Tracking Foreclosures

For several years foreclosurerepos.com has been online dealing in real estate figures. About 800,000 units have been listed as sitting on various stages of the foreclosure process. Recently it released the top 100 foreclosure cities. Three Florida ones came among the first 25 but Tallahassee was not included even in the club of 100. Across the country one out of 134 houses slipped into foreclosure during the first six months this year. Florida ranks 5^th with the ratio being one out of 81 units.

August has been cruel to the mortgage industry. The country’s largest lender, Countrywide Financial Corporation admitted to borrowing more than $11 billion for advancing loans. American Home Mortgage, the king in sub-prime lending filed for bankruptcy. In Leon county the figure is 1:309. This is a 17% jump from last year but much slower than the 77% state rise or even the national 58% hike. Lenders have formed a consortium to find lifeboats to save the victims.

Specialist Blankenship opines that it is those in the sub-prime adjustable mortgage rate category who are tilting the ship. But Workman representing mortgage brokers holds that it is slump in prices that has led to a rise in foreclosures Thus it is the market and not mortgages and lenders, which is to be blamed. According to him 69 out of 70 sub-prime loans are running on time and not late. It is really good going.

Sub-prime loans have been given to weak borrowers. Hence to make up the insufficiency they have to pay extra by way of interest. Blomquist of foreclosurelistings.com says that it is the speculative buying in the past few years that has caused the scales to tip. As prices rose people went overboard to buy new units.

Senior economist of Fannie Mae concludes that foreclosure risk rises when a wobbly economy couples with investor activity causing rise in property values. Chances of alternatives like refinancing or selling off becomes more remote.

The general advice is to contact the lender as soon as the first step is missed. Otherwise contact a registered housing counselor. Next, plan your spending giving priority to the housing factor. Other non-securitized loans can be delayed. The rule of thumb is never to sign on any document without proper legal advice. It is easy to be trapped by smart talk, write away your rights and overnight become a tenant from an owner.

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