Dan Green over at the Mortgage Report has two great posts on the continuing subprime loan saga. This post simply and elegantly explains why subprime and Alt-A loans are increasing in cost. This post continues to keep us informed of the unfolding subprime loan story and the implications for the industry and the consumer.

For those following the ramifications of the subprime meltdown, there were a couple of stories in the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago on the developing issues facing the Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO) market.

The subprime apocalypse, as Dan Green calls it, may soon be upon us. We are reaching the point where the big investment institutions will no longer be able to sweep the problems under the rug. The chickens may soon be coming home to roost as massive write offs from subprime losses have to be taken and acknowledged.

The end result, undoubtabley, will be a further tightening of credit for the consumer and thus a continued slowdown in the housing market. It makes me wonder if the NAR is actually following the subprime issues, as they continue to forecast an improving housing market, though they keep pushing the date out into the future as events continue to unfold.

The import of all of this for the consumer, especially first-time buyers - is lock in your loan now. Everyday, we hear more and more stories about buyers losing their financing at the last minute due to new, tighter credit standards being imposed or loan products being withdrawn from the market.