Foreclosure Recap – Week #29
Let’s start off the foreclosure recap this time with some good news, which is something we could all use in the dismal housing market today. The good news came from the Miami Herald. New home foreclosures in south Florida have dropped by over fifty percent between May and June of this year while statewide numbers are down just over nineteen percentage points. Now as with all good news, there is a slight catch. Unemployment numbers are up even though the housing market looks like it’s improving. Florida isn’t out of the woods yet.
Another area of the country that is experiencing a shift in numbers this week is the San Francisco bay area where prices of homes are a full fifty percent lower than they were three short years ago. This has spurred an explosion of sales in the bay area; sales are now up to 20.4 percent and in Solano the sales were up 66.5 percent. These numbers are encouraging and, if the trend continues, it could bring some consumer confidence back, which could spur even farther growth. This could make buying easier for consumers as well.
And just because I like good news in a series of threes, the state of New Jersey says that home foreclosures were down thirty percent in the fist six months of 2009, which is a far cry from the last six months of 2008. That means that only one home out of 146 were in foreclosure during the first six months as opposed to the national average of one home in 84. Isn’t good news nice to hear from time to time? Sort of makes you want to smile. You can research this here including other links to associated stories from New Jersey:
If you were a child of the sixties then this story might be particularly poignant to you. Watergate is now going into foreclosure. For those of you that might not remember Watergate is the famous hotel that was in the news during the Nixon administration where there were some less that scrupulous things going on that eventually caused the downfall if a United States president. That’s all the background I am giving on that one, you can research the details yourself if you don’t remember it.
Fox News reports that the states that seem to be the hardest hit in this crisis oddly enough also seem to be the states getting the least amount of help. Back on the 17th of February when the stimulus bill was signed into law President Obama said that the stimulus bill “includes help for those hardest hit by our economic crisis,” President Obama went on to say that “As a whole, this plan will help poor and working Americans.” The analyzing of the latest data by Fox News shows that the exact opposite has been true and found that States with higher bankruptcy, foreclosure and unemployment rates got less money. And higher income states received more.
This is an interesting article on using the loan modification process to help stop foreclosure and the impending financial disaster that can follow you for a long time after that legality happens. It gives some details that most of us already know but it never hurts to review those details and refresh our thought patterns. We all hope that it never happens to us but in the event that we get in dire straights it is better to have the knowledge and a cool head to make the decisions that are best for the situation than to wait until that time to research and end up making the wrong decision that can haunt us for a long time.
Long Island in New York has long been known for being the opposite with some counties being populated some not, some rich and some poor. This story shows that even in this real estate crisis things remain much like the yin and yang. In comparison to the same quarter in 2008 it seems that Nassau County saw a decline of foreclosures to the tune of 33 percent, which is huge considering the population on the island. However Suffolk Country saw an increase over that same period of time in the amount of just over 62 percent.
Do you have a thousand bucks lying around and ready to buy a house free and clear? Ordinarily, I would say good luck. However, this is a strange little story about a guy who lives and works in Fort Meyers Florida just recently won a house at auction free and clear for one thousand dollars. The house he won was a 1,300 square foot home, which he kept just under three weeks, and sold for 18,000 when the actual market value of the home was $88,500. Even though this may sound too crazy to be real, it is. Most people are spending more than that every month on mortgage payments while these crooks are in the clear.
The state of Oregon is nowhere close to being free of this crisis. In the first six months of 2009 the foreclosure rate in the state rose a staggering one hundred and twenty two percent and the average or median sales price for the foreclosed homes dropped over 26,000 dollars. These numbers foretell the misfortune that will create chaos in this west coast state.
If you were perhaps thinking about buying a foreclosed property and flipping it to gain some great profit potentials, I would recommend checking this story from Atlanta’s Fox News. It is a very well written story about the benefits and risks in flipping houses. It also points out potential issues and pitfalls that can happen. If you are considering it and have money to put aside for investment, then this article is worth reading.
The Miami Herald gives us yet another thought provoking story of how some lenders appear to be holding on to foreclosed properties. These lenders believe that if they slow down the market, prices for these types of home will go up. This is basically an attempt to keep the prices higher than they would normally be under the same situation. This Miami Herald article is worth a quick look over, especially if you are a resident of Florida.
