When the Great Recession hit, HELOCs were frozen/closed, credit cards were closed and/or had their credit limits reduced, investment firms raised their margin requirements while the value of the underlying stock dropped, and credit requirements to access loans were greatly raised.

@Matt ShieldsOh, how well do I know the stink that still haunts your dreams, Matt...Back in the days when I did basic property management and provided handyman services as a sideline for a friend in the business, a tenant once left 15 pounds in plastic-wrapped logs of frozen ground turkey in in a side-by-side fridge and freezer and moved out.

We conduct safety inspections on vacant units, particularly in the winter with the threat of frozen pipes.

An empty house loses rent income, you pay the utilities, and you don't have anyone watching the house to prevent frozen pipes or other winter issues.On a $2,000 rental, one month of vacancy is going to cost you more than dropping the price $200 a month for six months.

Not sure what they would do if you kept it frozen for a long time but I was able to freeze for like 6 months at one point. 

Many of us had HELOCs frozen by Chase during the bust. 

It worked fine for a while, but I recently had my account frozen.

If I suddenly died without doing any estate planning, all of my assets would be frozen and end up in probate for 120 days.

From what I'm hearing they are pretty much frozen right now.

If it happens with a married couple, there may be children involved, assets frozen, lawyers, etc.