From the Foreclosure Market Report, “So far this year more than 1 million properties have entered some stage of foreclosure nationwide, up 27 percent from the same time last year. The Wall Street Journal has reported that with a large number of people losing their houses to foreclosure, more are venting their frustration by damaging and vandalizing the units before leaving. The pool of desperate people in foreclosure is proving attractive to scam artists nationwide.
Foreclosure activity is up a staggering 90% from a year ago, according to online data tracker RealtyTrac. Foreclosure filings in Tampa Bay have reached more than 10,000 in the first half of this year, according to RealtyTrac’s midyear metropolitan foreclosure market report. Foreclosure numbers climbed steadily over the course of the year, with more new foreclosures reported in every quarter. Foreclosures statewide are up 63 percent this year to 5,925, compared with 3,627 filings in the first half of 2006. Foreclosures are up in Maryland and around the region, in part because of risky or bad loans.
Foreclosures in California increased by 150 percent from January to February; Arizona saw a rise of 161 percent for the same period; Nevada experienced a 99 percent increase. Foreclosures filings nearly doubled in the latest month. Foreclosure Market Report, which showed that 323,102 properties nationwide entered some stage of foreclosure in the first quarter of 2006, a 38 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 72 percent year-over-year increase from the first quarter of 2005.
Foreclosure laws, customs, and practices can differ from lender to lender, loan to loan, state to state, and even county to county. Generally, a loan that is as little as 90 days delinquent can be considered in foreclosure. Almost every state provides for some period of redemption. In Massachusetts there is no redemption period for the foreclosure of a real estate mortgage. Foreclosure stays on a credit report for seven to 10 years.
Foreclosures create ramifications even in cities that have been spared the worst of the crisis. Foreclosure investing is quickly becoming popular among all kinds of homebuyers, both first-time investors and seasoned experts. Needless to say, the constant rise in foreclosure statistics is becoming nationwide epidemic that is going to need extreme measures to cure.
Housing services are available at 13 locations across Georgia, 4 locations in Florida and nationwide through our telephone counseling department. Housing Panic urges borrowers with Option ARMs to walk away from their homes when the payments reset. Housing prices in California and Florida, fueled in part by a rising number of foreclosures, already have declined.
It is a crime that in the richest nation in the world, a full-time job no longer guarantees access to decent, affordable housing. Towns and cities are being hit hard by the current housing and lending crisis. A Senate GOP proposal to address the national housing crisis has attracted fierce criticism from conservatives, placing Republicans in a bind as lawmakers return from recess to grapple with spreading foreclosures and falling home prices. Meanwhile, House Democrats are also planning to move ahead aggressively on housing.
This gridlock eases and the Senate Democrats and Republicans agreed to negotiate on a housing bill that could potentially allow for assistance to those in threat of losing their homes.