Market Stats and Market Analysis in Ada County

Posts Tagged ‘Foreclosure’

01 Mar 2010

When It’s OK to Walk Away From Your Home -WSJ (Wow, this is Crazy Stuff) American as Apple Pie?

Millions of Americans are now deeply underwater on their mortgage. If you’re among them, you need to stop living in a dream world and give serious thought to walking away from the debt.

No, you shouldn’t feel bad about it, and you shouldn’t feel guilty. The lenders would do the same to you—in a heartbeat. You need to put yourself and your family’s finances first.

How widespread is this? More than 11 million families are in “negative equity”—that is, they owe more on their home than it is worth—according to a report out this week by FirstAmerican Core Logic, a real-estate data firm. That’s a quarter of all families with mortgages. And for more than five million of those borrowers, the crisis is extreme: They are more than 25% underwater—the equivalent of having a $100,000 loan on a property now worth just $75,000 or less. That’s true for a fifth of mortgage holders in California, nearly a third in Florida and an incredible 50% in Nevada.

Are you in this situation? Are you still battling to pay the bills each month, even when it may make little financial sense to do so?

It’s time for some tough talk.

Stop trying to chase your lost equity. That money is gone. Don’t think like the gambler who blows more and more cash trying to win back his losses. That’s how a lot of people turn a small loss into a big one.

And do the math. Even if you hope the real estate market is near the bottom—it’s possible, but by no means certain—it may still take years to see any meaningful recovery. If you are 25% underwater, your home will have to rise by 33% just to get you back to even.

Is that likely? And over what time period? Even if home prices rose by 5% a year from here, that would still take six years. And during that time you could instead be building fresh savings elsewhere.

View Full Image

0225roi

Bloomberg News

A real-estate agent moves a torn “Lender Foreclosure” sign outside a foreclosed home in Reno, Nev., last Monday.

0225roi

0225roi

If you are reluctant to give up on “your” home, realize that it isn’t “yours.” If you are in negative equity, it’s the bank’s home. You’re just renting it. And right now you may be paying way above market rates. You need to be ruthless about your cash flow.

Are you worried about the legal consequences of walking away? Certainly, you should check with a lawyer before doing anything, but the consequences will probably be more limited than you think.

In “non-recourse” states, the mortgage lender may have no right to come after you for any shortfall. They may have no option but to take the home, sell it and eat the loss. According to a survey last year by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, such states include negative-equity hot spots California and Arizona. Even in “recourse” states, lenders may have limited ability to come after you. Often they’d have to jump a lot of legal hurdles, and it’s just not worth it for them. They’re swamped with cases anyway.

“In my experience, right now they’re not really going after anyone,” says Richard Nemeth, a bankruptcy attorney in Cleveland. “They just don’t have the resources.”

If you’ve taken smart steps to protect your money, you may be safer still. For example, money held in a 401(k), Individual Retirement Account or pension plan is sheltered from creditors.

Sure, a strategic foreclosure may hurt your credit score. But if you’re in financial difficulties, it’s probably already suffered. And your credit score is not the only thing in life that matters.

Still, when it comes to the idea of walking away from debts, many people are held back by a sense of morality. They feel it’s wrong to abandon their obligations. They don’t want to be a deadbeat.

Your instincts, while honorable, are leading you astray.

The economy is fundamentally amoral.

Sometimes I think middle-class Americans are the only people who haven’t worked this out yet. They’re operating with a gallant but completely out-of-date plan of attack—like an old-fashioned cavalry with plumed hats and shining swords charging against machine guns.

Do you think your lenders would be shy about squeezing you for an extra nickel if they thought they could get away with it?

They knew what they were doing when they wrote your loan. Many were guilty of malpractice, but they pocketed good money and they’ve gotten away with it. And if they thought your loan was “risk free,” how come they were charging you so much more than the interest on Treasury bonds?

If you’re only a small amount underwater on your mortgage, it’s probably the case that you’re going to be better off staying put. But if you are deeply underwater, it’s a different matter.

Whether we like it or not, walking away from debts is as American as apple pie. Companies file for bankruptcy all the time, and their lenders eat the losses. Executives and investors pocketed millions from the likes of Washington Mutual, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns when the going was good. They didn’t have to give back one cent of that money when the companies went into bankruptcy.

Limited liability, after all, is one of the main reasons every business from your local dry-cleaner to a major multinational gets incorporated in the first place. They’re not shy about protecting themselves if things go wrong. You shouldn’t be either.

Write to Brett Arends at brett.arends@wsj.com

via online.wsj.com

I was a little taken back from this article, I don’t agree with the vibe that Brett is putting out here, If everyone walked away from their mortgage obligation that is underwater, we would have some mass bank failures… um.. well…. um…. evil banks go down in flames… I still don’t feel good about it even though I abhor some banks and think they are totally evil. There is still a lot of good banks that haven’t taken advantage of the consumer… or is that even possible to say about a bank. Either way, it goes against what we feel is right inside, even if it is a amoral economy. But I do agree with his statement about doing what is right for your family. I know that rationalizing your behavior, and saying things like “they would do it to you if they had the chance” is the same stuff that criminals think to justify their crimes. Justifying like a criminal is not “as American as Apple Pie”

Posted via web from Ada County Market Report

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23 Feb 2010

2-22-2010 Notice of Sale and Notice of Defaults for Ada County

The Notice of Sale and Notice of Defaults are out for the week.  For current market trends and past files to view and download.  Just click on the links below.  Don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already. just click here!

You can also find this post and much more at AdaCountyMarketReport.com

Thanks,
Jeremy Erickson
Ada County Market Report
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17 Feb 2010

Ada County Notice of Defaults as of 2-15-2010

For all the past files, you can also access the Distressed Property Reports Pages here.
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16 Feb 2010

Foreclosures Deflate Home Prices for the next 2 Years

By JAMES R. HAGERTY

More waves of foreclosures will keep downward pressure on home prices in parts of the U.S. over the next several years, two new studies project.

The studies—by John Burns Real Estate Consulting Inc. and Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC—conclude that most efforts to modify loans with easier terms will delay, not prevent, the loss of homes to foreclosure.

The Treasury Department is expected to give its latest update this week on government efforts to avert foreclosures.

The John Burns study estimates that five million houses and condominiums on which mortgages are now delinquent will go through foreclosure or related procedures that put them on the market over the next few years. That would represent the bulk of the estimated 7.7 million households behind on their mortgage payments.

This “shadow inventory” of homes expected to hit the market is enough to last about 10 months, based on the average sales rate over the past decade, the Irvine, Calif., firm says.

The problem is concentrated in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada. The shadow inventory is equivalent to 27 months of sales in Orlando, 24 months in Miami and 18 months in Las Vegas, the study estimates.

Over the past nine months, home prices as measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller index have risen modestly after a three-year plunge. That is largely because efforts to avert foreclosures have slowed the flow of foreclosed homes onto the market, temporarily constricting supply.

John Burns, CEO of the consulting firm, said investor demand for foreclosed homes remained strong. Thus, he said, prices were likely to be about level over the next few years, despite the looming foreclosure supply, if the economy continued to recover and mortgage interest rates didn’t rise sharply. But if the economy slumped anew and interest rates jumped, he said, “that’s going to cause prices to fall further.”

The S&P study also says that the “overhang” of foreclosed homes expected to go on the market points to lower home prices.

Some borrowers are catching up on payments after having their loan terms modified, but S&P says current trends suggest that 70% of such borrowers eventually will redefault. Loan modifications “may be helping marginally, but they are not going to solve the whole problem,” said Diane Westerback, a managing director at S&P.

Loan servicers, firms that collect payments and handle foreclosures, seem to have “nearly exhausted the supply of plausible candidates for loan modifications” and will find that many loans are “unredeemable,” the S&P study says. As a result, servicers increasingly are looking to arrange “short sales,” in which homes are sold for less than their loan balances.

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23 Jan 2010

Foreclosure and Short Sale Process

Here is a flow chart that I created by Direction of Troy Schrenk at SplusE.  It gives a good idea of some key steps to take, and what path not to go down.  Check out SplusE for more questions about Avoiding Foreclosures, and Bank workouts.
Foreclosure and Short Sale Process

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15 Dec 2009

U.S. FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY DECREASES 8 PERCENT IN NOVEMBER

U.S. FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY DECREASES 8 PERCENT IN NOVEMBER
By RealtyTrac Staff   

Activity Up 18 Percent From November 2008, But Down 15 Percent From July Peak
More Than 300,000 Properties Receive Foreclosure Filings for Ninth Straight Month

IRVINE, Calif. – Dec. 10, 2009 – RealtyTrac® (http://www.realtytrac.com/gateway_co.asp?accnt=137300), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its November 2009 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 306,627 U.S. properties during the month, a decrease of nearly 8 percent from the previous month but still up 18 percent from November 2008. The report also shows one in every 417 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in November.

“November was the fourth straight month that U.S. foreclosure activity has declined after hitting an all-time high for our report in July, and November foreclosure activity was at the lowest level we’ve seen since February,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Loan modifications and other foreclosure prevention efforts, along with the recently extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit, are keeping a lid on the most visible symptoms of the nation’s ailing housing market — foreclosures and home value depreciation. This is providing a welcome respite for the real estate industry, but a full recovery will only come when unemployment recedes to normal, healthy levels and when availability of credit reaches a more rational balance between the extremes of the past few years.”

Default notices nationwide were down 8 percent from the previous month but still up 22 percent from November 2008, scheduled foreclosure auctions were down 12 percent from the previous month but still up 32 percent from November 2008, and bank repossessions were flat from the previous month and down 2 percent from November 2008.

Nevada, Florida, California post top state foreclosure rates
Nevada foreclosure activity decreased by a double-digit percentage for the second straight month, but the state continued to document the nation’s top foreclosure rate with one in every 119 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in November — 3.5 times the national average. A total of 9,295 Nevada properties received a foreclosure filing during the month, a 33 percent decrease from the previous month and also a 33 percent decrease from November 2008. Nevada’s November total was 52 percent below its July total of 19,535 properties with foreclosure filings.

Florida posted the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate in November with one in every 165 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. Florida took the No. 2 spot from California, which posted the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate — one in every 180 housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month.

After three straight months of decreases, Arizona foreclosure activity increased nearly 8 percent in November and the state documented the nation’s fourth highest foreclosure rate with one in every 186 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Despite a nearly 2 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month, Idaho posted the fifth highest state foreclosure rate in November with one in every 259 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the nation’s 10 highest were Michigan, Illinois, Utah, Maryland, and New Jersey.

Four states account for more than 50 percent of national total
For the second month in a row, the same four states accounted for 52 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity: California, Florida, Illinois and Michigan.

Despite a 13 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month, California continued to post the highest total of any state with 73,995 properties receiving a foreclosure filing in November — still up 22 percent from November 2008 but down nearly 32 percent from its July peak of 108,104. November marked the fourth straight month that California foreclosure activity has declined on a month-over-month basis.

After two straight month-over-month decreases, Florida foreclosure activity increased slightly in November. A total of 52,935 Florida properties received foreclosure filings during the month, an increase of nearly 2 percent from the previous month and up nearly 8 percent from November 2008.

Illinois foreclosure activity decreased nearly 18 percent from a record high in October, but the state’s 16,422 properties receiving foreclosure filings in November was still nearly 108 percent higher than November 2008 and third highest among all the states.

A total of 15,988 Michigan properties received foreclosure filings in November, a decrease of nearly 3 percent from the previous month but still nearly 10 percent above the state’s total in November 2008.

Other states with totals among the 10 highest in the country were Arizona (14,349), Texas (12,095), Ohio (10,587), Georgia (9,664), Nevada (9,295) and New Jersey (9,227).

Las Vegas drops out of top spot among 10 highest metro foreclosure rates
After four straight months with the nation’s top foreclosure rate among metropolitan areas with a population of at least 200,000, Las Vegas dropped to No. 5 thanks to a 33 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month. One in every 102 Las Vegas housing units received a foreclosure filing in November — still more than four times the national average.

The top three metro foreclosure rates were in California. Merced took the top spot, with one in every 83 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in November thanks in part to a 21 percent increase in foreclosure activity from the previous month. Stockton foreclosure activity increased 37 percent from the previous month, and the city documented the nation’s second highest metro foreclosure rate with one in every 85 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing. Despite a 7 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month, Modesto posted the nation’s third highest metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 87 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in November.

Other California metro areas with foreclosure rates in the top 10 were Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at No. 6 (one in every 102 housing units); Bakersfield at No. 7 (one in 111); Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 9 (one in 126); and Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville at No. 10 (one in 132).

Florida accounted for two of the top 10 metro foreclosure rates: Cape Coral-Fort Myers at No. 4 with one in every 96 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing; and Orlando-Kissimmee at No. 8 with one in every 120 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Report methodology
The RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into the RealtyTrac database during the month — broken out by type of filing by state, county and metropolitan statistical area. Some foreclosure filings entered into the database during the month may have been recorded in previous months. Data is collected from more than 2,200 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. RealtyTrac’s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). If more than one foreclosure document is received for a property during the month, only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The report also checks if the same type of document was filed against a property in a previous month. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state the property is in, the report does not count the property in the current month.

U.S. Foreclosure Market Data by State – November 2009

    Properties with Foreclosure Filings    
Rate Rank State Name NOD LIS NTS NFS REO Total 1/every X HH (rate) %Change from Oct 09 %Change from Nov 08
– United States

44,757

69,413

81,843

33,913

76,701

306,627

417

-7.72

18.35

31

Alabama

0

0

1,349

0

796

2,145

996

-12.34

249.92*

33

Alaska

2

0

207

0

63

272

1,038

-10.53

51.96

4

Arizona

8

0

9,823

0

4,518

14,349

186

7.52

9.23

26

Arkansas

125

0

1,021

0

426

1,572

819

-16.91

1.95

3

California

30,071

0

29,125

0

14,799

73,995

180

-13.38

22.32

11

Colorado

22

0

3,299

0

1,883

5,204

409

3.11

-2.31

20

Connecticut

0

1,585

0

95

434

2,114

680

-8.33

-3.69

29

Delaware

0

0

0

220

223

443

877

0.91

87.71

 

District of Columbia

0

0

316

0

46

362

785

40.31

5.23

2

Florida

0

32,276

0

13,806

6,853

52,935

165

1.97

7.61

12

Georgia

0

0

6,460

0

3,204

9,664

410

-22.49

-3.39

15

Hawaii

96

0

580

0

196

872

581

-5.73

121.88

5

Idaho

1,202

0

1,095

0

135

2,432

259

-1.58

89.41*

7

Illinois

0

8,524

0

2,840

5,058

16,422

319

-17.67

107.64

17

Indiana

0

1,344

0

1,477

1,392

4,213

659

-3.94

-6.02

42

Iowa

0

0

284

0

338

622

2,138

47.04

19.16

37

Kansas

0

198

0

369

311

878

1,389

-5.49

24.01

40

Kentucky

0

250

0

406

351

1,007

1,893

-13.49

135.83

32

Louisiana

0

526

0

818

449

1,793

1,037

40.74*

255.75*

41

Maine

0

39

0

234

92

365

1,909

0.55

21.67

9

Maryland

0

2,342

0

3,317

711

6,370

364

-4.37

83.57

19

Massachusetts

0

1,715

0

1,632

658

4,005

680

-25.98

76.35

6

Michigan

5,954

0

4,982

0

5,052

15,988

283

-2.91

9.55**

18

Minnesota

5

0

1,646

0

1,782

3,433

671

15.09

56.97

46

Mississippi

0

0

206

0

127

333

3,768

-38.22

148.51*

27

Missouri

4

0

1,944

0

1,269

3,217

823

-0.03

11.51†

43

Montana

0

0

3

0

151

154

2,828

45.28

165.52

45

Nebraska

149

0

14

0

53

216

3,615

75.61

500.00

1

Nevada

5,549

0

1,368

0

2,378

9,295

119

-32.85

-33.43

25

New Hampshire

0

0

557

0

198

755

787

-15.83

12.52

10

New Jersey

0

7,499

0

1,028

700

9,227

379

24.10

65.30

38

New Mexico

0

211

0

105

236

552

1,562

-55.63

150.91*

39

New York

0

3,285

0

509

607

4,401

1,804

-8.26

69.20

36

North Carolina

405

0

1,321

0

1,547

3,273

1,260

-5.05

17.19

48

North Dakota

0

0

0

16

30

46

6,751

-22.03

-16.36

13

Ohio

0

3,963

0

3,142

3,482

10,587

478

-9.09

-17.82

34

Oklahoma

0

592

0

560

325

1,477

1,099

-4.83

44.95*

14

Oregon

35

0

1,877

0

943

2,855

564

-9.65

-3.71

35

Pennsylvania

0

1,905

0

1,694

1,366

4,965

1,103

-10.46

24.94

21

Rhode Island

0

0

482

0

174

656

687

-27.35

-26.70

30

South Carolina

0

1,047

0

261

911

2,219

911

-23.19

9.80

44

South Dakota

0

50

0

30

28

108

3,308

2.86

140.00

23

Tennessee

0

0

1,721

0

2,004

3,725

731

-7.57

7.44

24

Texas

19

0

6,818

0

5,258

12,095

780

2.52

54.21

8

Utah

1,079

0

614

0

977

2,670

347

11.11

33.30

50

Vermont

0

0

2

0

14

16

19,465

6.67

-27.27

22

Virginia

31

0

2,998

0

1,561

4,590

713

-16.30

-19.39†

28

Washington

1

0

1,719

0

1,568

3,288

835

-1.47

15.45

49

West Virginia

0

0

9

0

105

114

7,743

14.00

235.29

16

Wisconsin

0

2,062

0

1,354

878

4,294

596

-0.39

118.30

47

Wyoming

0

0

3

0

41

44

5,508

-33.33

-56.00

*Actual increase may not be as high due to data collection changes or improvements
**Collection of records classified as NOD began in August 2009 because of change in state law
† Collection of some records previously classified as NOD in this state was discontinued starting in January 2009

About RealtyTrac Inc.
RealtyTrac (http://www.realtytrac.com/) is the leading online marketplace of foreclosure properties, with more than 1.5 million default, auction and bank-owned listings from over 2,200 U.S. counties, along with detailed property, loan and home sales data. Hosting more than 3 million unique monthly visitors, RealtyTrac provides innovative technology solutions and practical education resources to facilitate buying, selling and investing in real estate. RealtyTrac’s foreclosure data has also been used by the Federal Reserve, FBI, U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee and Banking Committee, U.S. Treasury Department, and numerous state housing and banking departments to help evaluate foreclosure trends and address policy issues related to foreclosures. RealtyTrac publishes a blog with daily updates on the foreclosure market (www.foreclosurepulse.com) and a monthly print newsletter covering the foreclosure market in depth (www.foreclosurenewsreport.com).

###

Media Contact:
Michelle Sabolich
Atomic Public Relations
415-402-0230
michelle.sabolich@atomicpr.com

via realtytrac.com

I think December will be a lot higher, and the new year will bring in some new numbers when we see some of the failed loan mods come down the pipe.

Posted via web from Ada County Market Report

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24 Nov 2009

11/23/2009 NOD and NOS tracking charts for Ada County

You can find these charts and much more on AdaCountyMarketReport.com

Posted via email from Ada County Market Report

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24 Nov 2009

11/24/2009 Ada County Notice of Sale and Notice of Defaults

The Notice of Sale and Notice of Defaults are out for the week.  For current market trends and past files to view and download.  Just click on the links below.

You can also find this post and much more at AdaCountyMarketReport.com

Thanks, have a wonderful thanksgiving!

Jeremy Erickson
Ada County Market Report

Posted via email from Ada County Market Report

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