Mortgage Mess Claims New Victims

Since the beginning of August, 21,000 people have been laid off in the real-estate, construction and mortgage-lending industries. Many of these jobs in finance and real estate are relatively high-paying, which has helped car dealerships and high-end retailers. To be sure, all sorts of jobs are affected, because when a house changes hands, a small army of brokers, appraisers, pest-control inspectors, title searchers and lawyers send out invoices.

"Unlike a lot of other businesses, real estate is everywhere," said economist Bob Brusca of Fact & Opinion Economics in New York. "Even if this turns out to be small potatoes in one place, it has a fairly big impact."

A simple real estate transaction can involve up to 20 people, said Steve Walsh, president of Scout Mortgage in Scottsdale, Ariz. "An escrow officer may make $1,000, the county recorder gets a few hundred, the appraiser makes $300 to $400, the termite man $50 to $100 and there are movers and landscapers and decorators."

Read the full Christian Science Monitor story here.