Increase in Foreclosures Lead To Rise In Activities Of Rental Agents
In the Tri-Cities alone, the number of foreclosures have been increasing, leading to a rise to the number of rental agents’ activities. In 2007, there were 1,098 foreclosure postings in Saginaw , marking a rise of 23% in the number of foreclosure homes in that area. In Bay County, there were a total of 403 evictions, showing an increase of 9%. In Midland, the number of foreclosures was 207 – 6% more than in 2006.
The Landlord Association of Saginaw has taken note of the number of people wanting to rent units. Butch Burden, the president of the association, believes that this is natural because “people have to have some place to live.”
However, renters have become very choosy about the place where they want to stay. Most want to stay in the Midland areas, which is on the west side of Saginaw, or in safe, suburban areas. Mike Haman of Haman Property Management says he has rental units in Saginaw Township, Vassar, Carrollton Township and Thomas Township. He has mentioned before that the rental market has picked up recently and that, in future years, it will become even more intense. Things are picking up, as Haman has mentioned, but it will be about a year before rental agents can see their work come to fruition. .
RealtyTrac reported that in Michigan that the number of foreclosures has gone up by about 25% since May. Michigan is now ranked fifth in the country among the states with the highest foreclosure rates. In May, it was in ninth place meaning it went up by about four places. During the month of May, there were about 1,353 foreclosures.
RealtyTrac shows that across the country there were 261,255 foreclosure postings during May alone, marking a 7% rise from April and a huge jump of 48% from May of the previous year. The national foreclosure rate was 1,483 in May – the highest number it has ever reached in a month since RealtyTrac started collecting data from 2005. May was the third consecutive month that saw a month-by-month increase according to James Saccacio CEO of RealtyTrac. In May, default notices increased by 1% and auction sales were down by 3%. But during this month, bank takeover of properties surged ahead marking double digit increases. The numbers have definitely doubled since May 2007. The banks today own about 700,000 properties.
It also shows the huge number of families that have been thrown out of their houses due to the foreclosure process. These families are now rushing to seek rental homes or apartments. Many real estate investors have been finding it profitable to buy houses at discounted prices and convert them into rented units. But with so many houses crowding into the real estate market, the prices of these rental units have been falling as of late. Unfortunately, this has lead many people to become concerned that the prices will fall even further.
