This morning’s edition of The New York Times included a story by Business writer Joanne Kaufman entitled, "A Shift in Real Estate Books." The article talks about how publishers are working hard to get books to market to help homeowners and real estate investors with the downturn in the housing market and increasing foreclosures.

The article begins by focusing on the fact that even celebrities are finding themselves ensnared by the mortgage meltdown. Recently, Johnny Carson’s co-host, Ed McMahon–who became just as famous for making a very small number of people ecstatic as spokesperson for American Family Publishing sweepstakes as he did for his role on The Tonight Show–has run into some financial trouble and is facing foreclosure on his California home. As the article points out, I tried to contact Mr. McMahon to offer my help in reviewing his real estate files (to see if he had been mislead–or even worse–by his financial advisors or the real estate industry professionals who worked on his behalf), but I wasn”t able to get very far.

In any case, The New York Times article serves as yet another nod toward the fact that a lot of people are in trouble these days because of the mortgage meltdown.

From The New York Times:

A few years ago, when the housing market was white-hot, companies that publish how-to books were tripping over themselves to pump out titles about buying property and making money in the real estate business.

Now that the bottom has fallen out of the housing market, the opposite is true: publishers are updating their backlist titles as well as rushing out newly acquired manuscripts to advise consumers who may have stumbled in the housing game.

For more on this story, read "A Shift in Real Estate Books".