If anyone has any doubt that there was plenty of corruption behind the mortgage mess that sparked the global recession (and those who might have some doubt may want to double-check what planet they are living on) then consider this small piece of evidence that comes our way out of Sacramento, California, where milk, honey and Vienna schnitzel reign supreme: A former real estate agent is being banned for three years from the biz because he managed to get lenders to hand out millions of dollars worth of loans.

Oh, nearly forgot the important part: it was all apparently based on totally false info, says the Associated Press.

Back story time: The California Department of Real Estate claims the former agent "made false representations to lenders in order to secure nearly $11 million worth of mortgage loans," says the A.P.

I Just want to warn you folks right off the bat that this is going to be one of those is the glass half full or half empty? type posts.

On the one hand, the National Association of Realtors is reporting big gains in existing home sales for October (the latest figures) and credits first time buyers rushing to take advantage of the tax credit which has now been extended into next year. Inventories continue to shrink. All good. This now concludes the glass half full portion of this post.

If you look down -- far down -- the news release pumped out by the NAR, you will see something else: So-called "distressed properties" (which conjures up an image in my mind of a house, all by itself, phoning some shrink and asking for prescription meds to battle its depression) account for some 30% of all the October sales.

Distressed properties, of course, are foreclosed properties. This is a reflection of the still never-ending wave of foreclosures that shows no sign of abating anytime soon. Plus, because we are talking distressed properties here, we are also talking about a continuation in the slide of housing prices; with the national median existing-home price now at $173,100, which, says the NAR, is down 7.1% from October of 2008. This is all the glass is half empty portion of this post.

If you're a fan of disaster movies (and who isn't?) you already know that being in front of an oncoming tsunami wave is never a good thing. And, yet, for many renters around the U.S., this is exactly the position they are now in.

"We're at the front end of that wave...Are we concerned? Absolutely," Raphael Bostic, of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, tells the Washington Post.

By one recent estimate, as many as 75 percent of multifamily buildings could have problems refinancing, says the paper. Already, the number of foreclosures against multifamily rental and co-op homes is up in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and other large urban settings, and also in smaller cities and towns such as Des Moines, Iowa and Lexington, North Carolina.

The proof, they say, is in the pudding. Maybe it ought to be in the foreclosure rate?

Yes, I know we are being told on Sunday morning power-breakfast talk shows that the nation's economy is improving. But the latest survey on the delinquency rate for mortgage loans from the Mortgage Bankers Association would seem to indicate otherwise.

You can read the report itself for the hard numbers, but, the bottom line is, the delinquency rate has now broken the record set just this past quarter.

Another week and another round of the national guessing game: when exactly will the Great Recession's alleged end impact me? Or my children? Or my neighbors? The "too big to fail" banking crowd has gotten lots of help from D.C. But the jobless rate, despite a decline of late in layoffs, continues to go skyward, or, in the words of that most famous working-class stiff Ralph Kramer to his wife, Alice, "to the moon!"

"This will be a very slow recovery," says Jack Kyser, founder of the Kyser Center for Economic Research at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. In a telephone interview with WalletPop, Kyser said that "small- and medium-sized businesses still can't get loans from banks." It is, says Kyser, "the perfect stalemate" -- unemployment continues to rise, businesses (especially smaller ones) suffer, and banks don't want to risk lending out their money.

As the economy is supposed to be emerging from the dark cave of deep recession, you might expect it would become easier for you to secure a mortgage in the months ahead. The truth is, however, that unless you start taking some key steps right now, you may find yourself still in that recessionary cave instead of a new home, because the Federal Housing Administration is running out of money. For many potential home buyers, that's a bit like your rich uncle Sam, who was always a soft touch for a few extra bucks, filing for bankruptcy and leaving you in the lurch.

Time was when the sage advice was to "go west young man" in search of fame, fortune and nifty real estate deals. But in 2009, heading east may be a better idea. At least if you are starting out in the U.S. And, when I say east, I mean like all the way to Poland! Now hold on to your Polish zlotys while I explain this one:

Seems Poland, Krakow in particular, is a darn good place to not only indulge in a sausage or two, but also to buy up chunks of real estate at prices that are down anywhere from 9% to 17%.

Premature withdrawal could prove painful -- to your pocket.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is apparently set to stop the central bank's purchase of mortgage-backed securities in a few months, which could contribute to a full percentage point increase in the rates of 30-year mortgages.

Talk about shooting the alleged economic recovery in the foot before it has a chance to really get going.

Seems that Bernanke feels strongly, says a Bloomberg report, that by March it will be time for private investors to step in and start making the purchases in place of Uncle Sam -- or, in this case, Uncle Ben.