It's more than just a potential recession

The housing problem in the US is more than just a credit bubble and foreclosure flood. There are side effects like the home owner who didn't buy or sell anything, but has their property tax skyrocket because of speculator-fueled prices in their neighborhood. And you also have a lot of building very quickly: Shoddy Construction And The Housing Bubble

Most of the builders employ sub-contractors to do the plumbing, air conditioning, roofing, etc. In boom times, they too rush to complete the job in order to get onto the next job to keep the money pouring in but, for the new home owner, many of these bad construction don’t appear for several years until the shoddy plumbing and roofing starts leaking and the termites find some tasty timber which wasn’t treated correctly.

The end result is, there are going to be a lot of very busy lawyers in the next 10 + years but a lot of people are going to be unlucky because many of these builders will be out of business or will have found protection in bankruptcy.

And, of course, in the end only the lawyers win.

My work in the construction defects business sent my kids to college

More at ABC News: New Homes, Big Problems

One Maryland house had drastic structural problems. The contractor shoved the main support beam through the outside wall when he couldn't get it to fit right on the other end.