Posted on 12/28/2006 8:46:51 PM PST by Dubya
Foreclosures in 2006 reached levels not seen since the real-estate crash of the late 1980s, and it doesnt look like theyre coming down anytime soon.
There is no reason for the foreclosures to actually drop significantly, said George Roddy, president of Foreclosure Listing Service, which tracks foreclosure postings.
About 1,000 properties in Tarrant County were scheduled for auction every month this year, with about 40 percent to 50 percent of them actually sold on the courthouse steps, according to Roddys company. Many avoided foreclosure by selling their houses beforehand, reaching agreements with their lenders or filing for bankruptcy protection.
Roddy and others say the fundamentals that drove up the foreclosure rate are still in place. The list of culprits is long: job losses, divorce and medical bills always push up the numbers, and higher energy costs hit hard this year, experts say. Also, many homeowners found themselves in financial trouble when the initial low payment on an interest-only or adjustable-rate mortgage went up significantly as interest rates rose.
Dozens of new loans were created in recent years to make home buying more affordable, and many have proved to be risky.
There was truly one [mortgage] for every occasion, like Hallmark cards, said Catherine Williams, vice president of financial literacy for Money Management International, a nonprofit credit-counseling service. They are all coming home to roost now.
It was a surprise when 1,064 homes were posted for foreclosure at the December 2005 auction, because it was the first time that year that the monthly total reached 1,000. In 2006, foreclosures topped 1,000 five times.
The 1,000-home mark may be hit even more often next year.
We dont think foreclosures will increase at the rate they increased this year, said Rick Sharga, spokesman for RealtyTrac, a California-based company that watches foreclosures. But they will rise, he said.
The cost of living is still going up, with higher interest rates and energy costs, Williams said. And employers are increasingly shifting healthcare costs to employees.
Its unclear how the rising level of foreclosures is affecting the overall real-estate market. The North Texas Real Estate Information System reports that sales and median-price figures half the homes sold for more, half for less have dropped for three straight months. Sales declined in nine of the past 12 months.
Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist for Freddie Mac, sees a better economic picture in Texas than in other parts of the country. Texas job growthis above the national average. So are housing sales.
But it can take several months for economic news to show up in foreclosure figures, Nothaft said.
I dont think its going to get significantly worse, especially if you have good job growth, Nothaft said.
Roddy said a quick drop in foreclosures was not likely.
The question is How long can this last? Roddy said. It could conceivably last another year or two. Andrea Jares, 817-548-5522 ajares@star-telegram.com
bubble? what bubble?
It's just your imagination.
LOL!!!
The DFW area took a breath-taking nose dive beginning with the telecom/technology decline of 2000, and followed by the economic sag after 9/11/1. The area didn't experience much of the economic recovery seen by the rest of the country in recent years, but it did take another bath with even greater declines in property values over the last couple of years.
In short, they took a double whammy. And it looks like more damage is on the way. Glad I took my lumps and sold my house there a while back!
This is one county, and not indicitave of a bubble.
This is one county, and not indicitave of a bubble.
Foreclosures of subprime mortgages are expected to rise dramatically in the coming months, with nearly one in five subprime borrowers at risk, according to a consumer advocacy group."Nothing to see here. Time to move on."The North Carolina-based Center for Responsible Lending said that about 2.2 million subprime home loans made in recent years already have failed or will end in foreclosure - a situation that "will cost homeowners as much as $164 billion."
The study said that more than 19 percent, or nearly one in five subprime mortgages originated in the past two years, will end in foreclosure. ... Want to learn more? Educate Yourself
For what area does that cover. Is it nationwide?
You and statistics tend to lie, so I'd like real data.
That will be good for bargain hunters.
I'm still waiting for these bargains in my town, not happening!
I have no idea why you want to sink real estate. But you don't even have a lick of sense.
Forclosures offer a wealth of opportunities for investors to buy property cheap. They can fix them up, rent them out or sell them. This is the market in action.
There will never be enough houses.
One of the reasons that this is "no bubble" is that long term interest rates have remained low. The "bubble" is probably going to burst in the heads of the idiots that think we are in one.
In this case, his statistics come from a lefty think-tank funded by the usual suspects, like the Ford and MacArthur Foundations.
OMG, you are insane. You actually linked to a website (I suspect yours) that has headlines about UFO's being real....
Your frickin' nutz man; Of course you know nothing about real estate.
In Baltimore, Detroit, Dayton, and Cleveland, there are too many houses. There are thousands of abandonned buildings, basically worth zero or less than zero (yes less than zero, it takes more money to fix or tear down and rebuild and what you build has less value than what you put in).
Great to sse you posting again! Someone said you were banned, but I knew otherwise.
Merry Christmas & happy new year to you and yours!
I'm here and there. Merry X-mas.
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