On a recent trip up to Indiana we stopped and visited Todd and Marie.   They weren't in the greatest of moods.  Even though we hadn't seen them for about 3 years, they were hard pressed to stop and really play hosts.  That's why we stayed in a hotel.  Todd and Maire had an open file on their kitchen table, marked Merriville Bankruptcy.  They did take us around to see their remaining house.  It was north away from the highway, in the older section of town, where the houses were smaller and mostly frame.  It looked like a nice sturdy house, small, but airy for an older place.  It had a For Sale sign in front.  Nobody had looked through the house in weeks.  It was priced below market value a bit, but that still didn't' bring out the potential buyers.  It was as if all the potential buyers vanished overnight.  Of course the buyers didn't vanish; they were just unable to get financing, to get a mortgage.  We told Todd and Marie that was the same thing we ran into.  It was no different in most areas of the country.  The banks had made some rally bad loans, and now it got so tight that nobody could get any loans.