Foreclosures for Sale - and Plenty of Them

This morning, Irvine, Ca.-based RealtyTrac released its latest foreclosure survey results. The stomach-churning results: 1.9 million foreclosure filings - default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions - were reported on 1.5 million homes in just the first six months of 2009.
RealtyTrac reported that was a 9 percent increase in total properties from the previous six months and a nearly 15 percent increase in total properties from the first six months of 2008. The report also shows that 1.19 percent of all U.S. housing units (one in 84) received at least one foreclosure filing in the first half of the year.
This, in spite of the industry-wide moratorium earlier this year, along with local, state and national legislative action and increased levels of loan modification activity. Notes James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, foreclosure activity continues to increase to record levels.
How do the worst states look? RealtyTrac's colorful map above shows the west coast, southeast, midwest and far northeast are suffering big-time.

Nevada, Arizona, Florida boast the worst state foreclosure rates. More than 6 percent of all Nevada housing units (one in 16) receiving at least one foreclosure filing in the first half of 2009, an increase of 23 percent from the previous six months and up 61 percent from the first half of 2009.

Arizona is second in line, with 3.37 percent of its housing units (one in 30) receiving at least one foreclosure filing, and Florida registered the nation's third highest state foreclosure rate, with 3.08 percent of its housing units (one in 33) receiving at least one foreclosure filing.

Rounding out the top 10 were California (2.94 percent of housing units receiving at least one foreclosure filing), Utah (1.46 percent), Georgia (1.42 percent), Michigan (1.34 percent), Illinois (1.31 percent), Idaho (1.26 percent), and Colorado (1.25 percent).

It's the deterioration over the prior six months that's really frightening: Alabama (foreclosure filings increased an estimated 125 percent over the prior six months), Virginia (up 111 percent), Oregon (up 56 percent), Wisconsin (up 70 percent), Mississippi (up 89 percent), and Hawaii (up 53 percent). It's here that you can really see the damage inflicted by the stock market crash post Lehman Bros. and the dramatic rise in unemployment.

So where, you might be wondering, is the great Obama Foreclosure Prevention Plan? J.P. Morgan Chase took out full-page ads in newspapers across the country today proclaiming that it has saved 565,000 homeowners from foreclosure and has put 138,000 homeowners into temporary loan modification programs (all Obama Modifications are temporary until an on-time payment track record is established and the lender believes the plan put forth is affordable for the homeowners) over the past 90 days. Other big lenders are saying the same thing.

And yet, the foreclosure numbers keep rising.

This morning, on Capitol Hill, lenders will participate in Senate Hearings to discuss how their loan modification plans are working and whether more resources are needed to keep up with the demand.

Count me in the "skeptical but hopeful" corner. Until we remember that it's "All about jobs, Stupid," those foreclosure numbers won't start shrinking.

Read More:

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Image courtesy of RealtyTrac