Archive for the ‘Foreclosure Listings’ Category

According to reliable sources foreclosures rose by 93% from July last year to July 2007 across USA. It went up by 9% from June. In July last year the number of foreclosures had been 92,845 but this year during the same month the number read 179,599. In June the foreclosure number was 164,644. The figures have been released by one of the oldest reliable online groups, keeping track of this specific situation. The national foreclosure rate is 1:693.

Five states of California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Georgia bore the brunt of more than half the country’s foreclosure burden. In the middle are squeezed in Missouri (18th) and Kansas (32nd). In Missouri the ratio was 1:1,275 and in Kansas it was 1:2,782.The figures are inclusive of default, sale and bank repossession notices. Because of multiple mortgages some of the property units may have been counted more than once. But the tracking group has listed separately individual properties. During the first six months of the current year 573,397 properties showed foreclosure activity in some form or the other. It amounts to 58% rise from the first half of 2006 and 32% rise from the last six months of that year.

In July Nevada, Georgia and Michigan showed the highest numbers. California, Florida and Ohio were the states with the highest foreclosure numbers.

The sub-prime loans and ARM loans have been battering the mortgage market during the last few months. One by one delinquency is being reported and houses are being foreclosed. Falling real estate prices have added woe to misery with owners not being able to sell off units and pay off dues. Sub-prime loans had been given to those with shaky credit history. It started with interest-only repayments but when the grace period was over the cracks began to appear and widen.

But the story did not end there. From the housing credit category it infected the country’s savings and loans. Never had the situation been so bad in the past 14 years. USA Office of Thrift Supervision is nervous and edgy with $14.2 billion in repossessed assets and loans whose dues are more than 90 days old. In other words property is lying around idle with no cash flow coming in. To avoid further decline it is being advised that properties should be sold off quickly without thinking of profit and loss.

According to reliable sources foreclosures rose by 93% from July last year to July 2007 across USA. It went up by 9% from June. In July last year the number of foreclosures had been 92,845 but this year during the same month the number read 179,599. In June the foreclosure number was 164,644. The figures have been released by one of the oldest reliable online groups, keeping track of this specific situation. The national foreclosure rate is 1:693.
Five states of California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Georgia bore the brunt of more than half the country’s foreclosure burden. In the middle are squeezed in Missouri (18th) and Kansas (32nd). In Missouri the ratio was 1:1,275 and in Kansas it was 1:2,782.The figures are inclusive of default, sale and bank repossession notices. Because of multiple mortgages some of the property units may have been counted more than once. But the tracking group has listed separately individual properties. During the first six months of the current year 573,397 properties showed foreclosure activity in some form or the other. It amounts to 58% rise from the first half of 2006 and 32% rise from the last six months of that year.
In July Nevada, Georgia and Michigan showed the highest numbers. California, Florida and Ohio were the states with the highest foreclosure numbers.
The sub-prime loans and ARM loans have been battering the mortgage market during the last few months. One by one delinquency is being reported and houses are being foreclosed. Falling real estate prices have added woe to misery with owners not being able to sell off units and pay off dues. Sub-prime loans had been given to those with shaky credit history. It started with interest-only repayments but when the grace period was over the cracks began to appear and widen.
But the story did not end there. From the housing credit category it infected the country’s savings and loans. Never had the situation been so bad in the past 14 years. USA Office of Thrift Supervision is nervous and edgy with $14.2 billion in repossessed assets and loans whose dues are more than 90 days old. In other words property is lying around idle with no cash flow coming in. To avoid further decline it is being advised that properties should be sold off quickly without thinking of profit and loss.

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The manufacturing industry is in the doldrums. Unemployment is high forcing people into the foreclosure process. The number slipping into its grip is rising by the day. Munster ranks among the highest foreclosed regions. Indiana, Ohio and Michigan have been reeling under shutdowns and vanishing jobs. This triad accounts for 20% of the foreclosures countrywide. Most of the foreclosure victims are also victims of unemployment. They are losing their homes and the fires of their hearth are soon going to snuff out.

Indiana Bankers Association sends out the advices that if there is some equity left on the property then fall back on it. It will steer you through. Realtor’s associations in Indiana have been doing a lot of digging. Their opinion is that what we are seeing today is the outcome of years of sub-prime mismanagement that is now affecting the locality as well as the nation. Experts apprehend that more than 2 million adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) will push in for higher rates all across the country within a few years. Indiana has a high rate of house ownership – as high as 75%. On the negative side it ranks second with the largest number of foreclosure listings. Indiana comes 44th in the recent counting of one-year price growth done by a federal body dealing with the relevant subject.

It is the thinking of the borrowers that went awry. They bought houses that they could not afford. They never gave a serious thought to the fact that after the honeymoon period of low rates the latter would swell and balloon up. During the first years an adjustable rate is low – being known as teaser rates. These tempted buyers to opt for the non-conventional loans. The borrower kept hoping that things would look up on their economic front within few years. But in reality this never happens. There is logic behind everything. The main causes were low appreciation rates of properties, affordable housing and high loan-to-value loan rations.

Operations are underway to assist people. One of them involves more down payment assistance that does away or lessens cash down fees. Those who plan to buy property must first become financially literate and understand all the legal and other implications. Secondly a minimum amount of foresight is a must. The most important issue is creating jobs. Without jobs there cannot be home fires burning.

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It was no easy matter for Coconut Grove Playhouse to extricate itself from a jumbo financial mire by raising more than $470,000 to calm down a creditor and plug a scheduled foreclosure aimed to slice away a part of its property. The portion of the Playhouse property is a vacant plot next to a theatre – The Bike Shop. It was scheduled to go in for auction on Wednesday morning.

Playhouse is South Florida’s oldest theatre set to celebrate its half-century when it was closed down in April 2006. As a fallout of this imbroglio the employees were let off with a big question mark on their dues. The long-standing controversial art director, Mittelman, resigned in May. Other board members have followed suit.

The legal representatives of the principal creditor James F. Perry & Co confirmed that Playhouse had taken a loan of $350,000 on November 2004 but by last Tuesday night they had repaid the loan together with interest and incidental fees in its entirety. It was settled with the payment of $471,705.51 involving a lot of hard work, grit and determination.

Playhouse chairperson Spivack was not available for commenting on how the money was raised. Former board members of Playhouse who had a stake in the Perry loan, Wiener, Steinberg, Mitchell and Ruwitch, were also silent on that point.

Miami-Dade County’s department for cultural affairs actively came forward to sort out the knot. Most of the dues of the former employees have been cleared. The sanction of a grant for improvement of the building from Florida Department of Sate amounting to $125,000 went towards clearing some salary dues. But since some are still pending the theatre as well as Mittelman remains on the default list of unions. No actor or manager can work here until debts are cleared. The county came forward with a budget of $500,000 to help managers, lawyers and accountants who had worked on the salvage operations. Theatre lovers had bought advance subscriptions for 2006 – 20007 but to their dismay the theatre closed down without refunding their money. However the cultural affairs department of the County has come up with a plan why which these subscribers will be able to see play at other theatres for the specified season, in the region without paying further money. The hope is that if Playhouse reopens the subscribers will be again offered vouchers.

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One out of every 47 houses is popping into the foreclosure oven making it one of the hottest cities in the grips of the reigning real estate crisis. It ranks 8th among the leading 100 cities buzzing with foreclosure activity during the first half of this year. The figures have been released by one of the premier tracking groups online, based in Irvine.

The apprehension is that things are going to get worse. 82 of this group of 100 consisting of the prime metro cities in USA are reporting a year-over-year escalation in the number of foreclosures. The numbers are taking everyone by surprise. Things were bad but nobody thought it was that bad. Kern County stood 8th in the first quarter of this year.

According to reliable figures the foreclosure pot continues to boil in California. Stockton, Sacramento and the combined Riverside and San Bernardino region having the dubious distinction of being including among the top 10 rankers. The tracking group makes use of records given out by the counties. The figures are inclusive of default notices, pending lists, sales by trustees and real estate owners. Stockton ranked first. Here one out of every 27 units came under the foreclosure cloud. Among the prime ten defaulters were Las Vegas, Detroit, Denver, Miami, Memphis, Tenn. and Cleveland. The least foreclosure activity was noticeable in Richmond and Va.

The foreclosure fall out is the result of many factors – mismanagement of sub-prime mortgages combined with general economic ill health of the country leading to unemployment. If the reasons are multifarious the results too are many pronged. With too many houses up for sale the real estate prices are plummeting. This is touching those units that are not directly under the foreclosure hammer. The mortgage industry has tightened its belt with the result that there are not enough buyers for houses. The banks are sitting with idle properties and empty coffers. This is sending alarm signals to brokers in Wall Street. The Wall Street sneeze is making international stock markets catch a cold. Closer home vacant houses are happy hunting grounds for vagrants and addicts leading to law and order problems. A new group of advisers have cropped up trying to help foreclosure victims. Politicians take this as an opportune moment to fish in troubled waters and make loud noises about cooling the heat and switching off the oven.

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The housing market is collapsing like a house of cards. Walls Street is beginning to wake up with a foreclosure headache. Figures released by Equifax/Moody’s Economy.com reveal that the number of foreclosures in Fort Lauderdale spiraled to 335%. In Flint, Mich, and Visalia, California the shooting up was as high as 986% and 1,587% respectively.

But Hari Sreenivasan of CBS News points to the silver lining behind the clouds in a series dealing with property solutions –‘Real Estate Real Solutions’.

Donna Young was one of them who did not buckle under. Last year this time with four children clinging to her and a divorce hanging over her head she did not lose either her heart or her suburban Atlanta house.

Nearly $4,000 behind in mortgage dues depression was beginning to get the better of her with all her hopes and efforts going up in smoke. Fortunately she turned to The Impact Group, a non-profit organization. It steered her with financial education and chalked out a budget for her by persuading the lenders to give her the opportunity to pay an extra $300 per month and catch up on her dues. She was also given extra time to regain her balance. Lenders are interested in getting back money.

The dark clouds of foreclosures have made housing advocates and lenders set up an umbrella for protecting victims. Foreclosure is not an isolated incident – it has a snowballing effect that sucks in the entire economy and society. A congressional report stated that it infected the property owner, the lender, property value of the region and consequently caused loss to the local government. Information about assistance is given out on the city’s water bills in Arlington, Texas. Public service announcements loudly offer help to the 1 million affected families annually drowning in foreclosures.
On an average a foreclosure costs $80,000 whereas preventing one is less than $3,300. The best time to anticipate the crisis is even before the first stumble. The trouble is that about half the victims never contact their lenders.

To come out of the crisis visit HUD and make sure that credit counselling agency is approved. Get in touch with your lender as soon you see signs of trouble in the horizon and start negotiating. The possibility is there of delayed longer time payments being allowed. Donna Young tells you to just hang on like her and eventually survive!

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The city of Chula Vista in San Diego County is one of the fastest growing cities. Over the years the city has witnessed an increase in its single-family homes. However, the increase in number of homes came along with an increase in adjustable-interest loans. This led to an increase in homeowner’s payment, and many homeowners were unable to keep up with the payment. As a result of which several properties in the city of Chula Vista are facing foreclosures.

The rising rate of foreclosures has led to an increase in number of vacant homes. According to officials in South Bay city, the area has witnessed more than 700 vacant homes. Doug Leeper, the city’s code enforcement manager says that city has nearly 3000 distressed properties, due to which nearly 700 to 800 properties are lying vacant.

In fact in several areas of the city, one will witness abandoned homes, which one can easily identify due to the condition of the property. Several properties are seen in pathetic condition with dried up front lawn, broken windows, dirty swimming pool etc. In this regards Art Deford a local resident who lives near such vacant foreclosure property says that the look of the beautiful looking home has changed ever since the lender has taken it over.
While the rising foreclosure rate in Chula Vista has not only led to an increase in empty homes, but due to conditions of these empty homes, rates of near by areas is getting affected. According to former City Councilman Leonard Moore, people walk away from areas having such properties.

To handle this situation, and to prevent property values from falling further, the Chula Vista administration has adopted a program. Based on similar programs formulated in Chicago and Detroit, under this program lenders will be compelled to maintain homes, which they seize and register vacant properties with the city and a $70 fee will be charged to titleholders on registering the property. Besides as the property is security for loan, the lender will be held accountable for a home even before the foreclosure procedure is over.

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Now well fare institutions like hospitals are coming under the cloud of foreclosures. St. Joseph Hospital on Fort Worth, near the south side, has been shut down. The New Jersey based owner says that more than $9000,000 as tax backlog, fines and interest will be paid before the property goes up for auction in the following month.

The Vice President of Diversified Capital, in Lakewood, New Jersey dealing with business development, said that although they are not happy and are grumbling, they would pay all the dues. But one thing for sure was that they were not going to surrender the property to foreclosure.

In May 2007, the ruling of the District Court judge was that SJG Partners, limited partners of Diversified Capital, is liable for the payment of taxes that have accrued since 2000. SJG Partners had purchased the property on South Main Street and Allen Avenue. It was a property under the hammer of the foreclosure. At that point of time, August 2005, the previous owners had failed to pay taxes to the tune of $695,000. As per the Sales Order issued by the office of the District Court the tax bill had shot up to $917,319. The date fixed for the auction is 7th August.

Diversified was sued by both Fort Worth, Tarrant County and Fort Worth School District in January last year (2006). Diversified answered that they did not owe taxes because they were not owners of the said property during the years the taxes had been accounted.

The property in dispute was the first hospital in Tarrant County. It was founded in 1885. It is a 12 storey structure made from red brick was added to the original structure and came to be called St. Joseph. It came to be owned by HCA/Columbia Healthcare Corporation when in 1995 it had to be closed.

Heritage Geriatric Housing Development of California bought the unit and redid the lower floors into Alzheimer’ Centre, St. Joseph’s Garden. It had to be closed in 2000.

Stern gave the information that Diversified has further ambitious plans. It is moving ahead to develop further the property with shops, offices and residential quarters that would be worth more than $50 million. He also added that recently there plans had been afoot to sell the property to a local oil and gas concern but the deal fell through.

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