Shocking Numbers in the Media are Not Always as Bleak as they Seem, Chapter Two or Mark Twain, you were enlightened:

  You have heard me harp on this before.  The black cloud of the  week was reported in the media as  follows: "10% of all home mortgages are now Delinquent".   Sounds really bad and it is accurate but despite the fact that this also means that 90% are not, here is the real thing to remember:
  App. 50% of owner occupied single family homes in this country are owned free and clear with no mortgage.  So what this really means is that only 5% of the homeowners in this country are behind in their payments.  The normal person would think that the news quote means that 1 out of every 10 homes in America is headed for foreclosure.
 So after, app.  5 years of a real estate slow down and the worst and longest national recession since the great depression, 95% of the homeowners in this country  either owe nothing on their homes or are current on their mortgages.  Puts a whole different light on it doesn't it?   As Mark Twain once said: "There are lies, damned lies and then there are statistics".