EQUITY IS AN ISSUE FOR MOST HOMEOWNERS

Jonathan Lansner of the Orange County Register rightly reported that 1 in 6 homeowners in OC have no equity.  Well, he got his info from CoreLogic, a real estate data and information services company.  What they have is an estimate of 17.5% of homes are "upside down."  This is based on calculations down payments and cash out refinances.  Nationwide, it is estimated to be 22.7% that are upside down, so So Cal isn't looking so bad.  Although there is no arguing that equity is in a tenuous position for many homeowners, this column does take issue with another headline in the Register that read, "Orange County housing still unaffordable."  Really?  You have nothing better to write than a pessimistic, misleading headline like that?  If one went on to read the article, it stated that OC median housing prices were 2 and 1/2 times greater than the US median price.  What a surprise.  So we are pricier than Des Moines, Iowa, or Little Rock, Arkansas, or Topeka, Kansas or a myriad of small towns across America.  Would it not have been more "Apples to Apples" to have compared affordability with other metropolis' such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, or Miami.  How do we fare then?  Actually, OC has never been so affordable to so many since the early 1970's.