foreclosures

What It Means When More Than Half Of The Delinquent Homeowners Go Delinquent Again

December 9, 2008

Earlier this year and under pressure from the government, mortgage lenders made more than 200,000 loan modifications to delinquent homeowners. The modifications came in one of three forms, or a combination: Interest rate reduction Loan term extension Principal forgiveness But despite the modifications, as of October 1, more than half of the homeowners that received assistance were already two months behind on their modified monthly payments.

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4 States Account For 51 Percent Of The Nation’s October 2008 Foreclosures

November 15, 2008

Foreclosure is a hot topic among the press lately. It’s hard to turn on the television or open up a newspaper without seeing a story about it. But what’s most interesting about foreclosures is that they appear to be concentrated in certain areas of the country. According to the foreclosure-tracking service RealtyTrac, 4 states accounted […]

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Foreclosures Fell 12 Percent in September 2008

October 23, 2008

According to foreclosure-tracking service RealtyTrac, the foreclosure rate is falling nationwide. Versus August, foreclosures fell by 12 percent in September 2008 as more than half of the states showed month-over-month improvement. Most interesting in the data is that several states that led the foreclosure boom in 2007 now appear to be leading the charge out of it. For […]

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Foreclosures Fell 12 Percent in September 2008

October 10, 2008

According to foreclosure-tracking service RealtyTrac, the foreclosure rate is falling nationwide. Versus August, foreclosures fell by 12 percent in September 2008 as more than half of the states showed month-over-month improvement. Most interesting in the data is that several states that led the foreclosure boom in 2007 now appear to be leading the charge out […]

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Converting Your Primary Residence To An Investment Property? You May Not Qualify For Your Next Mortgage.

August 26, 2008

When a homeowner buys a new home, he has 3 options of what to do with his current residence: Sell the home, paying off the mortgage in full Keep the home as a second/vacation home Convert the home to an investment property The most common action plan is the first one — sell the home and pay […]

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Foreclosure Rates Are Falling (Despite What You See In The Headlines)

July 10, 2008

According to RealtyTrac, the rate of foreclosures across the U.S. is slowing.  Versus May, June foreclosures fell at a 3 percent clip. 25 states showed improvement month-over-month, led by many of the same areas that had fueled foreclosure activity in 2007. A sampling of RealtyTrac’s data includes: California : Foreclosures down 4.54 percent Georgia : […]

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Guess Which 4 States Accounted For More Than 50 Percent Of May 2008 Foreclosures

June 13, 2008

RealtyTrac released its most recent foreclosure statistics and if you only read the headlines, you think the entire country was on the verge of losing its homes. The underlying data tells a different story, however. More than half of the country’s foreclosure activity in May 2008 was tied to just 4 states in the union: California (28 […]

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The 80/20 Rule Applies To Foreclosures

April 29, 2008

RealtyTrac released Q1 2008 foreclosure statistics and the data follows an interesting statistical phenomenon most commonly known as the “80/20 Rule”. The 80/20 Rule states that 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes. In this case, 80 percent of bank repossessions in the first three months of 2008 came from […]

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How Picking Up The Telephone Can Reduce The National Foreclosure Rate

March 7, 2008

“Foreclosure” is the legal process by which a bank repossesses a home from a borrower and, according to RealtyTrac, 1 out of every 100 homes were in some stage of the foreclosure process in 2007. This figure is astounding because foreclosure is expensive to both homeowners and banks.  Both parties have an interest in avoiding […]

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Recession or Inflation? Even Fed Members Don’t Know For Sure.

March 5, 2008

With Friday’s jobs report looming, mortgage markets are especially skittish about whether the economy is in a recession, or facing inflation. Four Fed speakers Tuesday did little to quell the debate: 9:00 A.M.: Fed Chairman Bernanke stayed on message that foreclosures and falling home values are dragging down the economy. 10:00 A.M.: Fed Vice Chairman […]

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Where You Find Speculators, You May Also Find Failures

November 14, 2007

This morning, RealtyTrac released its Q3 2007 foreclosure data for the United States. The leading cities for foreclosures are: Stockton, CA (1 per 31 households) Detroit, MI (1 per 33 households) Riverside/San Bernardino, CA (1 per 43 households) Fort Lauderdale, FL (1 per 48 households) Las Vegas, NV (1 per 48 households) Sacramento, CA (1 […]

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Why Medical Bills Are More Dangerous To Homeowners Than ARMs

July 20, 2007

If you own a home and somebody else depends on your income, consider that the leading cause of home foreclosures is not “adjustable rate mortgages”. As cited many times over (including by a Harvard law professor), the answer is medical bills. Even for the insured, medical expenses can dramatically impact a family’s finances and push […]

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One Method To Reduce The Amount Of Sub-Prime ARM Foreclosures

May 23, 2007

The graphic at right comes from The Wall Street Journal and it illustrates something that we all intrinsically know: Sub-Prime ARMs foreclose at a faster pace than all other home loan types. When adjustable rate mortgages reach the end of their “fixed rate” period, some homeowners are unprepared for the upward-adjusting mortgage payments and that […]

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The “Kick ‘Em While They’re Down” Rule

May 8, 2007

In his weekly syndicated column, Kenneth Harney pulled back the curtain on a nasty piece of IRS tax code that can penalize homeowners with foreclosures and short sales. Because the IRS treats canceled debt as ordinary income, homeowners that “work something out” with their lender may inadvertently add tens of thousands of dollars to their annual […]

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