Here is a great resource put out that shows a heat map of the 2008 US Foreclosure Heat Map. This gives you a good idea where the mortgage and real estate markets have fell apart the most.

Last year I recommended that you stay out of real estate investing.  If you did that and accumulated capital, you should be frothing at the mouth at some of the deals out there.  Mortgage rates for those of you with good credit can be found today at 5%, with an average of around 5.3% and some people even claiming success at 4.75%.  I believe that prices will go down further, but mortgages rates do not simply have much lower to go.  This balance could make for a good trade off and an possible entry opportunity for new real estate investors.  Big Ben has proven that he is willing to bail out at any cost by printing money.  This will lead to inflation and a dramatic increase in mortgage rates when things improve.  The best place to be?  Hard assets like real estate.

Boy mortgage rates could become extremely attractive if the government bails out banks from their bad debt.  With this happening along with the support of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage markets could begin to reflect some of the lower interest rates out there.  We’ve seen rates come off over 10% in the past month saving new mortgage signees tens of thousands of dollars over the term of your average 30 year fixed rate mortgage.