Beginning in 2007, the U.S. economy was hit with a series of damaging financial blows, the negative repercussions of which still affect Americans today. In years prior thereto, various economic and political factors worked in unison to artificially inflate the selling price of residential homes within many U.S. markets.1 When the market could stand no more inflation, the metaphorical bubble burst, sending the banking, investment, and mortgage industries into a downward tailspin.