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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Foreclosure Filings Continue to Amaze

“I wouldn't be surprised to see foreclosures increase as the economy slows down. The people living paycheck to paycheck are at risk if they lose their jobs. It will cause more people to lose their homes.” -Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac

While this isn’t anything new, the percentages continue to amaze… and I fully expect them to get much much worse.

Foreclosure Filings Rose 71% in Third Quarter as Prices Fell: “U.S. foreclosure filings increased 71 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier to the highest on record as home prices fell and stricter mortgage standards made it harder for homeowners to sell or refinance, RealtyTrac said.

A total of 765,558 U.S. properties got a default notice, were warned of a pending auction or were foreclosed on in the quarter, the most since records began in January 2005, the Irvine, California-based seller of default data said in a statement today. Filings rose 3 percent from the second quarter and fell 12 percent in September from August as state laws created to keep people in homes slowed the pace of defaults.”

To keep an eye on the foreclosure trend I drop by the Countrywide Foreclosures Blog at least a couple times a month. The above chart is from that site. The site lists the homes for sale on the Countrywide Financial website. If anything, these numbers are on the low side as the company is probably under reporting and both unwilling and unable to keep pace with the foreclosure rate.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ben,

How is Iceland doing? Do you or others have a link or a line in to anyone there?

I picture the situation like that one in the movie War Games where the fake bombs are flying and the head dudes are keeping contact open with the targeted bases. Due to his supervisor being out, one of the contacts is a young Lt. type versus Colonel+ like other places. Several times they try to raise him and everyone thinks this is it and about to push the button until he comes on saying, "Yea, I'm here, I'm here, etc." I picture Iceland kind of the same way...without the bombs, an isolated place thats hard to be in contact with.

So, any word from Iceland via internet, shortwave (something thats always intrigued me), etc.

Brant, Atlanta, GA

Anonymous said...

great blog....thx

Emini Addict said...

It's getting really bad out here in CA. I've had 4 people on my block alone walk away. It's getting the point that the homes are so upside down, sometime by 60%, that the owners would rather have a foreclosure on their record then continue to pay for the home.

If I was 300,000 in the whole a 4000.00 dollar mortgage wouldn't look to appealing either. I can't blame them..

Anonymous said...

I read a book called “Mortgage Meltdown” and it really helped me understand that I’m not the only one going through this. I was also able to apply for a grant from a non-profit to help me with my mortgage. I think anyone who is trying to save his or her home, like me, should read this. Go to www.48grant.com