Foreclosures up 93%

article


July Foreclosures Up 9 Percent From June
Tuesday August 21, 3:22 pm ET
By Alex Veiga, AP Business Writer

U.S. Home Foreclosures Jump Sharply in July, Up 9 Percent From June


LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The number of foreclosure filings reported in the U.S. last month jumped 93 percent from July of 2006 and rose 9 percent from June, the latest sign that homeowners are having trouble making payments and finding buyers during the national housing downturn.

There were 179,599 foreclosure filings reported during July, up from 92,845 during the same period a year ago, Irvine-based RealtyTrac Inc. said Tuesday. There were 164,644 foreclosure filings reported in June.

The national foreclosure rate in July was one filing for every 693 households, the company said.

"While 43 states experienced year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity, just five states -- California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Georgia -- accounted for more than half of the nation's total foreclosure filings," RealtyTrac Chief Executive James J. Saccacio said.

The filings include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

Some properties included in the survey might have received more than one notice, if the owners have multiple mortgages.

The company did break out individual properties as part of its report for the first six months of this year, when a total of 573,397 properties reported some sort of foreclosure activity.

That represents a 58 percent jump from the 363,672 properties in the first six months of 2006 and a 32 percent increase from the 433,504 in the last six months of 2006, the firm said.

In the July report, Nevada, Georgia and Michigan accounted for the highest foreclosure rates nationwide.

Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate: one filing for every 199 households, or more than three times the national average. It reported 5,116 filings during the month, an increase of 8 percent from June.

Georgia's foreclosure rate was more than twice the national average, with one filing for every 299 households. The state reported 12,602 foreclosure filings, up 75 percent from June.

Michigan reported 13,979 filings in July, a 39 percent spike from June.

California, Florida and Ohio were among the states with the highest number of foreclosure filings in July, RealtyTrac said.

California cities continued to dominate top metropolitan foreclosure rates.

The state reported 39,013 foreclosure filings last month, the most by any single state. However, the number of filings rose less than 1 percent from June.

The state's foreclosure rate was one filing for every 333 households, RealtyTrac said.

Florida's foreclosure filings dropped 9 percent between June and July to 19,179. The July figure, however, represents a 78 percent jump from the year-ago period.

In recent months, the mortgage industry has been battered by rising defaults and foreclosures, primarily driven by borrowers with subprime loans and adjustable rate mortgages.

Lagging home sales and flat or decreasing home prices have made it more difficult for homeowners who fall behind on payments to sell their homes and clear the debt, spurring the rise in foreclosure activity.

Loan types seeing higher delinquencies and defaults in general are home equity loans or second mortgages used to cover a downpayment, subprime loans to people with shaky credit histories, and Alt-A loans, which can include interest-only and adjustable rate mortgages sold with little or no documentation.

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

I'm not surprised at all. But, I can't say I feel bad for those people, though. Buyers bought homes they couldn't afford and sellers were greedy.

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

this is just the begining

there are some really nice homes in whitestone that are boarded up - and in foreclosure- basically mansions for Queens

it's going to have a terrible effect on the whole economy

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

I agree, it will get worse. Estimates are a 2009 recovery. For people that have the cash though it's a great time to buy.

I saw a gorgeous $800K house last week in VA that is selling for $500K My builder is considering buying it and fixing it up. The owner took out the kitchen cabinets and even the carpet


there is one I wanted to inquire about- but I am nervous for the inside condition- foreclosures are a crap shoot

I don't know what is going to happen- but it's going to worse before it gets better

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

brokers are salesmen- not finacial planners and so are real estate agents

personal responisbility is something lost in American these days- it's always some elses fault - you should know how much house you can afford - and if you don't you should talk to a finacial planner- not a mortgage broker or real estate agent

People thought the market would keep going up- look at posts from a year ago- people thought this was never going to end

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Besides the above comment on responsibility, which is TOTALLY true, I feel I should also acknowledge the giant gorrilla in the room.......

the political dogma stating 'don't regulate the free market economy, the market regulates itself'

yeah, SURE it does... usually at great risk. If the risk pays off, a select few benefit greatly, and if it doesn't, there's great expense to the nation as a whole. In the end, every experiment letting the market run free ends up with a giant bail-out by the gov't.

I smell a giant check (financed through china) from the gov't being written very soon........

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Posted by ~Colleen~

Posted by Beth1210
personal responisbility is something lost in American these days- it's always some elses fault - you should know how much house you can afford - and if you don't you should talk to a finacial planner- not a mortgage broker or real estate agent

Exactly - I understand that banks and brokers got greedy with their crazy loans but the onus should fall on the person who is actually signing the paper. People need to take more responsibility for their actions (and stop trying to keep up with the Joneses -or is it Jones'?).

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Beth,

I completely agree! Whatever happened to personal responsibility?
People greatly overextend themselves and perhaps they will be more responsible in the future.

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

The real estate agents and brokers cannot be blamed for this.

Once a person shows up with their pre-approval and the real agent shows them houses within that price range then the decision to make an offer is solely up to the Buyer and their family.

Granted, some mortgage brokers do tempt buyers with all sorts of unconventional loan products and stated income options but the person signing to pay back the loan is the one who makes the final decision.

I agree that it is about personal responsibility.

I know a couple who signed for a option ARM loan with a jumbo payment w/o realizing it. They refinanced out of that and into another option ARM that was to have fixed payments for 3 years. Well, they did not read the paperwork (again apparently) and the payment changes EVERY month And these are not young people nor are they old and infirmed. They just did not bother to read what they were signing. Granted, the wrong box could have been checked thus having the wrong forms generated for the closing but the homeowner was suppose to READ those docs before signing.

They took out loans for thousands against their house to make home improvements - some necessary and some not and now they cannot afford to make the payments.

They filed bankruptcy in July.

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Posted by ~Colleen~

Posted by Beth1210
personal responisbility is something lost in American these days- it's always some elses fault - you should know how much house you can afford - and if you don't you should talk to a finacial planner- not a mortgage broker or real estate agent

Exactly - I understand that banks and brokers got greedy with their crazy loans but the onus should fall on the person who is actually signing the paper. People need to take more responsibility for their actions (and stop trying to keep up with the Joneses -or is it Jones'?).

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Posted by ~Colleen~

Posted by Beth1210
personal responisbility is something lost in American these days- it's always some elses fault - you should know how much house you can afford - and if you don't you should talk to a finacial planner- not a mortgage broker or real estate agent

Exactly - I understand that banks and brokers got greedy with their crazy loans but the onus should fall on the person who is actually signing the paper. People need to take more responsibility for their actions (and stop trying to keep up with the Joneses -or is it Jones'?).

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

I don't think the finger should be pointed only at the borrower. Do you really think every borrower is smart enough to know what type of home they can afford or smart enough to get help from a financial planner or accountant before they buy?

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Posted by Hi-Fi55

I don't think the finger should be pointed only at the borrower. Do you really think every borrower is smart enough to know what type of home they can afford or smart enough to get help from a financial planner or accountant before they buy?

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Posted by Hi-Fi55

I don't think the finger should be pointed only at the borrower. Do you really think every borrower is smart enough to know what type of home they can afford or smart enough to get help from a financial planner or accountant before they buy?

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Posted by -Lisa-

Posted by Hi-Fi55

I don't think the finger should be pointed only at the borrower. Do you really think every borrower is smart enough to know what type of home they can afford or smart enough to get help from a financial planner or accountant before they buy?

when you're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars, you absolutely should do your homework - whether than means reading a book, using an online mortgage calculator or sitting down with a financial planner.

Thats not to say that mortgage brokers, etc don't take advantage, but if the buyer doesn't know what they're signing, or what they can afford, then it IS their fault. In the end, its the BUYERS decision. BUYER BEWARE - right? Stupidity is no excuse.

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

Re: Foreclosures up 93%

well, but then again......

greed is a part of human nature.... and the whole subprime lending debacle was driven entirely by blinding/mind numbing greed (on behalf of the broker AND the customer).

while occassionally simple laziness or stupidity is to blame (such as the situation mentioned above...not reading the fine print on the application), the vast majority of the time it's due to risk taking behavior (without the thought of possible negative consequences)... just like gambling, drug abuse, reckless driving.....

Generally, society depends upon authority figures to prevent the risk takers from tanking the entire society's economy and social structure.... and it's the gov't (and in the case of lending, the banks) JOB to do that.

they miserably failed.... I think the banks should suffer bankrupcy for that....... and the gov't should be forced to pass sweeping legislation.... just like what happened after the air traffic controller de-regulation during the reagan admin....

Message edited 8/21/2007 9:50:49 PM.

Re: Foreclosures up 93%