/3 are–as of the last time it was counted.