By host Tom Ashbrook:

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Just a few years back, when housing prices were soaring and interest rates were at historic lows, millions of Americans grabbed adjustable rate mortgages with super bargain basement rates. For many, it was the only way to jump on the American housing train.

Now that train is slowing, big-time. Home sales and prices are slumping in many markets. Interest rates are up and so are foreclosures, as the first big wave of adjustable rate mortgage holders face the music: sharply higher monthly payments or a scramble to refinance and push out the pain as housing prices stall.

It may be you, it may be your kids, it may be your home’s value that takes the hit.

Hear about the American housing market, and the adjustable mortgage rate pinch.

Guests:

Cybele Weisser, reporter for Money magazine

Chip Case, Professor of Economics, Wellesley College

Susan Wachter, Professor of Financial Management and Real Estate

Christopher Hudak, Housing Counseling Coordinator, Boulder County Housing Authority

June Fletcher, Wall Street Journal reporter and columnist, author of the book “House Poor”